The 2012 season looked like a rebuilding year for the always intriguing Oakland Athletics. After finishing the 2011 season 74-88, the A’s traded away key starters Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, as well as All-Star closer Andrew Bailey for younger talent. That talent included Josh Reddick, Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook, Tommy Milone, and Derek Norris. However, the key offseason acquisition was Cuban sensation and five-tool outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who signed a 4-year, $36 million contract. The projected finish for the A’s 2012 season was similar to the 2011 season. With so many unproven newcomers, most critics thought that the A’s would be interesting to watch (especially Cespedes) but would fail to pose a real threat to any of the AL West powers. Many believed Oakland GM Billy Beane was retooling his entire team to prepare for the potential move to the bigger market of San Jose and that these players would not make an impact in the majors for a couple of years. The big spending Los Angeles Angles and Texas Rangers were expected to battle for the division title, while the Seattle Mariners and A’s would try not to finish last. The A’s defied the critics and trumped the predictions, going 94-68 and claiming the AL West title outright before losing to the Tigers 3-2 in a five game series, having to face arguably the best pitcher in the game in Justin Verlander twice.
Once again, early predictions have the A’s finishing third in the AL West behind both the Rangers and Angels. The Angels’ Josh Hamilton signing was the division’s biggest move, garnering major media attention and causing the rest of the league to once again miss out on another one of Beane’s brilliant offseasons. His first move was trading SS/2B Cliff Pennington and minor league SS Yordy Cabrera to the Arizona Diamondbacks for CF Chris Young. Despite a disappointing and injury marred 2012 season, Young is an excellent defensive player with power (four seasons with 20+ HRs) and speed (three seasons with 20+ SBs). His addition to the already solid outfield core of Josh Reddick, Yoenis Cespedes, and Coco Crisp allows the A’s to be flexible with their lineup. The signing of Japanese SS Hiroyuki Nakajima (.311 avg, 155 H, 29 2B, 74 RBIs in Japan) and the trade for Jed Lowrie (16 HRs in 2012) more than nullify the loss of Stephen Drew. The infield is versatile with Josh Donaldson able to backup third, first, and catcher; so is the outfield, with Seth Smith being able to be cover both corner spots or DH.
The A’s pitching staff is full of young arms with the rotation having five of the six possible starters between the ages of 24 and 26. Brett Anderson (2.57 ERA in six late-season starts in 2012) leads the young rotation. Jarrod Parker (13-8 3.47 ERA in 2012) showed last year that his change-up is one of the best in baseball, while lefty Tommy Milone’s impeccable command allowed him to stifle hitters, often with below-90 stuff. If a trio of A.J. Griffin, Dan Straily, and Bartolo Colon can shore up the last two starting spots, hitters will have problems facing the A’s.
Projected Lineup
- Coco Crisp CF
- Jed Lowrie 3B
- Yoenis Cespedes LF
- Brandon Moss 1B
- Josh Reddick RF
- Seth Smith DH
- John Jaso C
- Scott Sizemore 2B
- Hiroyuki Nakajima SS
The Rotation
- Brett Anderson
- Jarrod Parker
- Tommy Milone
- AJ Griffin
- Dan Straily
- Bartolo Colon
Strengths:
Outfield Depth: The A’s have Young, Crisp, Smith, Cespedes, and Reddick, all of whom could be starting regularly for stretches throughout the season. That’s a nice luxury to have and a good insurance policy against injury.
Sean Doolittle: You’ve probably never heard of Doolittle but he throws straight fire and is poised to become one of baseball’s premiere lefty specialists.
Experience: They did it last year and that is a big deal. This group of guys, unassuming at first glance, knows that it has what it takes to beat the big boys in the division. They come into this season confident and battle tested.
Weaknesses:
Ks: The A’s strike out. In 2012, they led the bigs in total strikeouts with 1387. They are a low average team who like to hit the long ball, so if they’re slumping a bit, their run production will decline.
Young Starters: Their starting pitchers, while talented, are extremely young and inexperienced. They have also never had to pitch back-to-back years at around 200 innings apiece, so it could be difficult to replicate last year’s success.
New Chemistry: It will be interesting to see how the newcomers fit in with the playoff tested A’s from last year, especially Nakajima and Chris Young. It could be detrimental to the A’s established chemistry. Then again, Jim Leyland would have you believe that clubhouse chemistry is only as important as the media portrayal, and in fact mostly just a byproduct of the win/loss record.
Storylines:
Will Nakajima produce in his first season in the States?
Can Jed Lowrie stay healthy enough to contribute?
How much better can Cespedes get? Will he push himself into the elite outfielders class?
Was last year a fluke? Can the A’s repeat their improbable run to the division title or does it matter that their divisional competition is so much better on paper?
Prediction:
89- 73, 2nd place, AL West. The A’s caught lightning in a bottle last season and will prove that wasn’t a fluke in 2013, but they won’t win the division, finishing second. (Note: As noted in the Angels preview, there was a great deal of debate about how to order the AL West. Sean had the A’s winning the division over the Rangers and then Angels (same as last year’s order) but Max put his foot down and edited the official OTBB prediction to flipflop the Rangers and A’s.)
Bold Predictions:
- The A’s finish second in AL West and make playoffs.
- The A’s win their first round playoff series and advance to the ALCS.
- Anderson, Parker, and Milone all go 175+ IP.
- The A’s lead the AL in Home Runs.
-Johnny and Zander Mrlik
Stat of the Day: SPF stands for sun protection factor and is an extremely simple measure of the effectiveness of sunscreen.
