dead men tell no tales...

So the A's have shipped fan fave Eric Byrnes to Colorado, along with minor league infielder Omar Quintanilla in exchange for bullpen pitchers Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick. This a day after they shuttled right-handed submarining reliever Chad Bradford to the BoSox for outfielder Jay Payton. Interesting. It appears Payton will platoon with Kielty in the outfield, and be able to truly back up Mark Kotsay as a center fielder. There was cash involved in both deals (from Boston to Oakland in the Bradford/Payton deal, and from Oakland to Colorado in the Byrnes-Quintanilla/Kennedy-Witasick deal) so the full details aren't yet available. At first glance, this makes this team better, as Payton is better defensively and against left-handed pitching than Byrnes, and I'd rather have Kennedy coming out of the pen than Bradford.

Are the A's actually trying to win in 2005? Could it happen? Not unless they win the West... the Wild Card is going to be one hell of a fight, with Texas, Minnesota, Cleveland, New York, and Baltimore at this point... that's if the Bo/ChiSox and Angels don't falter, thus entering that race.

Still lots of games to play. I'm finally going back out to the left field bleachers (hey, maybe to see Jay Payton) on Saturday. Rawk on.

posted by Steve  # 2:11 PM