FanHouse Mark Ellis

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."

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Adam Kennedy: 5-for-7. Mark Ellis: 4-for-6. Orlando Cabrera, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew: 3-for-5 each. Six other players with two hits. Five more with a single hit. 35 in all, and nary a home run to be found. Boston's Clay Buchholz and Oakland's Vin Mazzaro each gave up nine hits in the game, and Boston was able to piece together five runs in the third to end up with a 6-2 lead after six innings. But as they say, that's when things got interesting.

The A's, whose infield has been ravaged by injuries, have acquired former ALCS MVP Adam Kennedy from the Rays for a player to be named. Kennedy, 33, was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento as a paper move because he wasn't expected to arrive in time for Friday's game. He will be with the big league club on Saturday, and he's expected to be in the starting lineup at second base.

Kennedy was hitting .280 at Triple-A Durham. Last year he was the Cardinals everyday second baseman, hitting .280 in 115 games. A veteran of 10 years in the majors, Kennedy is best known for his time with the Angels, from 2000-06. In 2002, he won the MVP of the ALCS. The Angels went on to win the World Series.

Kennedy would provide some insurance for the A's, who have second baseman Mark Ellis, third baseman Eric Chavez and utilityman Nomar Garciaparra on the disabled list.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Indians offense apparently busts out every 10 days, just like clockwork.

Cleveland scored 22 runs at Yankee Stadium on April 18 – and then scored 23 total in the next eight games.

The offense reversed course again Tuesday as the Tribe rallied from deficits of 5-1 and 7-3 to win 9-8 on a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and end Boston's 11-game winning streak.

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NEW YORK -- You pretty much have to hate your offense to bring your infield in with the score tied 0-0 in the bottom of the second inning and the other team's No. 9 hitter at the plate. But while Bob Geren obviously wouldn't admit to such dramatic motivation, that is what he did Tuesday night against the Yankees. And he did cite his team's offensive struggles as the reason for the move.

"The way we've been scoring runs, we just wanted to not give up a weak run right there with the 9-hitter up," the Oakland A's manager said after his team's 5-3 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Just Geren's luck, the A's gave up two runs right there as Brett Gardner grounded a single past second baseman Mark Ellis. And just like that, Oakland was staring up a hill. And these A's don't have what it takes to do the climbing.

OAKLAND -- Terry Francona was having one of those mornings.

Not only was his team reeling from its worst eight-game start in 13 years, but he had just hours earlier milked 11 innings out of his bullpen and had to put Daisuke Matsuzaka on the disabled list. The pitcher who was coming from Triple-A to take Matsuzaka's spot was traveling all the way from Rochester, with no chance of arriving in Oakland by the start of the game.

So the Red Sox manager was somewhat heartened when Tim Wakefield stopped by his office with a message.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Oakland Athletics.

There's been an awful lot said about the non-traditional stylings of A's GM Billy Beane over the years, but his greatest asset is an absolute refusal to see players as anything more than they are. While teams like the Yankees and Red Sox pay too much to aging veterans because of ties to the franchise and other clubs clutch prospects like gold bars with absolute values, Beane coldly uses players like the assets they are before moving onto a new batch.

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.

Meet the...
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.

Who said you can't go back home again? While Derek Lowe pines for a return to Boston, it seems some of the Oakland A's are hoping for a reunion with Jason Giambi, who's once again a free agent after seven years in the Bronx.

Mark Ellis, who just signed a two-year extension, lobbied for Giambi on Saturday, and Eric Chavez seconded the idea on Sunday. From Susan Susser of the San Francisco Chronicle:

"I think it's a great fit," Chavez said. "I don't know if it will happen or not, and I don't know what the shape of the team will be, but Jason has had productive seasons in New York and there's no doubt he could still be a good hitter. And he'd be a big hit in the clubhouse.

"Every time I watch him, it seems like he comes up with a big hit or a home run."

I hate to pluck the same low-hanging fruit as Steve Lombardi from Was Watching, but what was Chavez watching? Giambi had a fine season by traditional (32 home runs, 96 RBI) and non-traditional metrics (130 OPS+) alike, but if there's one thing he didn't do was shine in the clutch: he hit just .216 (.707 OPS) with two outs and a runner in scoring position and .155 (.596 OPS) late and close.

When I first found out yesterday that the Oakland Athletics had traded Rich Harden to the Cubs, my first reaction was "Why?" I didn't even know who Oakland had gotten in return from the Cubs, and already the deal didn't make that much sense to me. Then I heard who the A's got, and the deal made even less sense to me.

Don't get me wrong, I think Matt Murton has the potential to flourish in Oakland as he's finally found an organization that can appreciate what he's capable of (Matt has struggled this season, but does still have a career OPS of .810 without ever getting regular playing time), and Sean Gallagher could end up being a very effective pitcher for the Athletics. Eric Patterson is probably just an insurance plan should Mark Ellis not re-sign with the team after the season, as the A's are pretty thin at second base in the minors, and I don't know anything about John Donaldson.

But why now, Billy Beane? Why pull the trigger on this deal when your team is only five games out of first place in the AL West, and only 3.5 behind Boston for the wild card? There is no way that Beane can honestly think his team has a better shot at making the playoffs this season without Rich Harden.

Yet, while on the surface this deal makes absolutely no sense to me, I also realize that Beane knows what he's doing and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's just tired of being held hostage by Harden's injury history and is tired of having to build a team around a pitcher who may or may not be available at any given time. If you look at Beane's history of letting his pitchers go, he seems to have great timing, as Mark Mulder and Barry Zito have never been the same since leaving the bay area.

It's still way too early to tell if this was a mistake or not, but I have to say, at the moment I don't think this was one of Beane's finest moment.