A's in 2005

[Baseball=Life]

The Atlanta Braves have of course won 14 division titles in a row, unprecendented in any of the modern pro sports for a franchise. Well in the last few years, they've managed to win despite losing big names in the off seasons. They've done it with the help of career years by Andruw Jones, and the crop of rookies.

Charles Thomas was one of those (older-27) rookies that carried the Atlanta Braves in the Fall stretch run for the 2004 NL West. He hit .288 for the Bravos, with 7 Home Runs in only 236 at-bats (.445 SLG) after the all-star break. He came over to the A's in the Tim Hudson trade. The A's also got lefty starting pitcher Dan Meyer, who spent 2005 in the minors doing poorly after an arm injury. Meyer may still pan out as a prospect though.

Anyway, Charles Thomas was on the A's for 46 at-bats last year, but he only hit .250 and didn't have any extra base hits or stolen bases. He went 0 for his first 25, actually, among the worst starts for any player in MLB in 2005. He also didn't do that well in Sacramento when he got sent down there, hitting only .227 in 277 at-bats. I think he's still going to be the starting RF for the RiverCats in 2006 though. (?)

Another disappointment with Thomas was the fact that he didn't do that well defensively for the A's in the outfield. I remember him making amazing catches in LF for the Braves, so much Bobby Cox called him the "best defensive OF" he had seen while managing the Braves over that streak...

Edit: added a lot more detail to this post.......

Also, we need to start up this thread for the 2006 A's!

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