Excerpt: "Clever A's Header Here"

"What the A's have done, though, is used the talent at their disposal to execute a baseball plan. Their park has a big outfield? Get pitchers who throw fly balls. Their pitchers throw fly balls? Get outfielders who can chase them down. The park kills batting average? Don't worry about strikeouts for hitters. The park is fair for home runs? Get batters who will hit the long ball. The farm system has gone a bit dry? Build an entire roster on the trade market. Just 1.3% of the A's plate appearances this year are by players they drafted, and most of those are by guys who were reacquired in trade (Kurt Suzuki) or have been dealt away (Grant Green). The A's are winning because the secondary prospects in deals -- Josh Donaldson, Derek Norris, Eric Sogard -- have panned out -- and because they've free-talented their way to Bartolo Colon and Brandon Moss and Nate Freiman and Grant Balfour. Moss is the evolutionary Geronimo Berroa."