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Now that the drama involving a new manager has been solved for the Red Sox, General Manager Ben Cherington still has a lot of work to do.

While busy interviewing managerial candidates, the Red Sox witnessed their star closer, Jonathan Papelbon, skip town and sign with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It seemed as though during the press conference announcing Bobby Valentine as their new manager, another closing candidate was swept out from under them as Heath Bell signed a three year deal with the Miami Marlins.

To this point the Sox remain a fragmented team. They are only a few minor moves away from being ready to take the field in 2012. Here are five realistic offseason moves they should consider.

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For the Oakland Athletics, the 2011 baseball campaign is creeping to a halt.

Having had a tumultuous and exciting six months of baseball that included benchings and a firing, injuries and trades and, oh yeah, a movie release based on the team’s general manager (which opens nationwide today), the A’s are ready to put the season behind them as quickly as possible.

Yes, like most teams, the A’s have encountered some peaks through the course of the year; but the valleys have been absolutely abysmal—the nadir being a 10-game losing streak that they never fully recovered from.

Much of the blame can be and was attributed to the slothfully slow start offensively by the team as a whole. Although several players did warm up a bit midseason, by then the A’s had lost two of their starting pitchers for the season, and were in a tailspin that was difficult to overcome in a competitive AL West division.

With that in mind, the A’s head into the offseason with numerous players eligible for free agency and salary arbitration. This September has allowed Oakland to examine their 40-man roster and not only take a deeper look at those youngsters who have bright futures with the team, but also determine which veterans should be traded and which ones should be kept on next season.

Here are five players who the A’s need to re-sign this offseason.

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There are quite a few pitchers who have gotten off to amazing starts to their 2011 campaigns, surprising many fantasy owners. Who’s for real? Who should we cut bait on now? Let’s take a look at a few of them:

Gio Gonzalez—Oakland Athletics

In his first three starts, Gonzalez is sporting a 0.47 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. The problem is that he has done it with a BABIP of .212 and a strand rate of 100.0 percent. Obviously that’s not going to continue.

He has also continued to struggle with his control. In 19.0 innings of work, he has walked 12 batters—good for a BB/9 of 5.68. It’s hard to imagine continued success if he is going to walk that many batters. Think it’s an aberration? In his minor league career he had a BB/9 of 4.01. In his previous three seasons he posted the following BB/9:

• 2008—6.62 (34.0 IP)
• 2009—5.11 (98.2 IP)
• 2010—4.13 (200.2 IP)

If he continues to walk people, the numbers are going to come tumbling down. It’s really just a matter of time. Yes, being a good ground-ball pitcher (50.0 percent in ’11) helps, but it’s not enough. I’d be wary of Gonzalez moving forward, as the numbers scream for a possible regression.

Matt Harrison—Texas Rangers

After stymieing the Yankees on Friday night (8.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 3 K, W), Harrison is at 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. He certainly has had luck on his side with a .203 BABIP and 93.0 percent strand rate, but there are other numbers at play as well.

Thus far this season he’s posted a line-drive rate of 9.8 percent, after being at over 20 percent in his previous three seasons. Can that continue?

Harrison also offers little upside in the strikeout department (5.73 K/9 in ’11, 6.42 in his minor league career). He does have good control (2.07 BB/9 in his minor league career), which helps to backup his 2.45 mark in ’11. 

Is good control and an improved ground-ball rate (52.5 percent in ’11) enough to warrant grabbing him off waiver wires? I wouldn’t expect him to induce six ground-ball double plays very often, meaning the results against the Yankees could’ve been very, very different.

While those in AL-only formats could consider him, there’s a risk for a major regression at hand. If you are in a mixed league, that risk coupled with the low strikeout rate are enough reasons to stay away.

Justin Masterson—Cleveland Indians

With a 1.33 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and a 3-0 record in his first three starts, there’s a lot to like about the “Masterful” Justin Masterson.

A lot of people have written him off due to his struggles the past few years, but there was an awful lot of bad luck at play (68.6 percent, 66.6 percent strand rates the previous two years). He also hadn’t shown very good control, something that he had consistently displayed in the minor leagues (2.28 BB/9).

