#AskSpector: Are the A's really having a fire sale?

Written By Jesse Spector
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It's the last #AskSpector Tweetbag before Christmas! Not that there won't be an #AskSpector Tweetbag after Christmas, and not that the #AskSpector Tweetbag has anything to do with Christmas at all, but it is a statement of fact that this is the last time that I will be answering your questions before the holiday celebrating the birth of the cenral figure separating Christianity from Judaism. Measurements of time are relative to how we perceive time. So, please enjoy these questions and answers, then send your own questions on Twitter, using the #AskSpector hashtag.

You may have fallen into Billy Beane's trap, which will make him happy if you are, in fact, another American League West team. The A's have gotten rid of some very talented players in Josh Donaldson, Derek Norris and Jeff Samardzija, in additon to losing key free agents like Jon Lester, but this is not a fire sale. If it was a fire sale, you would see Scott Kazmir on the move, among others.

Oakland has added depth at the back end of the rotation in trades, still has a quality bullpen, and now has financial flexibility to add a bat at left field or second base. A lot of what happens with the A's in 2015 will depend on how A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker are when they return from surgery, but the A's have put themselevs in position to have several players under team control for years to come who can help them, while making calculated risks on the players they have dealt.

Has Donaldson peaked, while Brett Lawrie still has room to grow? Is it better to have Samardzija for one year, and lose him as a free agent, or to stabilize the middle infield with Marcus Semien, while also adding other pieces? Was Norris at the top of his trade value?

It's a large-scale gamble, but when you think about it in the short and long term, it makes a good deal of sense to have done what Beane has done this winter, especially if there are additions still to come for 2015, and there should be.

Now that Matt Kemp has been traded, the Dodgers shipping out Andre Ethier has to be seen as less likely, and there is one less viable option because San Diego has invested so much in bringing in so many outfielders. I still see where Ethier could be viewed as expendable on a team with Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Carl Crawford, Scott Van Slyke and Chris Heisey. The question on moving Ethier is how much money the Dodgers would be willing to eat. He's entering his age-33 season, and has $53.5 million due over the next three eyars, plus a $17.5 million vesting option for his age-36 season in 2018. That is pretty hefty for somebody who never in his career has been a 4 WAR player, and is coming off a 0 WAR year in which he hit .249/.322/.370 with four home runs. There are teams who need outfielders, like Baltimore and Oakland, but with the surplus of outfielders available from other teams, Ethier hardly ranks as a good option for those clubs. He will be tough to move, which, really, is why Kemp is on the Padres now.

With a new GM, the Padres have been willing to be aggressive in making trades, and had a lot of farm system depth to deal from. The Mets have taken a more conservative approach, and Cuddyer and Mayberry fit needs for New York, Most importantly, though, San Diego looks like it is willing to spend much more money in 2015 than it has been in recent years. That allows for the addition of someone like Matt Kemp. If the Mets open the purse strings, they can get a real impact player, but with a very strong rotation, a solid bullpen, and a pretty deep lineup, they're already a playoff contender. I still think Troy Tulowitzki is worth exploring, even if it means sacrificing top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. With a rotation of Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Bartolo Colon, and either Jon Niese or Dillon Gee, the Mets should be right in the thick of things. The addition of Tulowitzki (and yes, he's a health risk, but a worthwhile one - and either Wilmer Flores or Ruben Tejada would be a suitable backup) would make the Mets more than just a contender for a playoff spot.

Catchers play the game at the intersection of hitting and pitching, and are the only players who spend the entire game looking out at the entire field as opposed to looking in at home plate from their position. It's more about being able to handle the challenges faced by both pitchers and position players, though.

