September 18, 2012; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Andrew Bailey (40) throws a pitch in the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Boston Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Anybody who paid any kind of attention to the Oakland Athletics though in 2012 knew that Josh Reddick emerged as a pretty legit outfielder, shortcomings notwithstanding, and Miles Head tore up pitching in the lower minors.  So just about everyone’s initial assesment of that trade turned out to be way off.  But there’s an entirely different side to this deal that doesn’t get much consideration around these parts, and that is the fall of Andrew Bailey since arriving in Boston.

We’ve all come to expect our favorite players to be wearing different colors sooner rather than later, it’s just a fact of life being an Athletics fan.  But even so seeing Bailey in Red Sox colors was weird.  And things did not go anywhere near what Bailey or the Red Sox had planned.

It all started when Bailey injured his thumb during Spring Training on a play covering first base.  It turned out he so severely injured his thumb that he would require surgery and miss a large portion of the 2012 season.  The problem was of course compounded by the fact that the outfielder they traded way had a big break out season and the Red Sox had issues at the back end of their bullpen all season long.

When Bailey did finally make his Red Sox debut, he didn’t fare well.  He only pitched 15.1 innings, but his 7.04 ERA was nothing short of ugly in that small sample size.  When you allow 12 ER in 15.1 innings there’s no sugar coating it, you’re getting shelled.

Folks in Boston are surely sick of Bailey’s lack of durability, which was something that made me not emotional when he was moved to Boston in the first place.  It appears though that the Red Sox brass doesn’t  trust him either, if acquiring Joel Hanrahan from the Pittsburgh Pirates is any indication.  Bailey now slots in as a setup man at best for the Sox, with Hanrahan taking over the closing duties.

It’s hard to see what was once such a promising young bullpen arm who got his big break in Oakland fall from grace so dramatically.  His durability will always be a question and that’s someting the Red Sox or any other team who could possibly acquire him will have to consider.  Bailey may have become a more high profile player by moving to Boston, but the Oakland Athletics undoubtedly came out on top in this deal.  I for one will take the unknown underdog over the high profile underachiever any day.

December 14, 2010; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (right) smiles while addressing the media as designated hitter Hideki Matsui (left) looks on during a press conference following Matsui signing with the Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

With the 2012 season officially underway, all eyes—especially mine—will be focused on Billy Beane and the rest of the Athletics’ management as the team enters yet another rebuilding phase.

The Athletics are not expected to compete this year given their demolition of their starting rotation this offseason and because of their unproven offense.

Instead, this season feels destined, really, to be another chapter in Billy Beane’s painfully-penned rebuild.

Oakland has been in this position before, namely back in 2007 when the team sent fan-favorites like Nick Swisher and Dan Haren packing in various trades that landed the A’s plenty of young prospects.

Beane’s inconsistencies in addition to the A’s ever-growing stadium problems have made the team’s rebuilding attempts extremely difficult to watch.

This touchy topic has been covered religiously on this site, especially by our very own Staff Writer Jason Leary, but the A’s rebuilding attempts serve as a reminder that not all clubs succeed in building a winning product. Beane has done a fine job in recent years of acquiring young talent, but holding onto that talent and having the patience with those prospects are another thing.

Perhaps the biggest mistake Beane has made in recent years was the decision to trade for outfielder Matt Holliday prior to the 2009 season. The A’s certainly thought they’d get a lot from Holliday, but for the amount of talent the team gave Colorado in exchange for Holliday and the overall timing of the deal didn’t make complete sense.

For one, the A’s gave up the talented young outfielder Carlos Gonzalez as a way to acquire the older Holliday. In hindsight, that was not a great decision on Beane’s behalf. It should speak volumes of Beane’s abilities to scout young hitting talent.

I just never felt that the A’s gave Gonzalez much of a chance in Oakland. He was shipped out of town essentially for a rent-a-slugger. Holliday, as you’ll all remember, didn’t last in Oakland and was traded by the 2009 trade deadline to St.Louis.

That was the biggest mistake the A’s GM made, in my opinion, anyway, as it disrupted his rebuilding efforts. The A’s were kidding themselves if they thought they could compete in 2009.