He is one of the elite ground-ball pitchers in the league, currently sporting a 65.0 percent ground-ball rate. Since 2009, among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched, Masterson is second in the league with a 57.8 percent ground-ball rate (Joel Pineiro leads the way at 58.2 percent). That certainly says a lot about his potential to produce, assuming the luck is there. 

Not that he’s going to be able to continue his .242 BABIP, but for a ground-ball pitcher, marks of .314 and .324 (which he posted in ’09 and ’10) are going to hurt.  Improvement there will go a long way to his success.

I know people are going to point towards his 5.31 K/9 and say that he’s worthless, but that’s shortsighted. Over his minor league career he posted a 7.46 K/9 and showed in his second start of the season (nine K in 6.1 IP against the Mariners) that he has the potential to pile up the strikeouts. If he can strike out five to six batters a night—to go with the rest of his repertoire—he has the stuff to be a breakout starter in 2011.

If others in your league have not yet bought into his early season success, I would highly recommend him. Yes, there is the chance for a regression, but he has the stuff to be a useful starter all year long.

Chris Narveson—Milwaukee Brewers

He’s won only one game in his first three starts, but Narverson’s sporting a 1.45 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. Considering his realistic .286 BABIP (though he has benefited from an 86.4 percent strand rate), there certainly is reason to take notice.

The real question when it comes to Narveson is his 9.16 K/9. If he can come reasonably close to sustaining it, the sky is the limit. If he can’t, there’s going to be a regression.

Over his minor league career he posted a K/9 of 7.50. At Triple-A in ’09 he posted a 9.1 K/9, though a lot of that came while working in the bullpen (only six starts in 26 outings). In September of 2010 he did show the potential to maintain this type of mark in the rotation, with 37 Ks in 37.1 innings of work. In August he had 20 Ks in 26.1 innings of work.

His performance as of late has not just come out of nowhere.

Can it continue with a fastball that has been averaging 87.9 mph? I’m not so sure about that.

He has looked good and is certainly worth owning, but he is no guarantee to continue. Having never shown this type of strikeout success in the past, it’s hard to say that three starts is a given. Even if you include August and September of 2010, you are looking at 14 starts. It’s a lot better, but it still shouldn’t be accepted as the new norm.

Tread carefully, but he’s certainly worth owning in most formats because he’s pitching in the NL. Just don’t become too attached, because there is a good chance that a regression could be coming.

What are your thoughts on these four pitchers? Who do you think is for real? Who would you avoid?

Make sure to check out these other great articles from Rotoprofessor:

• Around the Majors: April 16: Austin Jackson, Josh Beckett & More
• Injury Report: April 17: Grady Sizemore, Carlos Gonzalez & More

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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Right now the Oakland athletics are trying to establish a core of a winning team. They have already given two players multi-year contracts: Brett Anderson and Kurt Suzuki. Although they still have some cheap young players who haven’t hit arbitration, I think they should continue to create a young core and give some players long contracts.

A team like the A’s, a team with not too much cash, has to lock up franchise players early. They need to do a better job at that, as the last time the A’s made the playoffs was 2006, and they have exactly two players from that team today, and that’s only if you count Rich Harden. The other is Mark Ellis.

If the A’s wait too long to give their good players long-term deals, the exact same thing will happen. They’ll make the playoffs one year, and then rebuild two years later. So here’s some players I think the Athletics should add to their core of two. They’re listed in no particular order.

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The New York Yankees have made small signings this year, especially after they missed out on the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes.

Players include Russell Martin, Luis Vizcaino, and Pedro Feliciano.

And if you look at it in a positive way, this is still a similar lineup compared to the 2010 team when they reached the American League Championship Series.

Adding to that, there is money that can be spent on even more signings, which can be critical.

But for now, here is the projected lineup and starting rotation of the New York Yankees, for the 2011 season.

Please read this Joe Girardi. Please.

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The San Francisco Giants have just completed an improbable run to the playoffs which ended in a World Series victory.

The question sure to follow is who will be the Giants of 2011 and the answer is simple—it will be the Oakland Athletics.

The Giants made their run to the World Series on the strength of their pitching staff. Don’t look now, but the Athletics pitching staff is younger than the Giants’ and may be even better than theirs next season.

