All-timers (2001-present, anyway)

CHICAGO, Sept. 9, 2009 -- I've been covering the A's for nearly a decade now, and seeing Mark Kotsay in a White Sox uniform today before the game led my mind to wander a little.

Where that led me was to was team made up of the best Oakland players -- one at each position -- that I've covered while on the beat.

Self-indulgent? Yeah. Isn't virtually every blog? But hey, there's debatable stuff in here, too. Feel free to chime in. We're talking 2001-present only here. Enjoy.

1B Jason Giambi. In his prime, of course. Or in a Rockies uniform. Whatever. PEDs or no PEDs, the man was a joy to watch. The first guy who made me realize that sometimes the hitters are setting the pitchers up; it's not the other way around all the time.

2B Mark Ellis. Still a crime that he doesn't have a Gold Glove of three. He's the epitome of the guy you have to watch on a daily basis to fully appreciate.

3B Eric Chavez. Duh. On defense alone. But when he was healthy and on one of his second-half hitting tears, you just knew he was going to drill something high off something far, far away. From 2001-2005 in particular, he was a flat beast.

SS Miguel Tejada. Another duh. He's the only player I've covered who had a visceral effect on his team. Miggy's teammates felt his joy, felt his passion, felt his intensity. And they turned it up a notch in hopes of keeping up with him.

C Kurt Suzuki. Tough call, and I might be jumping the gun here. But he throws and hits better than Jason Kendall did with the A's, and he does both about as well as Ramon Hernandez did. What gives him the nod over Ramon? He's caught 100 games started by rookies this year. That's like taking an big league version of the SAT every single night. Ramon had the Big Three. That's a pop quiz on curent events the day after Obama's election.

LF Nick Swisher. Another toughie. Swish wasn't in left a lot, for one thing, and Johnny Damon and Matt Holliday both have manned the position during my time on the beat. But this list is about who played well WHILE IN OAKLAND, and Nick played better than anyone else on the list.

CF Mark Kotsay. No Johnny Damon? Nope. Again, this is about who got the job done in green and gold. Over the past nine seasons, nobody had better years than Kotsay. He handled the bat well, he led, he was unselfish, he had a little pop and speed, and he was an underrated genius in the field.

RF Jermaine Dye. Best technical defensive outfielder I've ever seen. Watch him walk around and he doesn't look like much of an athlete, feet splayed out and a little odd-looking. But when the ball was in the air or on the way to the plate, he flipped the switch and became incredible. Got to every ball, had a hose, and could rake. Full package.

If you'd like, I'll put together a rotation, bullpen and bench next time. Or come up with your own.

That's it for now. Peace, Chicago-style pizza and Will Smith's "Switch" to all ...

--Mychael Urban