Oakland Athletics 2015 Lineup Projections

At this point in time, we have a pretty decent idea of who will make the roster of the Oakland Athletics, at least from an offensive standpoint. Below are the players that I think will make the team out of camp, along with their projections for 2015, according to the Steamer on FanGraphs.

The top nine are the players that we can expect to see in the lineup on a regular basis, with the last four being platoon options. The Steamer doesn’t project anyone to have 20 home runs (gasp!) but there is plenty of potential for one or two players to hit that mark. If I were to pick two players that were most likely to do so, I would go with Brett Lawrie and Josh Reddick, but Billy Butler, Ike Davis, and perhaps even Marcus Semien, if given enough playing time, could reach the 20 homer mark as well.

Last year, the A’s offense combined for 729 runs, 146 home runs, and 686 rbi. With the projections that the Steamer provides, the 2015 A’s offense will be taking a step back, with 693 runs (-36), 140 home runs (-6), and 633 rbi (-53). The bright spot offensively will come from a higher projected team batting average. With all of the projected at-bats (5,351) and all of the projected hits (1,351) the 2015 team is projected to hit .252, which is eight points higher than last season’s mark.

Using these projected totals, let’s look at where the team would have ranked amongst other teams in baseball in 2014. The A’s would drop from 4th to 8th in runs scored, 5th to 12th in rbi, and from 13th to 14th in home runs. Their .252 batting average would move them from 21st to 17th.

More from White Cleat Beat

• Former Oakland A’s reliever Burch Smith signs in KBO
• Oakland A’s giving Garrett Williams a chance
• Yonny Hernandez finds new home with Los Angeles Dodgers
• Oakland A’s add needed bullpen piece in Trevor May
• Garrett Acton could become key piece in Oakland A’s bullpen

So what does all of this mean? In essence, they have gone from excelling in a couple of areas, to being league average (at worst) in all of them.

Thought we were done? Ha! Let’s talk defense. I wrote yesterday about how Lawrie is a better defender than Josh Donaldson. Lawrie’s defensive runs saved (DRS) over his career (2,744 innings due to injury) comes in at 38, or one per every 72.2 innings, which works out to one every 8 games or so. Lawrie is projected to play in 130 games, and at his career rate of saving runs, we’re looking at 16 runs saved in 2015 if all pans out. In 583 more innings played, Donaldson’s DRS came in at 35. I won’t bore you with the math on that one. Lawrie wins.

I hate to pick on the guy, but let’s talk about Derek Norris. In his career with Oakland, Norris had a DRS of -9. The two guys that will be replacing him in Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley have a combined 5 DRS in 1,043 innings, or just a little over half of Norris’ 2,030. Over the course of a full season, the duo of Vogt/Phegley should combine to save another 7 runs. Add in Norris’ -3 from last season, and that’s a 10-run swing.

That’s two positions that have received a major upgrade defensively, with Ben Zobrist providing a huge defensive boost to the Oakland Athletics if he mans second, left or right.

So what’s the point of all of this? Yes, the offense should take a little bit of a dip, but with the defensive upgrades that have been made, the difference is not actually that great. This team could be just as good as the 2014 version, with room to be even better.