MVN: Most Valuable Network

It came down to the wire, but the Oakland front office was able to work out a deal with right-hander Brett Hunter.

The seventh-round pick out of Pepperdine had some signability issues related to his injury history, which dropped him from a probable first or second round talent to the seventh. He missed a large part of the 2008 college season with forearm and elbow soreness, but the A's obviously believed that he'd be able to rebound from that and perform at his talent level.

From the A's site:

"He's got a premium arm and was one of the premium picks in the Draft, and we took him understanding he's not fully healthy right now," A's scouting director Eric Kubota said in June.

With Hunter now in the fold, the A's have signed all of their top 10 picks, one of the few clubs able to boast such success. Overall, the A's have signed 27 of their 50 selections, slightly down from drafts of years past.

Oakland will be awarded compensation picks in the approproate rounds for the selections that failed to sign. The highest rounds will be 12th (for Zac Elgie), 17th (for Brad Glenn) and 18th (for Rayan Gonzalez).

Tyson Ross, the big man from Cal with the unconventional delivery, returns from the disabled list on Wednesday. The 2008 second-round draft pick hasn't logged many professional innings yet, which he'll need if Oakland is going to try to refine his motion. Ross, who was orginally placed on the DL on July 1st with a right shoulder injury, is set to start the resumption of a July 7th game that was suspended in Cedar Rapids due to rain. In five innings of relief work, Ross has struck out five, walked none, and allowed just one earned run. UPDATE: I talked with Ross after his outing on Wednesday (2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 0 BB), and he told me just what Oakland is changing with his upright, unusual delivery -- not much. "During my time on the DL, I have been working to clean up my mechanics to... Read more

At this point, Stockton's Chris Carter has to be taken seriously. When the big man came over to the Oakland organization as part of the Dan Haren haul, he was noted for just one thing -- power. There were questions about Carter's defensive chops at first. Would he have to be relagated to simply a DH this early in his career? There were questions about his stirikeout rate. Can a guy who struck out in one-fourth of his at-bats in the low minors actually progress? While those questions about Carter are still relevant, they're less of a concern now. Carter has shown he can play a passable third base, and is just fine across the infield at first. He still strikes out a lot, but he's walking more. The biggest point in Carter's favor, though, is his continued destruction of the ball. While his contact rate is a little low,... Read more

Tuesday's Midwest League game between the Peoria Chiefs and the Kane County Cougars wasn't your average Class A minor-league matchup. For one, over 32,000 people showed up. Why did so many turn out for a minor-league game, more than doubling the previous MWL attendance record? Well, the contest was held in Chicago's famed Wrigley Field. That probably had something to do with the crowd. While the game itself wasn't all that remarkable -- other than being forced into a suspension by rain with the score knotted at six in the ninth inning -- it was the circumstances of the game that were notable. In the 94-year history of the venerable bricks and ivy ballpark, this was the first recorded minor-league game. Never before had ballplayers like these played a regulation game inside the friendly confines. Sadly, although I had planned on attending the historic event in person, circumstances out of... Read more

In Monday night's 11-inning, 7-6 win by the Vancouver Canadians, outfielder Jeremy Barfield had the best game of his budding professional career. Barfield, an 8th-round selection of the A's in the 2008 draft, brother of Josh and son of Jesse, went 4-for-6 with a double, a homer and four RBI. The homer was Barfield's first as a professional, breaking a 33-game homerless drought to start his career. The right-handed slugger, who throws left (a quirk picked up from Rickey Henderson, one of his dad's teammates on the early 90s Yankees), is now hitting .254/.297/.354/.651 on the season, but a slow start in June is holding down his numbers. Since turning 20 on July 12th, Barfield has been hitting much better: .294/.357/.431/.788. The 6-5 slugger has so far been held in check by the expanse of Nat Bailey Park, but is only going to keep hitting better. I caught up with... Read more

Gio Gonzalez had a rough start for the River Cats on Sunday, giving up three earned runs in four innings after walking five and striking out just two. Gonzalez had a run of four excellent start from the end of June through mid-July, but his last two have been short and sour. Overall, his 4.54 ERA and 119:58 strikeout-to-walk ratio are ok for the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but they're a little disappointing for a top prospect like Gonzalez. Outfielder Aaron Cunningham, another off-season trade acquisition, has been hitting out of his mind in Midland lately. The 22-year-old is hitting .450 over his last ten games, and has a stellar line of .315/.384/.500/.884 with 11 homers in 308 at-bats. He's obviously back to full strength after breaking his wrist in spring training, and is probably ready to move up to AAA when an outfield spot opens up. Right-hander Trevor... Read more

