MLB Preview - The Oakland Athletics

We've finally made it to the team picked first overall in the 2012 WITT draft, the Oakland A's. How did a team picked by many to be so bad this year make it to the top spot? They are undeniably my favorite, that's how. They're the greatest team no one cares about or watches. They've got spark. They've got spirit. They've got spunk. They've got a terrible stadium and terrible ownership and terrible cash flow. However, through it all, they still remain the A's, and there's something special about this ball club.

Maybe it's because the A's are like this man:



You can't really get angry at Modern Family's Phil Dunphy. He's an underdog. He's not always the smartest. He's not always the fastest. His ideas can be a bit harebrained. But, through it all, he charms you and warms you down to the cockles of your heart. That's what the A's are going to do this season. Why? Because it's really the only thing they have.

The A's have entered pretty well worn territory this year. Really put together a team that could be considered trite and contrived. However, when you put a ragtag bunch of misfits on the field, it's sure to draw a little attention. You know, away from all the stuff about how the A's are in a land war with the Giants and Uncle Bud isn't actually doing anything about it. And how they can't draw more than 12 people to a game. Yeah. We're doing something about that... in 2014.

What the A's did this offseason was remake their entire team. At one point, both Chris Carter and Michael Taylor were part of the starting lineup. It looked pretty bad. Then every single pitcher worth anything was traded away. So, now there are a bunch of guys with MLB experience in the lineup, but not many that I can look at and say with any conviction: this guy will be good.

I'm going to stay away from the off-field issues and just look at the guys the green and gold will put on the field this year. I'm not going to pull any punches, this team is not going to win the AL West. A successful season for the team the A's put on the field would be .500. Or maybe it's showing growth in some of the prospects to the point that there's a feeling that 2013 or 2014 will be the year the A's return to their former glory.

There is one very exciting piece of the puzzle added this offseason. He is Yoenis Cespedes. And he is one hot tamale.



I'll go on the record right now and say that he is going to be this year's AL Rookie of the Year. He's already proved to me that he has four of five tools. Speed, Power, Arm, and Defense. The one he's got to work on is hitting for average, and it's not that I don't think he can make contact, it's that many pitchers have made him look pretty silly with breaking stuff out of the zone. If he can develop an eye, then I think we're looking at a superstar. In the series in Japan, he went 2-6 with a home run and a double. During his limited Spring appearances, he's 8-31 with a home run and three doubles. My problem is that in those 31 ABs he had 10 strikeouts. He did also have 4 walks, but he's looked pretty silly sometimes on the curve ball. Either way, he's the player to watch on the A's this year. If you haven't heard about this Cuban defector until just now, I promise you'll hear plenty more.

The other exciting addition to the A's this year is the one and only Manny Ramirez. If you had told me 6 years ago that ManRam would end his career as an Oakland Athletic, I would have laughed in your face. Though the A's love signing the slugger at the end of his career, who would have believed that the controversial, prima donna Predator would end up in the small market that is Oakland? Well, I've been proven wrong. Manny will be an Athletic when he has served his 50 game suspension for PED use. After that, there's no telling if the A's will even get a shadow of the former RBI machine, but if they do, it'll definitely be nice to have him around.

So, there are those two, then there are the rest of the players. These guys look nothing like the team that took the field one year ago, and my bet is that it will look pretty different when the year is over as well. To free agency last year, the A's lost 51 home runs and 216 RBI. It was a lot of production and there was nothing returned for it but draft picks. So the A's have to make that up. After the losses of the trio of Matsui, Willingham, and DeJesus, they did their best to fill those gaps.

