Oakland re-signed Ricardo Rincon yesterday. Rincon reportedly agreed to two-year, $3.65M contract, which will pay him $1.75M in 2004 and $1.9M in 2005. While the 33-year-old remained effective last season, his skills moved in a disturbing direction. Between 2002 and 2003, Rincon's strikeout rate dropped from 7.88 to 6.51. More troubling was the rise in his walk rate from a fantastic 1.8 BB/9 in 2002 to 5.2 BB/9 in 2003. He's always been a flyball pitcher, though he's never had a problem with home runs. Additionally over the last two-years, his effectiveness against right-handed batters has declined, so Oakland may need to reduce his role to that of a specialist before this contract expires. He could continue to perform effectively for the Athletics, but given his age and the slippage in his skills, I don't believe Oakland should have undertaken this multi-million dollar investment in Rincon.

While Oakland didn't select anyone in the major league portion of Monday's Rule 5 draft, the A's dealt a player to be named later to the Mets for LHP Frank Brooks, who New York selected from Pittsburgh. You may remember that Brooks was the pitcher the Pirates acquired from Philadelphia for Mike Williams this summer. Shortly after he joined the Pirates' organization, Pittsburgh promoted Brooks from AA Altoona in the Eastern League to AAA Nashville in the Pacific Coast League, where he compiled a 22:11 K:BB with 22 H and 2 HR allowed in 28.1 IP for a 2.54 ERA over 16 IP.

The Pirates' appalling roster management led the team to lose five players in the Rule 5 draft. Brooks was the third of those five, who were among the first six players taken in the draft. Although Pittsburgh is fairly adept at signing quality AAAA talent to fill their bullpen, if they weren't going to give Brooks the protection of a 40-man roster slot, the Pirates at least could have shopped him for a younger player ineligible for the Rule 5 draft. I hope New York picked up something of value from the A's, as otherwise they might as well have kept the promising young lefty reliever for themselves.

Given the rumors of an Arthur Rhodes signing on the horizon and Oakland's acquisition of Rincon, the Athletics may eventually decide not to keep Brooks. However, if kept in the majors, he appears to possess the skills to contribute.