[The Elephant Walk is my somewhat regular column on Oakland Athletics baseball. Results, performances, transactions or other thoughts I might have about the A’s]

Douchebag Watch
Obviously there can’t be a whole helluva lot to report back on when it comes to the A’s… although the biggest news is probably that the team somewhat likely to consider maybe signing Barry Bonds to a one or two year deal, the A’s, is probably going to be a little hesitant… and I can’t blame them. No need to have your DH taking a season off to serve his jail sentence. Although, if I know Billy Beane at all, this is actually the kind of deal that is prime for him. I mean, how cheap does the homerun king come with this indictment floating around? I bet you could knock a few mil off his contract easy and put in a “no jail” clause. Now, I won’t be a huge fan of Barry Bonds on the A’s unless he at least pretends to show some remorse a la Jason Giambi (a few tears wouldn’t hurt Barry… just a few), but it won’t stop me from being a fan of the team. It will be a little emotionally straining though to have one of the guys I think the least of in professional sports hitting cleanup on the team I think the most of.

Goodbye Mr. Clutch
I don’t know why, but I have always been a fan of Marco Scutaro since he joined the team in 2004. The reason why? Well, let’s take 2007 for example: in 86 games Marco started at five different positions for the A’s: left field, right field, third base, shortstop, and second base. And considering the health of Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez in the past two years, he has been a great asset for the team. So I can’t say I’m thrilled with the recent trade to the Blue Jays, but whatever. The A’s have 24 year old utility infielder Donnie Murphy ready for his shot, so this frees up a roster spot and a little bit of salary (his salary was going to jump from $340k in 2006 to $1.55mil in 2007).

In return, the A’s get two minor league pitchers… neither seem to be much in terms of prospects… but I suppose that anything can happen and they are both groundball pitchers who tend to be much cheaper than strikeout artists, so that would be right up the alley of a team who looks for “value players”.

Who Wants Chavez? I’ll Throw In A 1974 Chevy And A Dozen Bagels!
Okay, so this is probably a little late, but Eric Chavez, in a rich third base market, has decided that he will waive his no trade clause to “help” the A’s. More like Chavez wants to get out of Oakland’s rebuilding year(s), but its more like thanks, but no thanks. Chavez just finished off his career-worst season followed by three - count ‘em - three surgeries this offseason. I suppose that some teams like the Twins might be interested in seeing how cheap Chavez can be had, but there is no way that with his salary and injury history that the A’s are going to get much in return. The only thing that I can think of is if they can package him with someone like Danny Haren or Joe Blanton and send him down to LA where they seem to be down on Andy LaRoche… a guy who is a patient hitter in the perfect mold of the A’s system beliefs. I think that if the A’s are truly going to rebuild this year and are serious about trading Haren or Blanton, they might be able to get the Dodgers top pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw, who probably won’t be ready for at least another year. If they can talk the Dodgers into Chavez, then Blanton-Chavez for LaRoche-Kershaw would be absolutely perfect for the A’s… so it’s probably not going to happen.

Knowing the A’s though, they’ll make trades early, and sign some unsigned guys late… so expect a few more trades to come… and thus a few more Elephant Walks in the near future.