The Kane County Cougars received some reinforcements from Arizona and Vancouver, and talented ones at that. Left-hander Carlos Hernandez, who I just witnessed pitch in Vancouver on the 21st, makes the jump to the Midwest League after posting a 1.82 ERA with 38 strikeouts and seven walks in 39.2 innings. The 21-year-old didn't allow more than two earned runs in any of his seven starts with the Canadians. Hernandez was originally drafted out of high school in Santa Clara, Calif., in the 35th round in 2006. While his stuff isn't overpowering, with a 88-mph fastball, Hernandez has good control of it, and throws a good curveball and changeup. The other player who earned his promotion to Kane County was 2008 third-round draft pick Petey Paramore. The catcher out of Arizona State put up a .364/.563/.455/1.017 line in 22 at-bats for the AZL A's. The switch-hitter walked ten times and only... Read more

I'm still here in Vancouver, B.C., ready to take in another Canadians baseball game. After taking last night's contest 3-2, Vancouver no longer has the worst record in the Northwest League. The Canadians are now ahead of both the Eugene Emeralds and the Yakima Bears -- tonight's opponent. Tonight's starting pitcher is Carlos Hernandez, who comes into the game with a much better chance of winning than Ryne Tacker did last night. Tacker has been the goat of the staff so far -- last night's three-hit, one run, six walk, two strikeout performance was probably his best of the year. Hernandez, on the other hand, enters the game with a 2.20 ERA and a 33:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 33.2 innings pitched. The 21-year-old southpaw from Santa Clara, Calif., has a 1.10 WHIP and is holding opponents to a .238 batting average. First pitch is just after 7 p.m. pacific time,... Read more

Hello all, I'm up here in the Great White North to catch some baseball. The Vancouver Canadians, the A's short-season affiliate, are set to take on the Yakima Bears in about half an hour. The stadium here is beautiful. Nat Bailey is an historic old ballpark, and reminds me very much of the Durham Bulls park in the classic movie "Bull Durham." The outfield wall is wooden, and plastered with local ads for bars, hot dogs, beer, construction companies and radio stations. There's a big wooden A&W root beer mug above the left-center wall -- if a home run hits it, every fan gets a free A&W. The stands at Nat Bailey are mostly bleacher seating, with a few rows of box seats near the field. The press box is located on the roof, and there's an amazing view of downtown Vancouver with the mountains behind. Baseball doesn't seem to... Read more

In the seven games catcher Josh Donaldson has played for the Stockton Ports since being traded, he's hit four homers, gone 11-for-26 for a .423 average, has 11 runs batted in, and has pretty much done as he wishes at the plate. He had six homers in 235 at-bats in the Midwest League, and has almost that many in a week in the more advanced California League. Apparently a change of scenery was exactly what the 22-year-old needed. Donaldson's strength is his bat, and his .217/.276/.349/.625 line in 63 games with Dayton wasn't exactly encouraging. In just 26 at-bats, he's managed to raise his season OPS more than 50 points. Did Stockton hitting coach Tim Garland figure out something in Donaldson's swing? Perhaps the hot hitting of Chris Carter, Matt Sulentic, Josh Horton and the other Ports rubbed off on the righty from Auburn. It would be foolish to think... Read more

Well, the trade rumors surrounding Kentucky Joe Blanton have finally led to an actual trade. Blanton and his disappointing 4.96 ERA are now Philadelphia Phillies property, and in return the A's get some very decent minor-league talent. The A's got a good left-handed pitcher, one very interesting young middle infielder and a fairly unexciting minor-leaguer. The first prospect included in Philadelphia's package is second-baseman Adrian Cardenas. The 20-year-old, selected No. 37 overall in the first round of the 2006 draft, is hitting .309/.374/.444/.818 with four homers and 16 stolen bases in 259 at-bats this season for high-A Clearwater in the Florida State League. He was named to last year's Futures Game, ostensibly making him one of the top prospects in baseball. Cardenas was named the second-best prospect in the Phillies system by Baseball America before this season, after Carlos Carrasco and above Joe Savery. In addition, he was chosen by... Read more