Per Jon Heyman at CNNSI, the A's have traded for Matt Holliday.  No word yet on the details but Heyman says it is done.

Here is the link:  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/11/10/heyman.holliday/index.html

Heyman is now saying the A's are "closing in on a deal."  So, I guess it's not done yet, but I have to admit, I don't really get it either unless they get a window to sign him.

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I am bored this morning so I thought I would an open a thread to discuss third base options next year.  The Rangers have apparently eliminated signing Crede or Blake.  Blalock will DH and Chris Davis will play 1B.  Internally the only candidate is Travis Metcalf.  They could resign Ramon Vazquez and platoon him with Metcalf or look externally. 

The availalbe free agents outside of Crede and Blake are basically nonexistant unless you wanted to take a shot at a guy like Greg Norton, but I am not sure of his defensive abilities. 

So that leaves trade options.  One option might be Adrian Beltre if the new Mariners GM decides to rebuild.  The interim GM was asking for the moon at the deadline but the new guy might be more reasonable.  Salary would be prohibitive but he would be a productive player.  Another guy could be Kuzmanoff at San Diego if they go into full fire sale mode.  Anyway, those are a couple of guys that leapt out at me.  I am not advocating either, just offering thoughts. 

I am interested to see who the rest of the community would like to bring in or what your solutions would be.

These are pictures from the same game in Peoria on Monday.  Beavan pitched pretty well but did not seem dominating.  He was like watching Millwood pitch when he is going well.  He seemed in control and got a lot of weak hits, but wasn't overpowering people.  He did strike out 5 in 6 innings of work and he gave up a massive home run to left field.  I tried to capture his delivery to give you some idea of what it looks like these days and you can compare it to what you remember from his high school days.

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These are pictures I took at the Clinton game on Monday.   This was Smoak's first AB and I tried to capture his swing as best I could.  Thanks to those who told me how to post these and I will follow up with some pics of Beavan's delivery.

Just to recap, in this AB Smoak walked.  He saw 7 pitches and fouled off a couple of good pitches.  The guy he was facing for Peoria is pretty good.  I didn't get to see him do much in the field outside of the routine and his out in the third inning was a screamer to straightaway center field that was right at the CFer.  In the third AB, batting right, he rolled out meekly on the first pitch.

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I was at the Clinton game last night and saw Smoak's debut as well as 6 innings from Beaven.  I left after 6 innings (I had 2 kids with me) but I saw 3 of Smoak's at bats.  His first 2 at bats were lefty against a pretty solid starter for Peoria.  He saw 7 pitches in his first at bat and drew a walk.  In his second at bat he was a loud out to center and in his third at bat, hitting right, he rolled out meekly on the first pitch he saw.  Defensively he didn't have to do much so I can't comment on that.

Beavan was good but if I didn't know who he was I wouldn't have been blown away.  He was certainly not overpowering and his fastball stayed between 88-91.  He touched 92 occasionally and the stadium gun had him at 97 once on a high fastball, but I'm not sure I trust that reading.  He pitched well but was not the an oh and ah type of performance. I would publish some pics but I don't know how to do it, so if someone will tell me how to get them from my pics onto this then I will do it.

The DMN is saying Smoak is debuting for Clinton tomorrow.  It so happens they are playing very near where I live and I was already planning to go.   I will be happy to give a report on Tuesday but I want to know what those of you who are more baseball savvy want me to look for.  I am just an ordinary average fan and I have never played before, so if you want me to watch for something in particular I will happily do it, if you tell me what you want to see. 

I am excited about the game and I will see them again a week from Wednesday, so I should have a couple of reports if you all want them.

Yet again this sorry management team has messed up.  A quality arm like Randy Wolf is on the market and they do nothing.  Don't they know pitching is what wins championships, not hitting?  They should have been all over this.  Wolf's 6.63 road ERA would have fit right into the Rangers rotation and allowed them to get one of those overhyped "prospects" like Hurley or Mendoza back in AAA where the media can continue to fawn all over them. 

You lemmings on this board need to just get over your Jon Boy love.  He messed up again.  If he'd been paying attention this month the team could've had Sabathia, Harden, Durham, Blanton, and now Wolf.   That is what the Rangers need, more pitching and veterans, not a bunch of never-will-be's who've been overhyped by the Jon Boy worshippers.  Cheapo Hicks probably didn't want to spend the extra money.  Enjoy the second half lemmings, the Rangers blew it again!

In Jon Heyman's latest column, he lists the Rangers amongst a host of teams that watched Garcia throw twenty five pitches recently.  Now, it could be that the Rangers were mentioned just because Garcia is a pitcher or they could have legitimate interest.  I could see him coming in for a rest-of-season deal if the Rangers remain competitive but I thought I would give people a chance to discuss Garcia in a Rangers uniform on a slow off day. 

The Cubs signed Jim Edmonds and demoted Pie to AAA, where he will likely remain for the year barring injury.  This is a particularly perplexing move when you consider that Pie was actually hitting better than Edmonds, which is saying something, and is MUCH better defensively at this point.  Nonetheless, I live near Chicago and the word around here is that the Cubs have deemed Pie AAAA.  I, for one, would love to see him in a Rangers' uniform.  Does anyone else like the idea of going after Pie, moving Hamilton to right, platooning Boggs and Murphy in left?  Anyone have any idea what it would take to get him at this point?

Jonathan Mayo, over at MLB.com, has his top-10 mock up and I thought some folks might like to comment on it.  I am not a draftnik and so I would be curious who the Rangers might eye at #10 if this were the way things unfold.

1. Rays - Buster Posey, C.
2. Pirates - Pedro Alvarez, 3B.
3. Royals - Eric Hosmer, 1B. 
4. Orioles - Brian Matusz, LHP.
5. Giants - Tim Beckham, SS.
6. Marlins - Kyle Skipworth, C.
7. Reds - Aaron Crow, RHP.
8. White Sox - Gordon Beckham, SS.
9. Nationals - Justin Smoak, 1B.
10. Astros - Tanner Scheppers, RHP.