Oakland Athletics: A’s Get a D Grade For Their Past Offseason Moves
By Nick Matt
It wasn’t that long ago that the Oakland Athletics were the best team in baseball. Most baseball fans forget that. Think of all the exciting late inning heroics and come from behind wins from last year. That is a distant memory compared to what A’s fans are witnessing this season. This ugly season is one that A’s fans should quickly forget. It all started when they let some key players go during the offseason. Losing hitters like Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, and Derek Norris proved to hurt the A’s worse than expected. Those are three all stars from 2014. Look even further back to last year’s trade deadline when Billy Beane traded fan favorite Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester. Their lineup should have had a completely different look this 2015 season.
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This rich organization has a history of winning and they aren’t far away from getting back on track, but this past offseason set them back. An offseason full of turnover, the A’s have struggled to find an identity this year. With a number of questionable moves, Beane needs to figure out something to keep up with the competition heading into 2016. He turned a lot of heads with the moves he made after the 2014 season.
The players he brought in have not worked out yet, but are still young and can make an impact next year. Additionally, Billy Butler, usually a .300 hitter, is having a career low year while Brett Lawrie has shown some bright spots, but isn’t equal to or close to Donaldson. A’s fans are still waiting to see the Ike Davis that once won over the rough New York crowd when he came up with the Mets a few years ago. The offense they lost this past offseason would have made up for the inconsistent bullpen this year. Having major power bats in the lineup would have helped in some of the blown late inning leads and close games.
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The other Achilles heel of the A’s has been their defense. They currently lead the league in errors. Their defense would have been better with an outfield rotation of Coco Crisp, Billy Burns, Moss, Josh Reddick and Mark Canha. Their infield would have saved some games with Donaldson, who has an outstanding glove and bat at third. Lets say they still picked up Ben Zobrist, they could have played him at shortstop with the always reliable defender Eric Sogard at second. Then there could be a combination of Stephen Vogt or Moss at First.
It can’t get any worse for the A’s so all we can do is anxiously wait to see what happens this offseason. They need to solve the problem of losing close games, and obviously having Sean Doolittle back will help. Doolittle is the leader of that bullpen and his character is what sets him apart. He keeps the rest of the bullpen relaxed, loose, and confident. Bleacher Report had an article explaining why the A’s were considered “losers” this year because of their inability to win close games. They are at the top of the league in run differential at plus 24 ranking 7th in the American League. Typically, if a team is in the top 10 in that statistic, the team has a winning record. To bad we can’t say that about our A’s this season.
To many rosters moves can be detrimental to a team’s success. Baseball is a team sport and team chemistry goes a long, long way. It’d be nice to see the Oakland Athletics keep some younger players around a little longer, and hopefully we can watch them develop together like the Kansas City Royals just recently showed. Look at the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants every year or even the Houston Astros this year. The Astros used to be in the cellar every year where they earned the nickname “The Lastros”. With patience, the Astros now sit on top of the division because they kept everyone together and let them ride to the top with only a few minor acquisitions. The A’s still have a bright future and a few changes this offseason can turn it all around. They’re just missing a handful of key pieces and the team should be back to what fans are used to, which is winning baseball.
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