The Bay Area Baseball Club

For years now (since at least 2000, and probably a couple years before that), I've been compiling an annual All-Bay Area with my old friend John (Code name: Cyborg). He's an A's fan, who still lives in the Bay Area and therefore sees quite a few Giants games. I am, of course, a Giants fan, who sees a lot of every team -- that's what happens when you're a) perpetually unemployed, b) still obsessed with a child's game, and c) subscribe to the baseball package. Every spring as baseball season is getting warmed up, we trade a few e-mails to compare notes, and come up with the best possible team derived from only Giants and A's players.

As you can imagine, the last few years have been a little lean in terms of talent -- the recession hit Bay Area baseball a bit sooner than the rest of the country. After years of looking at the team we'd put together and thinking "They could easily win the world series", the last couple teams would need to catch some breaks just to compete for a playoff spot. This year's club is a slight improvement -- the Giants pitching and half-decent slap hitters matching up fairly well with the A's middle-of-the-order power hitting -- but it's still a far cry from years past when the lineup was filled almost from top to bottom with prodigious power hitters (albeit, steroid-powered).

So I thought we'd take a quick look at both this year's squad, and also a classic team from recent years. First, 2009's modest pre-season All-Bay Area Team. I took the first shot at composing it with this e-mail:

Here's my preliminary shot at this year's team:

RF Lewis/Winn
SS Renteria
IB Giambi
LF Holliday
DH Cust
CF Rowand
3B Chavez
C Sandoval
2B Ellis

Rotation:
Lincecum
Duchererererer
Cain
Johnson
Sanchez

Bench:
Winn/Lewis
Buck
Crosby
Suzuki

I don't know the A's relievers too well, but it looks like based on last year Devine, Ziegler, and Springer might join Wilson, Affeldt, Romo, and maybe Howry, Hinshaw, Casilla or Wuertz.

Cyborg respoded with a few minor changes:

Is Sandoval good enough defensively to be an everyday catcher? If so, this year's BA team is loaded at that position. How is he at third base? Chavez is a huge health question mark. Is Molina getting to old?

Maybe do this...

C Sandoval/Suzuki....
3B Chavez/Sandoval

One of the big debates on the A's blog is who will be better in 2009, Travis Buck or Ryan Sweeney. Last year it was clearly Sweeney. Since Ryan is better defensively, I'd take him over Buck as a utility player.

As for the bullpen, Zeigler and Devine were amazing (although in a non playoff pressure atmosphere. I wouldn't trust anyone else from Oakland but maybe include Gallagher or Eveland as a long/mop up reliever.

I agree with your starters

I don't think Molina is too old, I just wanted to get Sandoval's bat (which I'm very high on) in the lineup. Placing Suzuki on the roster was more a nod to his being younger, and likely better defensively, which would be important off the bench -- especially if Sandoval was the full-time starter. But I like Cyborg's idea to platoon Pablo at 3B with Chavez, and also behind the plate. However, If that other catcher is going to get significant AB's, I'm choosing Molina over Suzuki based on his better offensive numbers last year (Molina: .292/.322/.445, 16 HR's, 95 RBI's, Suzuki: .279/.346/.370, 7 HR, 42 RBI's). Also, that ay, once Chavez suffers his inevitable serious injury, Molina can play every day.

So, with that in mind, along with Cyborg's other notes, here is the final roster:

RF Lewis/Winn
SS Renteria
IB Giambi
LF Holliday
DH Cust
CF Rowand
3B Chavez/Sandoval
C Sandoval/Molina
2B Ellis

Rotation:
Lincecum
Duchererererer
Cain
Johnson
Sanchez

Bench:
Winn/Lewis
Sweeney
Crosby
Molina/Chavez

Bullpen:
Wilson
Affeldt
Romo
Springer
Ziegler
Devine
Eveland

Not too shabby, but certainly no match for the juggernaut squad in 2000, when both teams made the playoffs:

CF Terrence Long
SS Miguel Tejada
LF Barry Bonds
2B Jeff Kent
1B Jason Giambi
RF Ellis Burks
DH Ben Grieve*
3B Eric Chavez
C Ramon Hernandez

*Or you could put JT Snow at 1B at first, DH Giambi, and put Grieve on the bench.

Tim Hudson
Mark Mulder
Barry Zito
Gil Heredia
Livan Hernandez
Shawn Estes

JT Snow/Grieve
Bill Mueller
Marvin Benard
Rich Aurilia
Randy Velarde

Robb Nen
Jason Isringhausen
Felix Rodriguez
Jeff Tam
Alan Embree
Doug Henry

Now that is an impressive roster. Steroidtastic, even. One could argue the 2002 team was even better -- the Giants came within five outs of a title (D'oh!), and the A's again made the playoffs after winning 20 in a row during the season. Though Giambi and Burks were gone, they still had Bonds, Kent, Chavez, and Tejada (in his MVP year), and devastating pitching. Zito had his Cy Young year, Schmidt was just as good, and Hudson and Reuter also had great years. In the 'pen, the Giants had Nen, Worrell, and F-Rod, while the A's got a dominant year from Billy Koch, and good work from righty specialist Chad Bradford.

It's enough to make a Bay Area baseball fan long for the good old days.