OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Beane Works His Highwire Act, Again

What is Gio? Where is Gio? How do you Gio? When is Gio? Good try, but no, the correct question is, Who is Gio? And the answer is that it's the first name of one Mr. Gio Gonzalez, a highly touted minor-league pitcher who, along with two dozen other very young men, is charged with building the always frugal Oakland Athletics toward another run at significance after a down couple of years. Our man Gio "led the minor leagues with 185 strikeouts in 2007" and "throws a fastball that ranges from 90-93 mph, a changeup, and a devastating 12 to 6 curveball," according to Wikipedia, the people's encyclopedia.

Well, we'd better hope that all translates to the Bigs, because replacing Dan Haren, a legitimate star pitcher traded away this off-season, even earlier in the contract escalation cycle than is normal for an A's stud, is not going to be easy. Haren's departure was part of a wholesale retrenchment of the A's as they continue their quest to always be looking to the future, never overpaying for the present.

If you're a Billy Beane fan — or the Big BB himself — you love this stuff: Selling high, buying low, throwing raw meat to the doubters. So far, though, it's looking like a sweet spring for The Genius, vindicated after a winter of mocking for his seeming eagerness to unload real baseball talent for a passel of unknowns and the occasional retread. Despite trading hotshots and fan favorites Haren and wildman slugger Nick Swisher for even younger hotshots we've never heard of, your Swingin' A's bolted out of the gate at 12-8, tied for first place in the American League West.

Meanwhile, in the world of ex-A's Beane let go when they got too pricy, Barry Zito was 0-4 across the bay, Miguel Tejada was in Houston admitting he was actually two years older than he said he was, and Jason Giambi was hitting a positively un-steroidal .129.

Of course, for some of us, the constant churn takes its toll on our emotional attachment to the team. I was rather shocked to see the A's already having a Travis Buck Bobblehead Day in April. After all, Buck had less than 300 career at bats before Opening Day (both Japan and U.S.). Apparently his long hair qualifies him to be Swisher's replacement in the Promotions Department. Am I supposed to already be excited enough about a guy who has hit all of seven home runs in The Show that I would get my son to the game an hour early to ensure we get a frikkin' bobblehead of him?!

Similarly, it's unlikely anybody is going to get excited enough by the morning pitching lineup over his bowl of Cheerios to call in sick to catch a day game. After all, this is a franchise that has had some of the all-time great starting rotations, such as those anchored by Blue/Hunter/Holtzman, Stewart/Welch/Moore or Mulder/Hudson/Zito. Compare that to the current cycle of Joe Blanton, Lenny DiNardo, Dana Eveland, Chad Gaudin and Greg Smith. (The latter brings up a question: Shouldn't professional athletes change or manipulate their names to seem more exciting, in the way actors do? Would you ever give a huge contract to a guy named "Greg Smith?" Start him on Opening Day? Somebody get a hold of his agent.)

Now the true A's nerds know all about Eveland, et al., but the casual fan has probably only heard of Blanton, an unexciting workhorse with three solid years behind him. This is like having Ted Lilly as your ace — he's a major-leaguer, no doubt, but do you want to open the playoffs with him?

For Haren and Swisher, the A's got nine prospects, including Eveland, who made the team out of spring training. Other man-children trying to make their mark are catcher Kurt Suzuki, who started the year hot as a Death Valley breeze both at the plate (.345 BA) and behind it (top five in throwing out would-be base stealers); highly touted pure hitter Daric Barton, who could be the key to turning around the A's often-anemic offense; Jack Hannahan, who gets a lot of playing time filling in for the broken-down pony that was once Eric Chavez; Joey Devine, a former Braves phenom; outfielders Chris Denorfia and Ryan Sweeney; and the aforementioned bobbleheaded Buck. There are even more of these unpolished gems at AAA, but you get the idea.

Oh, and Huston Street is still only 24 and a top closer, although many fear he will be traded by the trading deadline, possibly along with Blanton. Beane is deadly serious about this reloading business, perhaps angling the team for another strong run to build up to the planned move to Fremont in 2012. Until then, and probably beyond, the A's and Beane will continue running their lean, mean — if somewhat bland — machine whether the old baseball guys or young idol-worshipping fans like it or not.

So 2008 is a season for low expectations and appreciation of our potential. And if they stay hot and make the postseason to play the omnipresent Red Sox or Yankees, how sweet would that be? There's one thing we A's fans can always appreciate, and that's an underdog.

Hmmn. Maybe I should order one of those season ticket packages? Better call my guy at the A's office tomorrow. After all, now that I'm a schoolteacher me and the boy have got a lot of summer afternoons to fill. Hopefully if he sees the direction they run in The Show, he'll figure it out.

Christopher Scheer hopes the new A's park in Fremont will have a Fry's AND garlic fries.