If Hilly doesn't pan out, it's only 6 mill with a .5 mill buyout. Peanuts in todays market. If he doesn't produce, then he doesn't get enough ab's for a second year.

He put up decent numbers. As long as everyone gets an equal oppertunity to earn there position, and I believe they will, not a problem.

By the way, casey seems to be healthy! Check out johnnyangel101's latest diary. Maybe Hilly can produce comparable numbers to Riv 2006 (I was expecting Riv to join the 100 rbi club in 2007) at dh. If not, then goodbye.

The guy is a terrible defensive third baseman. I'm sure the angels are looking at him to be dh (especially if casey is ready at 1b).

Cheap insurance, if you ask me.

I really thought that you would be for this. I was acutally suprised at your post. My assumption is that your the "build from within guy" and don't want to throw the future away on a big (money) gamble. My new assumption is that your such a build from within guy, that you didn't want any signing that would mess with the young guys.

Assumptions can be funny if you don't take them too seriously. I really did crack up over my own assumptions after reading your post.

However, imagine how angry y'all are now, and imagine how angry you would have been had Stoneman done nothing at all to respond to the loss of Juan Rivera.

With that in mind, remember Juan Rivera when you read this quote from the Sosh about the Hillenbrand signing:

"His bat is what we need now," Scioscia said. (emphasis mine)

As I've said before, Johnny Rivers's injury  threatened to turn an already anemic offense into one that was not only nonexistent, but also turned the AL West playoff race into a question of whether the A's could make it past the first round for a second consecutive year.

Is Hillenbrand a malcontent? Yes. I would not be surprised if he challenges Mike Scioscia to a fight and is subsequently DFA'ed before October 1.

Is he a middling player at best? Yes, but right now even a middling player helps our struggling offense immensely.

What about his contract? It's not that bad; this move cost us nothing in terms of players, if there's something this club isn't wanting of it's  cash, and it's only a 1 year contract with a CLUB (not player) option. If this were a $40 mil/3 year deal, I'd be willing to grab a pitchfork and find Bill Stoneman with all due haste with the rest of you. If he sucks it up this season or throws chairs or racial/sexual epithets at the guy with the locker adjacent to his, we can DFA him like we did Finley and Weaver the Elder.

Should the Halosphere be satisfied with this signing as the final move in Bill Stoner-man's quest for mediocrity and sloth? No, if he refuses to budge for a better bat than Shea I'll bitch a long with the rest of you.

Should he block Kotch, or Morales (or, God willing, DMac if he gets healthy) from at-bats? God no, but he provides options if Kotch/Morales or DMac fall through (especially Injury McInjuryson).

Imagine this scenario: No Hillenbrand, Rivera is out for eight months, Kotchman and Morales both hit a rut and DMac is at Mission Hospital on a 24/7 morphine drip. This is what the diamond at the Big A would look like:

C: Napoli/Molina
1B: Quinlan?
2B: Kendrick
3B: Figgins
SS: Cabrera
LF: Anderson
CF: Matthews Jr.
RF: Guerrero
DH: Um...is Izzy around?

A lineup whose only power threats are Vlad, Napoli pre-All-Star break, the grimacing shadow of a circa-2002 Garret Anderson, and the hope of a repeat of a Gary Matthews Jr. career-year looks pretty friggin' weak to me.

Hillenbrand allows us to temporary--note the use of the word, temporarily--fill any holes that may reveal themselves. Kotchman raking but DMac still aching? Stick Hillenbrand at third and hope he doesn't commit too many errors. Is Kotchman doing well and has Figgy transformed into his 2005 incarnation? Let GA take the field in left to his heart's content, and allow Mr. You'd-Better-Give-Me-a-Cake-When-I-Adopt-Another-Kid to DH.

Is Shea Hillenbrand the panacea for the offensive problems facing this team? Of course not. Is he a cheap bandaid for the holes? Yes, and this is where I disagree with the Rev, because these holes can show up and have a strong possibility of doing so.

At least Hillenbrand will (hopefully) be gone after one year.

But I agree that it's a shame to make it that much more difficult for McPherson to get ABs.

nice, very nice indeed.

i would like to say shea is a gamer. he's a community college 10th round draft pick, who by all accounts has beaten the odds to make it where he is today. just don't piss him off.

"this ship is sinking, every man for himself."

1.) "Team uniforms changed in 1997 as well. The familiar "A-N-G-E-L-S" spelled out on the jersey front was replaced with a logo designed by Disney Studios, being a stylized form of the team name with an enlarged angel wing to the left of the "A", on new pinstriped vest jerseys. These uniforms were universally ridiculed, being referred to as the "softball beer league" uniforms by Chris Berman of ESPN and as "periwinkle jerseys" by many Angel fans........
Then came 2002. The year began with the team scrapping its pinstriped vest jerseys after five years, reverting back to uniforms conforming more to the team's traditional uniforms, but now mostly red, with but a bit of navy blue trim. Significantly, the Halos' road jerseys now read "Anaheim"."
.....so that would be 3 times since '96.

2.) the sox set a season attendance record (2,930,588) last season while extending their streak of consecutive sellouts to 307 games since 2003. that was prior to these new '04 sox fans you speak of.

3.) the mentality that believes mathis and mcphersons' possible projections are worth blocking trades to acquire proven major league talent (ie; varitek), is the mentality that will keep your franchise dissappointing.

4.) sorry i missed #34. you loose track after sorting through 100 no names.