No, it very much is not. Had the Twins not done it, they would run the "risk" of Hughes having a good season in 2015 and further pushing up his value. Is he really going to set the record for strikeout-to-walk ratio for the second straight year, though? That 11.63 from 2014 is the reason Hughes was as successful as he was. His career ratio entering 2014 was 2.68. Even having a season as remarkable as he did, Hughes still had a 3.52 ERA. For what it's worth, Hughes became the fourth pitcher to have a K/BB ratio of 9 or better, joining Curt Schilling (9.58 in 2002), Cliff Lee (10.28 in 2010), and Bret Saberhagen (11.00 in 1994). The next-best seasons for those guys were 7.51 for Schilling, 7.39 for Lee, and 7.36 for Saberhagen. If Hughes is in the 7.3-7.5 range, where do the rest of his numbers go? I'd say no thanks on that extension after one good year with a hellacious outlier that had a lot to do with it.

Boston's top starting pitcher right now is Rick Porcello. That is not going to be an attactive proposition to gamblers, and that is what oddsmaking is really all about - setting prices where gamblers will make the bet.

They should. The Padres have significantly upgraded their lineup, which figures to make them a playoff contender, given that they sacrificed none of their good pitching to make the deals happen. With the chance to use surplus outfielders to acquire more depth, I expect the Padres to be a contender for the wild card in 2015. That does not mean it will happen, but that is what I expect.

Swapping a spare catcher for some help in the bullpen, at second base, or a fourth outfielder would make a lot of sense. I'd also like to see a rotation upgrade to really make me believe in Toronto, but have my doubts about that actually happening.

It could be Jose Pirela. It could be Rob Refsnyder. It could be you! In an infinite number of alternate universes, it is all of these people, and also Robinson Cano, and also a dolphin who has learned to walk on land and play baseball.

Next to the Kodos. Always next to the Kodos.

I don't even know if he's a real option at shortstop. Maybe he'll be great. Maybe he'll be terrible. I don't know, and that is why getting a player with an established career in another part of the world always is risky. This is not just something that applies to baseball. Look at Diego Forlan's soccer career - great in a lot of countries, but the English league just wasn't his thing. There's always that element of risk, that it just doesn't work.

As is always the case for an international sporting tournament, I am picking the United States of America to triumph.

I will not. How come nobody wants to talk about how I picked all of the National League playoff teams correctly? Huh? Huh?

Brooks scored within the framework of the game. Oshie's shootout performance was memorable, but, alas, in a shootout. That makes this a pretty easy call in Brooks' favor.

The sooner, the better. It's cold in New York. If the Padres would be so kind as to name me their assistant bullpen coach, I could live in San Diego and be comfortable. Also, I would get to say things like, "Good job being a bullpen, bullpen! You're sure bullpenning well!"

In 2014, the average number of pitches per plate appearance was 3.82, with team averages ranging from the Brewers at 3.65 to the Red sox at 4.05. For pitchers, the averages ranged from the Pirates and Twins at 3.72 pitches per plate appearances to the Rays at 3.97. I could not find averages by place in the batting order, but hitters who see a lot of pitches tend to bat high in the order - the top five in the majors (among qualifiers) were Mike Trout (4.44), Brett Gardner (4.43), Matt Carpenter (4.36), Carlos Santana (4.30) and Adam Dunn (4.29). Free swingers can also hit high in the order, like Jose Altuve (3.11). The rest of the bottom five was Adeiny Hechavarria (3.33), Erick Aybar (3.33), Andrelton Simmons (3.34) and Salvador Perez (3.34).

I think you go with a stuffed elephant to start.

Clementines. Oranges are horrible to eat. You peel them, and they've got that weird interior skin, plus a bunch of seeds. Everything about the clementine is superior.

In a situation like this, nobody wins. Somehow, I wound up now wanting to see The Interview, just to see whether I would have found it objectionable, were I a third-world totalitarian dictator. Curiosity is something else, isn't it?

I would think it would be possible for Youppi! to do double duty between the Canadiens and a revived Expos franchise. Perhaps the return of baseball to Montreal would be a good time to expand the Youppi! family. If the Mets can have Mr. Met and Mrs. Met, why not?

Cookies. Lots of cookies. Thank you.

According to Spin Doctors, it is 4:30. It is not late. No, no. It is just early, early, early.

I do not.

It is highly unlikely that you do, but possible. I am not a doctor, nor am I in position to observe whether you have swollen glands.