The Athletics pitching staff goes five men deep, and each one is capable of throwing a shutout, or in the case of Dallas Braden, a perfect game.

The rotation starts with their ace Trevor Cahill, who had a breakout season. He won 18 games while only losing eight games on a mediocre team. Many have questioned if Cahill is a one-year wonder because he relies on a hard sinker, but he is here to stay.

Cahill reminds me of a certain sinker-baller who has had a nice long career. Who is this mystery pitcher?

None other then Derek Lowe. He has made a career of firing his sinker into the strike zone in the upper 80s and low 90s. However, Lowe only possesses a slider to keep hitters off balance, while Cahill has an assortment of plus breaking pitches at his disposal whenever he needs them. 

Next in line is the pitcher who sparked a controversy and T-shirts made in his honor with the quote, “Get off my mound.”

Yes, it is Dallas Braden. By no means is Braden an elite pitcher. He is your average middle-of-the-rotation guy, but those types of pitchers are extremely valuable.

Braden does not throw overly hard and seems to throw more breaking pitchers than fastballs to compensate for his lack of velocity. Now this also reminds me of another pitcher, but who could it be?

I know, it is Jamie Moyer, who has carved out a major league career that has taken him to the age of 47. Braden has Moyer’s capability. He may never be an elite pitcher, but he can sure keep up the 3.50 ERA he compiled this season for years to come, making him an above-average pitcher in my book. 

The Athletics also possess a young lefty with one of the best breaking balls in the bigs. His name is Gio Gonzalez. It is hard to understand how Gonzalez has been traded numerous times already in his young career, but with a curve ball as good as his, he is on the verge of stardom. 

This past season, Gonzalez won 15 games while pitching a 3.23 ERA. He went over the 200-inning mark, which is the sign of a workhorse, and also compiled 171 strikeouts. His high strikeout numbers were no doubt caused by his sneaky fast delivery where the ball just pops up on the hitters.

Brett Anderson is another lefty member of the Athletics rotation. He has dealt with injuries the past few years, but possessing a mid-90s heater from the left side is never a bad thing. Anderson has the ability to be a premier strikeout pitcher in the bigs for years to come. Pitching to a 2.80 ERA isn’t too shabby either.

Last, but not least is a guy I believe has the ability to be the ace of the rotation in a few short years. He has some filthy movement on his fastball to go along with the velocity in which it travels to the plate. Vin Mazzaro is definitely an ace in the making. 

Mazzaro struggled this season, but his shutout against the Yankees proved to me that he is capable of performing on the big stage. The man has the same kind of movement which allowed another pitcher to compile a 20-strikeout gem this season.

Brandon Morrow was switched from the bullpen to the rotation on numerous occasions and once he reached the Jays, his career took off. 

Mazzaro could experience the same situation as early as next year. With these five talented pitchers on their staff, it should surprise no one if they dethrone the Rangers and take the American League West with ease.

Who knows, maybe they can follow in the Giants’ footsteps and prove the old adage true—you can never have enough pitching.

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Expectations can be tricky things.

Often times, teams with high expectations fail to measure up, while squads without expectations do better than anticipated.  For the 2010 Athletics, the latter is true.

Without any considerable power threat on the roster (Jack Cust started the season at Triple-A), it was hard to imagine the non-explosive A’s coming close to .500 record.  With two games the left, Oakland is two wins away from finishing 81-81.  

No matter what happens the next two nights in Seattle, the Athletics’ brass must be pleased with the way the summer played out.

Oakland scored the fourth-fewest runs in the American League, was second-worst in total bases, and hit the second-fewest home runs.  

But the team was able to hover around the .500 mark for most of the season because of its pitching staff.  As one of the youngest staffs in all of baseball, the A’s have the lowest team ERA in the AL (3.57).  They did it largely without two of their top starters heading into the season, Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer.

No one had questioned whether or not the team had built a foundation for a strong staff, but not many outside the organization believed its young arms would be this good this quickly.

Trevor Cahill pitched his way into the role of the team’s ace with his outstanding season in 2010.  The sinkerballer showed flashes during last year’s rookie campaign but was unable to consistently locate his pitches.  In 2009 Cahill gave up 27 home runs while compiling a 4.63 ERA. 

