The Oakland Athletics were hanging tight in the race for the American League
West division title. After the past two series where the A’s have lost five games out of six that were played, it has become clear the A’s need to make some major adjustments.
That would involve making trades for a big time bat in the lineup. The only problem is, what self-respecting player would want to play for Bob Geren? This was shown by the most recent trade the A’s have made.
Instead of getting a big bat from Arizona which has been rumored to be trading pretty much its entire roster, the A’s could only come up with Conor Jackson. No offense to Jackson, who’s a solid hitter, but he’s not the guy who’s going to be a savior for the A’s inept offense.
Over the last few games there’s been countless times the A’s have had scoring opportunities and the A’s have come up empty each and every time. It hasn’t helped that manager Bob Geren has been shuffling the lineup since the arrival of Jackson either.
In the second game against the Chicago Cubs, Rajai Davis was benched in favor of Ryan Sweeney in center field. Jackson was actually the leadoff hitter for the A’s. Davis was out of the lineup after going 3-5.
Just inexcusable managing by Geren. To make matters worse, today’s game was lost because Geren took out Dallas Braden way too early from the game.
That’s just icing on the cake for how Geren manages the A’s. He doesn’t know what it takes to win because every season the A’s have been nowhere near a playoff spot. This year has been a surprise and with the A’s strong starting pitching they should be able to remain close.
The issue is, can the A’s bring in a bat to help with the offense? At this point there’s really no positives going for the A’s team. Their next series is against the St. Louis Cardinals and they will be facing Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainright.
Even if the A’s had one of the better offenses in the league, it’d be a scary matchup, but it’s much worse with the pathetic offensive lineup.
At the end of the series against the Cardinals, the A’s could be easily suffering their fourth straight loss along with having lost eight of their last nine. Even at that point in the season the A’s chance at a playoff spot will be slim to none.
Lack of confidence for such a young team and will lead to the young starters, specifically Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Vin Mazzaro, to try to make the perfect pitches.
The end of the season will be a disaster if the A’s can’t find a way to bring in more than just prospects.
In 2008 the A’s traded Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for Ryan Sweeney and Gio Gonzalez. While, Sweeney has been a solid player for the A’s he’s nowhere near the power threat that Swisher was.
The most homeruns in a season by Sweeney has been six compared to Swisher who as an A hit a career high 35 in 2006. Gonzalez has come along very well for the A’s and has been one of the more consistent starters for the A’s but it took him some time to get to the big leagues.
Dan Haren trade along with Connor Robertson for Chris Carter the A’s best power prospect, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, Carlos Gonzalez, and Greg Smith.
Anderson has become one of the A’s best pitchers but is currently injured. Carter again is the best power prospect for the A’s but hasn’t shown the stick yet at Sacramento to be called up, Eveland is gone, Gonzalez is gone, and Smith is gone.
Gonzalez showed promise for the A’s but was part of the trade that brought in Matt Holliday. Which, will go down as one of the worst trades that Billy Beane has made.
Holliday was eventually traded for Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson, and Clayton Mortenson. Wallace is gone, and Peterson and Mortenson down in the minor leagues.
Joe Blanton was traded for Adrian Cardenas, Matt Spencer, and Josh Outman. Only Outman has seen time in the big leagues and is currently recovering from major surgery.
Question is where is the Major League talent being traded for? There hasn’t been much and a majority of the players are either in the minors still or have been traded away in parts of other trades.
The common denominator is the clueless man managing the team, Geren!
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com