30 A's in 30 Days – Bobby Crosby

Acquired: Drafted in 1st round, 2001.
Contract: Five years ($12.75M, total) thru 2009.
Position: "Naa…Naga…Not gonna work here anymore – ahahahaha!"

Projected BA/OBP/SLG: (.239/.303/.357)

Over/Under: Crosby was in the news earlier this year for a handful of offseason workouts held under the watchful eye of erstwhile slugger Mark McGwire. For five years, the Bay Area media has coddled Crosby with the "If he could only stay healthy" caveat and ignored that when Crosby's been healthy, he's one of the worst hitters in baseball (career: .239/.306/.380). Predictably, the McGwire story was PROOF that Crosby had turned the corner. He even homered in his first spring at-bat! After the last three execrable seasons, he cares – he finally cares! He…selfishly torpedoed his own trade value by demanding a trade after the A's signed Orlando Cabrera. I'm going with the UNDER. And, I'm ecstatic that it won't be in Oakland.

By the Numbers: 27 – Number of first-place votes Crosby received en route to winning the 2004 AL Rookie of the Year award. Quite the fertile freshman crop, including second place finisher Shingo Takatsu (35-year-old reliever whose big league career spanned two seasons) and perennial mediocrity Daniel Cabrera who finished third.

Surefire '09 Prediction: For all of the accolades Oakland's front office accrues, the one thing they don't get enough credit for is how deliciously vindictive they can be to a player who pisses on 'em in public. Even with the unfortunate – albeit totally expected – Eric Chavez injury news, Crosby's an expensive redundancy in a back-up role. The A's will wait until every other team's roster is set, before releasing Crosby at the end of Spring Training.