2008-11-21T09:00:03-05:00 Busy A's part of large group eyeing Furcal 2008-11-20T11:24:43-05:00 3 2008-11-20T11:24:43-05:00 1 1 10 2008-11-21T09:00:03-05:00 9 NY Turtles Brooklyn 419080 3 Do the A's have any kind of a plan? They trade two players in their prime (Swisher and Haren) plus a pitcher with upside (Blanton) all for prospects then trade some of those prospects for a rental (Holiday). Is Billy Beane high? 3406326 2008-11-20T18:37:12-05:00 3 MD trapstars82289 Centreville 610989 2 Im saying that if Furcal does go to the A's it still wont help them one bit.... i mean who are there starting pitchers?? Now that they dealt haren and harden last years they should be focusing their attention on pitching and starting to rebuild. Isn't Furcal in his 30's? if your rebuilding a team you should stick with Crosby because he has potential. Plus hasn't Furcal hit the DL multiple times in the past 3 to 4 years... i mean it just sounds like a waste of money for an AL team who is trying to rebuild.. 3403042 2008-11-20T12:17:32-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/768/25/thumb/untitled.bmp 503 CA RaiderDave Dublin 77125 1 I really hope they sign Furcal, it could be another sign that things are changing. As mentioned in many other articles, Bobby Crosby's production can very easily be replaced. He's a good guy, but is constantly injured, and doesn't produce as he should. And the Giambi thing sounds like a nice story, but he doesn't really fit on the A's. The guy is definitely only a DH at this point, and the A's already have many players capable of that, at much lower salaries. I'm not sure that Giambi's production would be worth the cost of bringing him in, and I don't just mean monetarily. 3397416 3 <p>Multitalented free-agent shortstop <strong>Rafael Furcal</strong> is being pursued by the Giants, A's,&nbsp;Dodgers and Cubs, with his former Braves team telling them they'd jump in if <strong>Yunel Escobar</strong> was included in a trade for San Diego Padres ace <strong>Jake Peavy</strong>. Furcal had a very interesting platform year for the Dodgers before becoming a free agent. He missed four months with a back injury but came back in time for the postseason.&nbsp; He finished&nbsp;the year with a&nbsp;.357 batting average and .439 on-base percentage in 36 regular-season games. He batted .258 while playing in all eight of the Dodgers' playoff games.</p> <p>The A's are a surprising force this winter after starting what appeared to be a rebuilding program last season. A's GM <strong>Billy Beane</strong> wants to add more strong hitters to surround new star <strong>Matt Holliday</strong>, and Furcal could be one. Former A's star <strong>Jason Giambi</strong> could be another, but Beane said their hiring of former Giambi trainer/manservant <strong>Bob Alejo</strong> should not necessarily be seen as a precursor to a return for Giambi, who managed to hit fine last year with the Yankees without Alejo.</p> 25145 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/100/64/thumb/Heyman_Jon.png 0 NY Jon Heyman New York 10084