New Arrival: Ray Durham, if, Oakland Athletics
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When I think of Ray Durham, I think about the 2002 Oakland Athletics. That is the same season made famous in the movie “Moneyball”. And while I love that movie, the baseball nerd in me would like to point out that the film left out much of what made that 103-win Oakland team special. This included its insane rotation of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder, and the 30+ HR seasons of Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada. That was such a fun team.
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Another transaction was Oakland trading for the Chicago White Sox Ray Durham. Durham, a two-time All-Star, was an offensively minded second baseman. Oakland had used a rotation of Mark Ellis, Frank Menechino, Randy Velarde, and Jeremy Giambi at second. The hope was that Durham could stabilize the position and add a spark to the lead-off spot. And he did well enough: following the trade Durham had a 115 OPS+ and hit extremely well in the playoffs.