I'll probably watch four or five from start to finish, but at least some of as many bowl games as I can, especially if they are close at the end - I'll track the scores and flip over to anything that looks like it will have an exciting finish. Over the weekend, I saw some of the Las Vegas Bowl, some of the New Mexico Bowl, and the majority of the Potato Bowl.

Die Hard. No, wait, that's my favorite Christmas movie. Well, I guess then it's Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, with its classic lyrics...

Song from Die Hard! Song from Die Hard! It's the song from Die-ie Hard! John McClane just killed Hans Gru-ber! Pushed him out the win-in-dow!

The song goes on after that, but if that little snippet doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will.

I have no idea. I have never seen Caillou. I have heard that it is horrible. Funny thing about TV for really little kids: they have no idea what anything is unless you introduce it. I do not plan to introduce my child to Caillou. I try to stick to Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, though some Barney gets in the mix for screen time, too.

No, this is a terrible lsit. Cheesesteak is a specific sandwich, as is Reuben. The others are categories of sandwiches, and ANYTHING can be a breakfast sandwich if you make it one. Whoever made this list should be embarrassed with their slipshod job of list-making, and I would not trust them to make anything, including a sandwich.

I had a talk show on my college TV station, and I do not remember who the first guest was. I think it was a swimmer - the show was about sports other than football and basketball - but I don't remember if that was the first guest or not. It was a short-lived show, because I found out that the college newspaper had a policy that you could not write for the paper and appear on other media, which seems like an insane policy today. Anyway, I chose to keep writing for the newspaper, and stayed on as the producer of QuakerTalk, handing off hosting duties to Michael Jordan and Jed Ryan. They put on a more entertaining show, and the result was that when we played a TV vs. newspaper basketball game at the end of the year at the Palestra, Jordan played for UTV and absolutely destroyed us.

Not that I can think of, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. It's very hard to remember the occasions of outrage that weren't worth outrage among so very many occasions of outrage that were and are 100 percent worthy of it.

The Maple Leafs get far too much attention as the team in Canada's biggest market to be compared to Newcastle. I can't think of an NHL team that represents pure evil, so I'm not sure that there is a direct comparison available.

Yes. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

I was on Avenue R in Brooklyn yesterday, and there was a house whose extravagant display - the only one on the block - included a custom song playing on loop (and available on your own headphones if you tuned to 88.5 FM) whose closing lyric was "the house on Avenue R!" They got a song about their own house and incorporated it into their Christmas display. Now, to be fair, this house has had over-the-top displays as long as I can remember, and my grandparents have lived nearby my whole life. I can see getting annoyed if I lived next door, but I live one block from a street where Christmas songs are blasted over loudspeakers all day long to encourage people to run inside the stores to get away from the terrible music and spend money on goods and services. At least, I think that's the point. Just keep humming the song from Die Hard to yourself and persevere for a few more days. If that display isn't cut off by Dec. 27, though, you are within your rights to file an anonymous noise complaint with the police.

Yes, you can ask about whatever you want.

You've got to see what's in there. Was it just normal snot up your nose? Is your nose bloody at all? Was it a weird color and mucusy, maybe indicating that you're sick? Was it a weird color and waxy, indicating that the crayon you stuck up your nose several years ago has started to melt and break up? There is no way to get the answers you need, short of investigating that tissue.

Obviously, yes. The last time Sunderland lost to Newcastle was the game I attended at the Stadium of Light in 2011. So long as I stay out of England, I expect the Black Cats' dominance to continue.

It already happened! Here is my review of the Mets broadcast crew. They're great.

I feel that Pink Floyd made some good music that people elevate to the level of great music when they have recently discovered marijuana. I graduated college in 2002, so I feel that Pink Floyd made some good music.

These are not mutually exclusive options, and quite honestly I don't see why the answer can't be both, including in the current world where we live. Jose Canseco could still wind up knocking out Vai Sikahema, and he only needs to shoot off eight more fingers to get to nine. He's 11 percent of the way there.

It has just finished for this time, but it will be back after Christmas, as promised at the beginning of this column.