Gary Peterson

During his award (if not playoff series) winning tenure with the Oakland A's, general manager Billy Beane has been known to play a hunch or two. Some have worked out (John Jaha, Billy Koch), and some haven't (Carlos Pena, Arthur Rhodes).

He has been aggressive (10 trade deadline-week deals from 1999-2003), and proactive (trading Tim Hudson, with one year left on his contract, and Mark Mulder, with two years left on his, in Dec., 2004).

He has worked within a tight budget, and outside the boundaries of convention. He has been bold, decisive (well, except for that odd paus de deux he performed with the Boston Red Sox after the 2002 season), fearless and, to hear some tell it, a slave to algorithms.

Now we can add another persona to the dashingest, daringest GM in the game — unflinching risk taker. Thus, the A's team that opens the ALCS against the Tigers on Tuesday is easily the most fascinating of the five Oakland teams that have reached the playoffs on Beane's watch.

Yes, these A's have pitching. All Beane's teams do. There are roughly seven other teams in the postseason that would love to have a rotation of Barry Zito, Dan Haren, Esteban Loiaza, and the physically rehabilitated Rich Harden. Only in Oakland would 16-game winner Joe Blanton be the odd man out.

These A's may not rake like their forefathers, but they score enough. If anything, they're better defensively now than at any point since the clock struck 2000. Still, these A's are evocative of the four (one-and-done) playoff teams that preceded them — built on a modest payroll, under-regarded in the national eye, one superstar (Zito) in his final hours with the team, kept on a steady course by an even-keeled, low-profile manager (the estimable Ken Macha).

Here's how they are different:

Batting third, Milton Bradley.

Batting fourth, Frank Thomas.

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The chances Beane took in past seasons were calculated and traditional. Could Jaha squeeze one more big season out of his bat? (Yes.) Was Erubiel Durazo as good as the raw data suggested? (Not quite.) Could then-pitching coach Rick Peterson keep Koch's mechanics on track for a full season? (Yes.) Any chance Keith Foulke, Johnny Damon or Jose Guillen would re-sign after their walk years? (No, but thanks for asking.)

None of those chances threatened to impact the team's pH balance. In fact, the one player who brought a downer on the clubhouse during the Beane era, pitcher Kenny Rogers, was traded in midseason precisely because he was poisoning the well.

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That's why eyebrows rose and heads were scratched when Beane signed Thomas to an incentive-laden contract in January. Thomas was a huge risk physically, having been limited to 108 games in 2004-05 combined. Moreover, it seemed Thomas had been at war with White Sox management since forever. Or at least dating back to 2001, when the team tried to invoke a diminished skills clause in his contract, and Thomas walked out of spring training saying that a $10 million salary was beneath his dignity.

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