Seriously - that might be the best headline I've seen in a while... good one!

David knows his islets.

Beane does like the OBPs. Langerhans (not the islets) has put up a couple decent numbers in the majors - .348 in 2005, .350 in 2006 - after a career .351 in the minors. Beane may figure that a dose of the A's plate-discipline-or-else approach may produce even better numbers. Which might make Langerhans useful at the top or the very bottom of the order.

Just noticed that Oakland has slid all the way to second-last in OBP in the AL. Only Texas, at .308, is keeping Oakland out of the cellar at .309. Whatever happened to moneyball?

So maybe Beane figures that any guy who's capable of a .350 OBP is worth a shot. Oakland has fallen a long way from their fifth-place finishes in OBP in 2004 and 2005.

Langerhans is supposed to be a very good defender as well, which certainly helps.

Michael Lewis (or somebody) commented on this last year, I think. Basically, the gist of his remarks were that a high on-base percentage was no longer a systematically undervalued characteristic of major leaguers, and therefore, the market inefficiency that Beane had initially exploited was no longer practical for him to focus on. I think he suggested that defense was one of the characteristics that had become comparatively undervalued instead and that the A's appeared to have become more interested in that. The Langerhans deal would certainly fit in there.

Or maybe he's just exploiting the tendency to undervalue guys who have really lousy starts.

Don't know about market inefficiencies, but if you can't get people on base, it's hard to score much. The A's can't like being near the bottom in OBP, and Langerhans has shown a knack for getting on base. So why not take a shot? Apparently, the price was negligible, so the club won't lose a lot if the deal doesn't work.

I don't think this has much to do with offense.

When you have your utility infielder and a AA call up playing in the outfield and no true center fielder available, it's time to make a move. If Milton and Kotsay ever remain healthy I don't expect to see much of Langerhans.

Besides, the A's offense can't get any worse, right?

I've watched Langerhans his entire career. He has showed signs of coming out of a hrrendous slump to start the season. He is much better than that. He is a PHENOMENAL defensive outfielder. Along with Andruw Jones and Francoeur, when Langerhans was in left, the Braves had the best defensive outfield in MLB. He is was also excellent in relief of Jones in center.

although i am not a braves fan and haven't watched ryan near as much as IO, i gotta agree. langerhans is an OUTSTANDING glove. excellent jumps, excellent range. not much in the way of the web gem last second stuff neither because he gets there on time.

i'd put him in center because he's gonna vacuum bout everything out there.

yeh, not much bat but sometimes SOMEone gotta catch the darn baseballs

Langerhans played most of his games in left field last year. He had the best zone rating (.932) of any LF with more than 100 games played, and only one error. Range factor wasn't quite so good because he had few assists.

So his glove is definitely a plus. Throw in a possible .350 OBP and a low price, and it's not a bad pickup.