Yoenis Cespedes, former Oakland A

Well, he’s gone, in exchange for a pitcher to compensate for the bad pitcher BB Boy (Billy Beane) bought from Chicago (Hammel: a pig in a poke if I ever saw one, and a slightly better pig in a slightly better poke in Smurza) and a batter that is past his prime and not anywhere near the calibre of Cespedes. Billy has World Series Fever in the worst way. That’s like going for broke at the craps table when you haven’t paid last month’s mortgage payment.

Oakland was a team with heart, brains, moxie, humor and love of the game. They are now a lop-sized agglomeration of strangers that will not be a team. The leftovers (with a nod to the HBO show) are already playing hurt, and they’ll stop trying as hard. They’re off today, but wait and see what happens tomorrow. Billy’s gonna get himself fired over these moves, and the firing will be generated by the fans who came to embrace sabermetrics. Sabermetrics – remember what that is, Billy? Guess not. Too bad.

Not sure if I’ll watch their demise. Depends on how the writing goes. I feel like I can wrap up Matryoshka in the next month or so. Then I will start working on a couple of projects. The outline for the flu story is one (already here in the Writing tab). I have another idea for a longer story that has a working title of “Who Killed Kitty Genovese?” Betcha don’t know or remember (if old enuf) who she is. Google her and see if there ain’t a story there. ‘Cause I’m gonna have plenty of time now that I don’t have to devote 18 to 20 hours a week watching Oakland struggle. Qué lástima.