No Coming Back: The A's will likely pass up on the opportunity to bring back David DeJesus next year (Photo Credit: Jose Sanchez/AP)

The A’s made a conscious effort last winter to upgrade their offense and adding veteran outfielder David DeJesus seemed like a nice way to upgrade the lineup. While GM Billy Beane’s moves looked great on paper, what Beane and the A’s got in return for all of their efforts was a mixed bag of inconsistencies.

Oakland sent over pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks for Kansas City’s DeJesus this last winter with the hopes of improving their lineup. He was never going to add much power—Oakland’s biggest need entering the 2011 season—but the team did expect DeJesus to play exceptional defense and contribute as much as he could for the lineup.

Entering this season, DeJesus was a lifetime .289 hitter but had an injury shortened season the year before. He enjoyed success in his time with the Royals, though, and Oakland was hopeful that the veteran outfielder would add depth not only defensively but offensively.

The A’s invested two pitchers for DeJesus, but as most you probably already know, Oakland didn’t get much of a return for their investment. Beane and pretty much everyone else in Oakland was taken aback this year from DeJesus’s epic shortcomings.  (more…)

Show Me The Money: The A's are putting their spending on hold until a stadium decision is made (Photo Credit: www.jimvesting.com)

The title above shouldn’t surprise anyone. The A’s head into the offseason with some serious, and I mean serious, questions regarding the team’s spending on free agents this winter. A’s fans shouldn’t expect a repeat of last winter, where the A’s went all crazy and made several attempts at landing 3B Adrian Beltre. Spending money, so it seems, is not on Oakland’s agenda this winter.

General manager Billy Beane and team co-owner Lew Wolff will be busy waiting around for a decision from MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig regarding the team’s request to build a stadium in San Jose. No one is holding their breath, though. Beane and Wolff have been waiting nearly three years for a decision that, in mind, won’t benefit the A’s organization. I just don’t see MLB or Selig being gutsy enough to allow the A’s into San Jose, which falls within San Francisco’s “territorial” rights.

All of this waiting, as most of you can probably imagine, is not doing Beane or the rest of the A’s front office any good. The longer the A’s sit around and wait for a decision that’s never going to come, the more and more they fall behind the rest of the teams actually taking part in this year’s free agent market. Oakland have not made any offers to its five free agents, and now guys like Josh Willingham and Coco Crisp are free to chat with other teams.

The A’s simply took a “pass” on their five free agents, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle so eloquently puts it in a recent article about team’s failure to offer contract extensions. In the article, Slusser notes that the A’s missed out on their window of exclusivity with their five free agents and that it now appears highly unlikely that Willingham and Crisp will return to the team next year. (more…)

Oakland’s entire starting outfield group is up for free agency and with richer teams moving in on guys like Willingham and Crisp, the A’s may feature a completely different outfield setup in 2012.

Willingham, Oakland’s leader in home runs (29) and RBIs (98), is figured to receive a few offers from various teams throughout the league this offseason. But for Oakland, keeping a guy like Willingham should be their number one priority.

 Not since Frank Thomas have the A’s had a powerful presence in their lineup, and Willingham, who set career highs in home runs and RBIs, is a guy who can hit for power. (more…)