Jason Giambi almost got me arrested.  No, I wasn't out partying with the former A's first baseman who once said that his lifestyle was to "party like a rock star and f%@! like a porn star."

No this was his first game back in Oakland after signing with the New York Yankees when I believed that the A's were going to keep him in the fold.  I was sitting in the right field bleachers and there were quite a few Yankee fans around us.  My daughter hadn't been born yet, so I was quite a bit more, well, vocal at games.  I was ready to yell and scream about this player who had turned his back on the team that helped mold him into a superstar.  Now I have a better perspective on how that all went down now, but I was emotional at the time and wasn't in the mood to forgive.  I was there early and one of the first to boo the hell out of this turncoat.

I did just that.  I stood.  I booed.  I screamed at Giambi as if he could really hear me being that far from home plate.  The Yankee fans around me tried to drown us out.  And at one point a Yankee fan in front of me stood up in the middle of the game and turned around to basically "cheer" at me.  Well for some odd reason this set me off.  I stood up and started screaming at the guy to sit down in more colorful language.  I threatened to put my foot up his, um, buttocks.  Thankfully the guy backed down otherwise I would've probably thrown down at that point.  Giambi had me that emotional.

Still, when my wife asked me today how I felt about Giambi returning, I didn't feel that same anger towards Giambi.  I told her that I still think he's a great hitter who can help out the A's.  I thought he would give Holliday some very nice protection and was a nice addition to an offense that desperately needs some help in any way, shape or form.

Yet my anger that I thought was once burning with all the eternal fires of hell had just either completely gone out or was more like a brief explosion that only had enough fuel to last a short time.

Maybe I'm excited about the possibility that Giambi can help recreate that early 2000's atmosphere at the Coliseum again.  I mean this is the guy who hit a game-winning home run off Mike Stanton to win a game against the Yankees at the first game I ever attended at the Coliseum.  He, in many ways, ignited my passion for the A's deeper than it ever had been.  I guess that's why I reacted so personally when he took the money and ran.

I don't expect him to be that MVP-caliber player any more.  I just want him and Holliday and hopefully a healthy Chavez to help score some runs.

I know this has been asked already, but have you forgiven Giambi?  Will you welcome him back?  I think I'm over it.  I just want him to help the team win and I'll react accordingly.  If he performs, I'll forget all about it.  If he doesn't, well, then I think he'll still be a Yankee to me.

Well, for the first year in about five years, Billy Beane didn't do anything right around my birthday.  Instead I sat around and waited for the A's to hopefully seal the deal with wishy-washy Furcal.

Instead the Yankees went out and spent about $424 million on arguably the best free agents on the market.  Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett all Yankees and a big F U to the rest of MLB.  It used to be Crazy George Steinbrenner but now it's Nutso Hank.  I'd normally complain about it but the truth is that money hasn't bought the Yankees anything in a long time.  So it's not a definite that the Yankees are going to win anything in 2009.

Still if the press is to be believed, and I always use that caveat since I know that the press doesn't always report things with accuracy, the Yankees went anywhere from $10-15 million beyond what the Red Sox were offering Teixeira.  They were ultimately bidding against themselves.  I've had people argue with me, including Lew Wolff, that teams like the Yankees are good for baseball.  It's much easier to say that when the Yankees haven't won anything.  But I still think that a team that spends like that is not ultimately good for baseball even with the revenue sharing in place.  How does a team like Oakland have a chance to ever sign a talent like Teixeira if the Red Sox and Yankees are the only two teams that are in that stratosphere?  Hell even the Angels, which is essentially the West Coast version of the Yankees and Sox dropped far out of that one.

Still, I'll just argue that I still think baseball needs a salary cap.  It will never happen, but I love what it's done for other sports like hockey and football.  Yes, you can still have dynasties emerge, but it seems like everyone has a chance.  Everyone will use the Tampa example of a team that is in a horrid market that has risen from the ashes.  The problem is that it took the Rays years and years of wallowing in those ashes and getting tons of remarkably good draft picks in order for them to do their phoenix impression.

Listen, I know that it's never going to happen.  Selig and company would never want a salary cap and salary caps are initiated from frustrated owners.  I just sometimes need to state the obvious.  I hate the freaking Yankees and the system in baseball blows.

I just wanted to drop a note to AN and let everyone know that 67Marquez will be joining the Athletics Nation front page crew starting this week.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me because one of the things that I think could be strengthened about AN is the historical perspective.  I've been trying to improve this aspect of the site for a long, long time back to recruiting some Philadelphia Athletics fans to talk about their lifelong passion.