Yoenis should do a fair amount to fill the gap but there are four other major players, Seth Smith, Johnny Gomes, Colin Cowgill and Josh Reddick. Smith, acquired from the Rockies for Guillermo Moscoso, hit well last year against lefties, but was absolutely terrible against righties. He needs to keep up the hot hitting to remain in his role as DH. His counterpart will be Johnny Gomes. The two should platoon the position well, and will be two of the major sources of power in the A's lineup. Cowgill, acquired from the DBacks in exchange for Trevor Cahill, will be a key cog as the fourth outfielder, pinch hitter and pinch runner. I love Cowgill's hustle style of play. I also like his hilarious last name. I hope he's around for awhile. The everyday right fielder will be Josh Reddick, acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for Andrew Bailey. Reddick has impressed all spring, and the organization is very high on the young outfielder. He'll be a key piece of the 2012 offense.

Returning to the team will be Kurt "Klutch" Suzuki. Suzuki hasn't produced offensively like many thought he might. Raising his batting average 20 points this year would be huge for the team. Still, his ability to call a game and coach young pitchers is invaluable. Also returning, but moving to left field is veteran Coco Crisp. Crisp is a bit unhappy with his move, but is still a speedster and a presence to help some of the younger guys that will play over the season. One of the younger guys he'll definitely help is Jemile Weeks. Jemile made a splash after being called up due to an injury to Mark Ellis and finished high in the Rookie of the Year balloting last year. The A's want him to evolve into a great leadoff man. He definitely has the talent, and hopefully he can get there. Also returning is first baseman Brandon Allen. Allen, acquired from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Brad Ziegler has a ton of power and tore the cover off the ball when he first joined the club last summer. However, once pitchers found his weaknesses, he tailed off a lot. He'll be platooning a bit with acquisition Kila Ka'aihue, but if one of them can show they can hit better, they'll be there full time. My money is on Allen, but because of his defensive abilities.

Scott Sizemore was set to be the starting third baseman, but he tore his ACL 20 minutes into Spring Training in one of the freakiest accidents ever. Now it will be former catcher Josh Donaldson on the hot corner. It's a bit risky, but he's looked OK this spring. His contribution will be a huge boon to a pretty weak offense if he can come through.

The number five starter at the beginning of 2011 has now become the A's ace. You may wonder, how could this possibly happen. Well, injury is one thing, but the other is that the A's traded away every marketable pitcher they had in order to try to put together some semblance of a lineup. Three of the four pitchers who pitched over 100 innings are now with other clubs. Of the A's 75 wins, 50 belonged to pitchers no longer with the team. Brandon McCarthy had a great season last year, and looked very sharp during his first start in Japan, but his presence as the ace signals the total rebuilding of the A's rotation. Number two will be thirty-nine year old Bartolo Colon. He's another guy I never thought would be an Athletic. Though he's certainly not the Cy Young winner he once was, and though he weighs even more than Pablo Sandoval, he really needs to be a leader on the staff for the A's to be successful. Behind him is Tommy Milone. Acquired from the Nationals in exchange for Gio Gonzalez, he's sparkled this spring and earned the third job. I'll drink a beer for every game he wins. Beyond the three is a bit of a mystery. Making the team was prospect Graham Godfrey. Everyone remembers him from that one time he outdueled Tim Lincecum. That's right. It was fantastic.

Beyond that is a huge question mark. Tyson Ross, Brad Peacock (acquired for Gonzalez), and Jarrod Parker (acquired for Cahill) all probably have the best shot at the fifth starter role. However, it'll be a mix and match situation until one stands out from the crowd.

One may notice that four starters are missing from last year. Two, Gonzalez and Cahill, were dealt to the National League. The other two, Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson, are on the DL. Both should return around the All-Star break, which would then make the rotation much better than it currently is. Or maybe it already is great. There's a lot of question marks.

With the departure of Andrew Bailey, Grant Balfour will assume the closing duties. He's a solid pitcher, but he's never been a closer before. As long as he has control over his mid to high nineties fastball, the A's should be ok in the ninth. It's the rest of the 'pen that worries me. Brian Fuentes' career is about over, and has looked bad this spring. I just took another shot hoping it's lucky. Beyond those two are a lot of young guys. Fautino De Los Santos has looked really good at times, and really wild at others. Ryan Cook (acquired for Cahill) is unproven, but has looked solid. Another youngster, Andrew Carignan, has dazzled all spring, but was the reason the A's lost the first game in Japan. Also missing from this picture was possible setup man Joey Devine. He can't seem to stay off the DL.

