FanHouse Bobby Crosby

Remember Bobby Crosby? Guy won the Rookie of the Year in 2004. Looked like a star in the making. Frankly, it was his presence that pushed the A's toward letting Miguel Tejada go and instead signing Eric Chavez to a long-term deal.

Now that Crosby is finishing out the final year of his five-year, $12.75-million deal, his father, Ed, has unloaded on the organization that employs his son and used to employ him. A former A's scout, Ed Crosby told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that the A's, specifically general manager Billy Beane, have treated his son unfairly.

OAKLAND -- Infielders and former infielders around the majors have long admired Adrian Beltre for his Gold Glove play at third base.

Now, many of them are looking at Beltre with a different kind of disbelief.

"I can't believe a guy is playing third base without a cup," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a former All-Star shortstop. "That's ballsy. That's a dangerous place, especially third base."

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

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Most average team in the league. It's weird, because there don't seem to be many real weaknesses on team -- but can you really find a bunch of strengths? I hate the term "very average," but this team is pretty close to the mean across the board. As you scroll through ADP charts, you'll find the A's aren't often towards the top of the lists, but they are definitely there. As I said, average.

If there's a hermetically sealed cocoon somewhere far, far away, with armed guards and barricades positioned out front, I'd advise Alex Rodriguez to take up residence there. And he really should stay for days, weeks, months, whatever is required for the karma police to stop haunting him. He seems to have ticked off someone of considerable importance, with his humiliating steroids confession now followed by a labrum tear of his right hip that threatens his season and career.

First he's lying, now he's limping. And nobody's laughing anymore, because it's all quite creepy.

The Oakland Athletics have had a strange winter when you compare it to how they generally treat their offseason. Usually they spend the winter months trading away players in return for prospects to keep the low-budget team afloat and competitive. This year they've been adding veterans and payroll. They traded for Matt Holliday and signed Jason Giambi, then on Monday they signed Orlando Cabrera and are now on the verge of signing Nomar Garciaparra as well.

The latest moves seal Bobby Crosby's fate with the team. He has gone from being the starting shortstop in Oakland to a bench player the team hopes can be a "super sub." Crosby, though, is hoping to be traded.

Yet another Type A free agent has finally signed a contract with a team for 2009 after spending weeks negotiating. Dodgers fans, I'm sorry to report that it's not Manny Ramirez. He's still spending his time being insulted by the fact that the Dodgers only want to give him $25 million this year.

Instead it's shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who has finally agreed to a deal with the Oakland Athletics, signing a contract for one year and $4 million on Monday afternoon.

The A's really don't want Bobby Crosby to be their starting shortstop. Already this offseason they've tried their hardest to sign Orlando Cabrera and Rafael Furcal and placed Crosby on irrevocable waivers.

In the past month, they seemed resigned to sticking with their former shortstop of the future, but today John Heyman is reporting that the A's are again poking around the Cabrera market.

Heyman says that Cabrera's price would likely have to drop to about $5 million a year for Oakland, and that's a huge bargain given the upgrade he'd be over Crosby.

It must really suck to be Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby this morning. After having to deal with all the rumors that the Athletics were going to sign -- and thought they had signed -- free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, the deal fell through and Furcal went back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Crosby probably felt relief knowing that he was going to be keeping his job, and just when he started to feel good about himself again, the A's kick him when he's down.

Since the team missed out on Furcal, they've decided to turn their attention elsewhere and now, according to Jon Heyman, elsewhere would be Orlando Cabrera. It's not hard to blame Oakland for wanting to find a replacement for Crosby, as Bobby does have a tendency to go on the disabled list every time the wind changes direction, and he did put up an unimpressive line of .237/.296/.349 last season in 145 games. He also had the second worst season of his career defensively, committing 17 errors and seeing his range factor drop to a career low of 4.17.

In Cabrera the Athletics would not only be getting a Gold Glove shortstop, but also an improved offensive player, even if he is getting up there in age, at 34 years old. Not to mention, thanks to the many years he spent with the Angels he has a good knowledge of the teams in the AL West.

What confuses me about all of this, though, is the direction the Athletics are taking. Remember the good old days when the Athletics would trade their soon-to-be rich players for a truck full of prospects? Now the team is doing nothing but bringing in high-priced veterans. Sure, the Furcal deal fell through, but the team still managed to get Matt Holliday from the Rockies, brought Jason Giambi back, and now they're going after Cabrera. What's next? Andy Pettitte?

It's as if the bad economy is actually helping the A's compete on the open market.

It should've been clear when the A's entered the Rafael Furcal sweepstakes that they weren't entirely happy with Bobby Crosby manning the shortstop position for them. When the A's lost out on Furcal, everyone assumed the A's would press on with Crosby for the 2009 season. That's likely what will happen, but it doesn't mean the A's are just blindly accepting that path.

Today, Jon Becker is reporting that the A's placed Crosby on irrevocable waivers, meaning that any team in the league can claim him so long as they're willing to pay his $5.25 million salary next year for a guy who is injury prone (he's only played 150 games once in his career), a terrible hitter, and has really only been a decent fielder over the last three years.

If Crosby is claimed, the A's have a few options outside of the system to play short for them in 2009. They could always trade for the eternally available Jack Wilson, who's a similar hitter to Crosby but has a better glove. He's even more expensive than Crosby, though the Pirates would likely be willing to pay some off his salary to get a deal done. Beyond that theres's David Eckstein. Can you imagine what would happen if Billy Beane signed David Eckstein? Heads would explode. I don't even want to think about that.