While Marquez doesn't go that far back, he covers the A's years in Oakland with a verve and passion unlike anyone I've seen.  We've tried to cover the statstically, humorously, practically and now, hopefully, historically.  He won't be restricted to that topic, but I know that he'll bring a missing element to what we currently have.

Please join me in giving him a warm welcome to the AN front page.  Welcome 67Marquez.  We're thrilled to have you.

Yes, Rafael Furcal is gone.  So the saga officially ends and the A's are left with...well, Bobby Crosby and this:

Yeah, a shortstop with an OBP under .300 who didn't really show any of the power he had a rookie, is average defensively and is likely not inspired to perform for a team that has openly been trying to replace him.

Clearly Rafael Furcal never wanted to sign with the Oakland Athletics.  The A's basically offered him the most money and the most guaranteed years and he still refused to sign.  I'm done talking about Furcal.  He's moving on and I'm moving on.  I don't begrudge him, I mean it's refreshing to see a guy turn down the most money and guaranteed years to be in a place he loves and still owns a home.  I would say that if someone had chosen to come to the A's for less money and have said it in the past.

The A's have very few options at this point other than relying on Crosby or Pennington.  Orlando Cabrera isn't worth signing and giving up the draft pick.  The younger shortstops everyone else has discussed would likely cost too much in a deal.  I suppose the A's could go for someone like Miguel Tejada, but I wouldn't give up much for him.  Hell the A's could bring back Tejada, sign Giambi and sign Mulder to a minor league tryout deal.  We can pretend it's 2001 all over again.  The only way the A's are going to overcome their hole at shortstop is to have above average production in nearly every other spot.  And with Ryan Sweeney in center now, Travis Buck or Cunningham in right, a question mark at third with the health of Chavez and possibly Daric Barton still manning first base as of right now, the A's probably are relying on a lot of young guys to perform.  Matt Holliday must be wondering what he's in for in 2009 right now.

Yet I've always thought that Beane has been at his best when he's been had to be creative.  If the A's really do want to compete in 09, Beane will have to be his most creative whether that means signing someone like Burrell now to take one of the question mark outfield spots and moving one of the kids in a package deal for a shortstop or figuring out something else (signing Orlando Hudson to play second and moving Ellis, a former shortstop in college to short?).  I honestly don't think Furcal would've signed here no matter how high Beane had gone and I think Billy was more than reasonable with him.

So now we wait to see if Beane is willing to enter another season with Bobby Crosby as shortstop for our green and gold or if he has enough urgency and desperation to get rid of Crosby by doing something out of character like signing Cabrera or trading one of his stud young pitchers for a shortstop. 

But one thing is for sure, I'm so done talking about Rafael Furcal.

Driveline Mechanics is a pretty awesome blog.  My buddy Kyle runs it and he does these excellent pieces on pitching deliveries.  Today, with my suggestion, he broke down Trevor Cahill's delivery and arm action.

Kyle has this to say:

It's really tough to say, so I have to give him an Incomplete grade. I'd love to see high speed video of Cahill from multiple angles, and with my trip to Spring Training 2009 being planned as we speak, I might get the opportunity to do just that. If you forced me to give him a grade, I'd say that it's Average trending towards Below Average. Certainly I like the arm action of a Tommy Hanson or a Justin Duchscherer better, but I don't hate Trevor Cahill's either.

I won't spoil how Kyle comes to this conclusion. It will be interesting to see how Cahill pitches come spring training and whether that earns him a shot coming at the rotation coming out of the spring.  If the A's don't sign someone like Randy Johnson, you can bet that the A's will give Cahill and Anderson both really good, long looks during the spring.  I'm excited to see just how good the A's vaunting young pitching is, just as long as they aren't rushed too much.

I've not often come out and said this about many players that have come through the New Jersey Devils organization.  Martin Brodeur.  Scott Stevens.  Scott Niedermayer.  Ken Daneyko.  John Madden.  For a team that's been around since 1982, that's not that many. 

But I would definitely put Zach Parise on that list.  It's not just because Parise is a talented player.  It's because he might be the hardest working Devil since Pat Conacher.  I mean that kid has no fear of going into corners, taking on much larger players and often coming out with the puck.  He's got speed, moves and talent, but the hard work is, to me, what makes him so special.  There are plenty of players out there with a lot of skill (i.e. Viktor Kozlov, Stephane Richer types) but they never become what they can be because the work ethic on the ice just isn't there.