I also wrote this when he left, but I'm going to miss Mark Ellis a ton this year. He didn't have a spot on the team anymore, and took the news like a rock star when he was traded to Colorado for a nobody. I'll wear his jersey with pride forever, and hope that we see him in some role with the A's in the future. He will be the only Dodger I root for.

Yeah, it's a ragtag bunch, but so were the 2010 Giants, except the A's maybe don't have the established pitching and need to go through the Goliaths of the Angels and Rangers. It's probably not Oakland's year, but here they are to warm those sweet cockles.

The 2012 Oakland Athletics
C Kurt Suzuki
1B Brandon Allen
2B Jemile Weeks
3B Josh Donaldson
SS Cliff Pennington
LF Coco Crisp
CF Yoenis Cespedes
RF Josh Reddick
DH Seth Smith/Johnny Gomes
SP Brandon McCarthy
SP Bartolo Colon
SP Tom Milone
SP Graham Godfrey
SP Tyson Ross/Jarrod Parker/Brad Peacock/The Pillsbury Doughboy
CL Grant Balfour

Here's the really scary part: there are only six players listed out of eighteen here who played a full season in the majors last year, and of those 12, none are due to injury.

Best Case Scenario
I kind of feel like this is a waste for the A's. If every single question mark is answered positively, they'll be a competitive team. They don't have the resources to think about adding a piece or two, so a good season would probably end around .500. Really, a best case would be the emergence of at least two, and hopefully three of the young starters, and Jemile, Brandon, Josh, Seth, and maybe even Michael Taylor. This is a team that is built to compete next year, or maybe even in two years. The best case is that they compete this year to become and obstacle for the Rangers and Angels to deal with, and with any luck playing spoiler to one of their playoff hopes.

However, it would be nice if one too many pitchers performs nicely, allowing the A's to trade off a high performing Colon and Ramirez to playoff contenders to stock the prospect cupboard even further. Beyond that, finishing over .500 would be a huge victory for this team.

Of course, if one dares to dream: the A's surprise the world, becoming the most unlikely team to reach the playoffs ever. Brandon McCarthy wins the Cy Young, going 20-5 with a 2.45 ERA. Yoenis Cespedes is an overnight sensation, and hits 38 home runs while driving in 126 and hitting .295 to galvanize the lineup. He becomes the third player to win the MVP and ROY in the same year. The A's RIP through the playoffs, and Bay Bridge Series Part Deux comes to fruition. It's a tough series against outstanding Giants pitching, but the A's come out the victors. The bandwagon switches over to Oakland, and everyone lives in peace and harmony.

Worst Case Scenario

Total and complete failure. I hate to write this, but with all the questions the A's have, if they all fail, it's going to be a very long summer. Outside of McCarthy, the A's rotation and bullpen looks like a AAA team. The lineup is a little better, but without any big bat, it's not hard for pitchers to get through them.

Cespedes is a huge flop, unable to hit MLB pitching. Ramirez, after poisoning the clubhouse with his poor attitude, tests positive again for PEDs. The injury bug ravages the team, and the A's are left with playing AA guys. Bud Selig rules that the team can't move to San Jose. Lew Wolff sells the team to Mark Cuban, who moves them to Las Vegas where they become nothing more than the butt of every joke in the entire world of sports. The plagues of Egypt are set upon the world, and the Golden Bears never again win the Rose Bowl.

What Will Probably Happen
73-89, third in the AL West

Song For The A's

I think I used this last year, but it's the only appropriate one for the Oakland Athletics. Let's Go Oakland!



Thanks for reading all the posts this spring! If you want to check out what Frankie has to say about the other side of the bay, click here.