Guys like Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill were barely bursting onto the scene and even with an offense that featured Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, and Nomar Garciaparra—all of whom with the exception of Holliday, were old and inexpensive sources of veteran leadership acquired by the A’s—the pitching staff wasn’t up for the task of competing.

I think the A’s learned during the 2009 season that rebuilding is harder than it seems. You have to scout well, draft well, and more importantly know how to develop young talent once you have it in your minor league system. Looking at this season, the A’s have yet again laid out a solid foundation of young pitching.

Pitchers like Jarrod Parker, Brad Peacock, Sonny Gray, and A.J. Cole are just a few of the names the A’s are currently waiting for to emerge onto the big league scene. The A’s turned their focus onto their rebuilding efforts this past winter with the Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, and Andrew Bailey trades, but their commitment is still relatively unknown.

One minute they’re wheelin’ and dealin’, and then the next minute they’re forking over $14 million to Coco Crisp and $36 million to an unproven outfielder named Yoenis Cespedes. The A’s are trying, I think, to build a winning club, but Beane’s recent attempts may not matter in the end.

The A’s are still waiting around —for three years now—for MLB and Bud Selig to deliver their findings about the Athletics’ stadium situation in Oakland. The team is desperately fighting for a spot in San Jose, a territory that the Giants claim as theirs. San Francisco isn’t budging on those territorial claims and the A’s are stuck in the vortex called O.co Coliseum.

So, citing Beane’s inconsistencies during the last few rebuilding years is only part of the organization’s problem. The A’s do need to have better consistency when it comes to evaluating talent and developing talent, but they also need MLB and Bud Selig to step up to the plate and finally deliver their decision regarding the San Jose mess.

Selig has kept the A’s waiting long enough. These past few years have made Beane’s job a little harder and have definitely put a strain on the ever-thining fan-base. No one likes to lose, but the A’s are not in a position to go out and sign a bunch of free-agent talent.

Instead, the team has been forced to tear down, rebuild, assemble, tear down, and rebuild. Will MLB deliver a decision before the A’s are forced to give up on their new crop of young talent (I’m talking about you, Parker, Peacock, Gray, and Cole)?

It’s become an excruciating process.

Beane can assemble all the young talent he wants. Heck, he can even have the patience to develop all that young talent in a way that produces a few wins here and there. But without a place to play, those wins won’t matter, will they?

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Jul. 8, 2008; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane before the game against the Seattle Mariners at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, CA. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

The A’s will certainly not enter spring as contenders for the American League West crown, but rather as a young team looking to surprise a few people. Oakland’s front office, beginning with Lew Wolff and the ownership partners, has signaled to the team’s shrinking fan base that the team has no intentions capturing the division’s top spot. Still, the team, as I’ve already suggested, is aiming to remain at least somewhat competitive and watchable.

The team dismantled their starting rotation this offseason, beginning with the trade that sent Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for a slew of prospects. Billy Beane and the rest of his brain-trust followed up the Cahill deal by sending their 2011 All-Star, Gio Gonzalez, to the Washington Nationals for even more prospects.

The two trades serve as a painful reminder that the Athletics are far from being a playoff ready franchise. It also reminds the fans of Oakland that the team has no future in Oakland. These deals, along with the decision to trade young closer Andrew Bailey to the Boston Red Sox, while discouraging to the average fan at first glance, may prove to be extremely rewarding in a few years from now.

These deals are also figured to help ensure the A’s watchability this year, too. The A’s made out pretty well in a few of the deals mentioned above and the prospects acquired in the Cahill, Gonzalez, and Bailey trades have helped replenish what was considered a very thin and dried-up Oakland farm-system.

Oakland also dealt Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman to the Colorado Rockies in an attempt to upgrade their feeble offensive attack. The A’s acquired outfielder Seth Smith in the deal, who will get his shot at everyday playing time in Oakland’s crowded, yet wide open outfield this year.

The A’s also acquired veteran pitcher and former Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon this offseason. Colon, who is coming off a 8-10 season with the New York Yankees, will likely serve as a solid veteran presence in Oakland’s young rotation this year.

Oakland also made a recent splash with the signing of Cuban star outfielder, Yoenis Cespedes. The A’s signed the power-hitting outfielder to a four-year, $36 million deal. The deal took many people by surprise, but the A’s fans that are still looking forward to the 2012 season have even more incentive to make it out to the Coliseum this year. (more…)