In a lot of ways, Parise is like a much more talented version of John Madden.  By that I mean, no one works harder in hockey than Madden.  Parise is all that but you can tell that he doesn't take any of those talents for granted.  I'm also always really impressed at how Parise bounces back up so quickly after he takes a pounding. 

Ultimately, I want Lou Lamoriello to sign Parise to a Alexei Yashin-type of contract.  Seriously.  I don't think I would've ever said that about anyone ever.  But Parise is that kind of player.  He can teach other guys with talent that hard work combined with whatever talent you have can make you something ridiculously special.  Get it done, Lou.  Don't take a chance of ever losing Parise.  Ever.  Please.

A's fans, I know we weep today because we will no longer have Francisco Rodriguez to face in an Angels uniform.  After setting the single-season record for most saves, Goggle-Rod has officially signed with the New York Mets.

So no more sulk offs.  No more Klown Power.  It's over.  Our glorious memories off Francisco Rodriguez are over.

At the same time, we no longer have to watch the fool act like an idiot every time he gets a save or point to the sky when someone launches a deep drive to the outfield as though it's just a mere pop-up.

I think the Angels will actually be fine.  Someplace where they are not hurting is the bullpen with Shields there and Arredondo there.  And I kind of wish K-Rod was still around because I really think that he's going to get hurt sooner rather than later.  It would've been nice to have had the Angels tie up a bunch of money on an injury liability.

By the way, be sure to check out our SBN hot stove hub when you get a chance.  We're feeding all of the related stories into that spot.

Now that I live out of market for the A's, I watch almost all of their games on Extra Innings.  One of my biggest frustrations last year was dealing with out-of-market announcers.  I mean, if I had to listen to Hawk Harrelson one more time, I might've gone all Marlon Brando at the end of Apocalypse Now..."The horror, the horror...".

I also happen to be a huge New Jersey Devils fan and I get really annoyed having to listen to Florida Panthers or Pittsburgh Penguins announcers instead of the best hockey play-by-play guy around, Mike "Doc" Emrick.  The good news is that the Center Ice package is occasionally giving me the choice as to what broadcast I want to watch.

I'm only hoping that MLB follows the NHL lead and adopts something similar because it would make my enjoyment of A's games so much more pure.  And my wife will no longer have to tell me that it's "weird" that I'm watching A's games in dead silence with the mute button on.

I haven't seen this linked anywhere else on AN, but Maury Brown did an excellent interview with former A's and Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson.  I would highly recommend that you read it.  It's got some great stuff in there about pitching mechanics as well as former A's like Barry Zito and a very interesting moment that he describes from an A's game against the New York Yankees where he was the pitching coach:

And when you talk about memorable trips to the mound, a moment that really sticks out has to be when Jason Isringhausen was pitching for us in Oakland, and we went into Yankee Stadium. It believe it was early September and Barry Zito was winning the game three to two against Roger Clemens. We brought in Izzy in the ninth inning, and the first pitch to Bernie Williams was a homer. And now it's three to three. And the first pitch to David Justice was a homer. So two pitches later – about thirty seconds – we lose. (Laughs.)

And he was, you know, distraught to say the least. It was one of those situations where it affected him. He hadn't closed for a long period of time in his career – I believe it might have been his first full year of closing – and it really had a major impact on him. It really affected him;  he felt like he let the team down. He was very de-motivated. Fear, worry and doubt starts to creep in, and he really said, “Look, I need a few days off of this. I need a break.”

The story essentially goes on from there and how Peterson tries to work Izzy through that moment of crisis and dealing with a similar situation later on in the year. 

Peterson also talks about the difference between playing or coaching in the New York market as opposed to the Oakland market.  He essentially says that in New York you essentially have 162 seasons in a year as opposed to the 162 games in a year in Oakland.  By that he means that the drama is amped up to a ridiculous level based on what the team did on that certain day.  Apparently he's never been in an AN game thread.

Two other notes about the interview.  First, Brown discusses what pitchers from the past that Peterson would've wanted to have coached.  Peterson brings up Sandy Koufax.  I would've loved to have had Brown tie the elbow issues that Koufax had back to Peterson's work on the injury issues with pitchers.  Would Peterson have been able to give Koufax a longer career?  I want to know what Peterson thinks.

The other thing is that I'm wondering how much of an impact Peterson leaving the A's has adversely impacted their injury issues.  Maybe Peterson's impact on the A's pitching has been overstated, but would the A's pitchers have had as many issues if Peterson was still here?  How much do the A's still use the techniques and programs that Peterson had implemented while he was here?