This season the 22-year-old right-hander only let 19 balls leave the yard, strung together a 2.97 ERA, and won 18 games. 

Brett Anderson managed only 18 starts, but still pitched well and lowered his 2010 ERA (2.91) by more than a run from his 2009 mark (4.06).  When healthy, he could have the best stuff of any left-handed starter in baseball.  But he’ll have to prove that he can stay healthy over the course of an entire season. 

Like Cahill, Anderson is 22 years old.

The advantage the starting staff is the different look each pitcher provides.  Cahill can dominate with his sinker, Anderson’s a true power arm with four plus pitches, Gio Gonzalez was praised by Torri Hunter as having the best left-handed curve in baseball, and Dallas Braden’s bulldog mentality allows him to be successful with less than dominating stuff.

Those four starters are good enough to win a pennant if healthy.  If Vin Mazzaro can make the jump next season like his counterparts did in 2010, the A’s should have far and away the best pitching staff in baseball.

Owner Lew Wolff and GM Billy Beane have both pledged to make the offense better in 2011.  Whether it comes from inside the organization, through free-agency or trades, the team could very well find itself back as a contender for an AL West crown this time next year.

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Clayton Richard- 13-9, 3.71 ERA

Clayton has been a big part of the Padres’ first place pitching staff. He has racked up nearly 200 innings while giving his team a chance to win. I’ve heard numerous Sox fans wishing he were still in our rotation this season.

However, I don’t think he’s that big a loss based on a few factors.

The biggest one is that he is in a very good situation that helps his numbers. Not only is he in the NL, which features shallower lineups, but he pitches half of his game at Petco Park, one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the league.

That shows in his splits from this season: his ERA is 3.15 at home and 4.37 away from Petco Park. In fact, his ERA+ (which is park-adjusted) is below league average this season.

How much worse would those numbers look if he were still on the Sox, pitching in homer-friendly US Cellular Field against lineups that feature a designated hitter?

Richard also puts a lot of guys on base, as shown in his 1.40 WHIP. If not for his solid .7 homers per nine rate and 74.8% strand rate (both career lows), his ERA could be a fair amount higher.

Finally, Clayton just turned 27, making him several years older than the other two pitchers featured in this article. He probably doesn’t have as much upside because of it.

While his numbers might look decent on paper, Richard doesn’t  look like a guy the Sox will miss long term.

Gio Gonzalez– 14-9, 3.35 ERA

Gio has been a personal favorite of mine since I saw his devastating curve ball in draft prospect video. I wasn’t particularly happy when the Sox traded him (twice), but his lack of control made it look like a non-issue until this season. The 25 year old has taken a major leap forward this year.

While most teams would kill to get a talented young lefty like Gonzalez, there are still two things to consider when evaluating his production.

First, much like Richard, Gonzalez is much better at his spacious home park than he is on the road. Gio has a stellar 2.56 home ERA but a much more pedestrian 4.22 ERA. That said, a 4.22 is still pretty good considering he pitches in the American League, as shown by his 125 ERA+ this season.

The other concern is that his actual ERA is far lower than his expected ERA of 4.22. He’s struggled with home runs in the past, but has kept the ball in the park much more frequently this year. He also stranded 77.2% of runners this year, much higher than his past rates. Also, though four walks per nine innings isn’t a great rate, that is his career best.

Still, I’m much more of a believer in Gonzalez than Richard. He just turned 25 and was selected as a first round compensation pick, suggesting that he is younger and more talented as well as pitching better this season.

Daniel Hudson- 8-2, 2.45 ERA

Hudson has been lights out since he was traded to the Diamondbacks, posting a 1.69 ERA and a 70/16 strikeout to walk ratio in the national league. Though Edwin Jackson has been solid for the Sox, this trade looks pretty painful.

On top of that, Hudson is still only 23 and doesn’t have a full year of MLB service time yet. That means that his contract will be extremely cheap for another three seasons before he is eligible for arbitration. He’d be highly useful to the Sox given the financial crunch the Sox face this off-season (more in a future article).

His numbers are stellar this season, so any question marks about Dan are related to the big picture.

There’s simply no way he’s going to sustain a sub-2 ERA forever, so what can we expect from Hudson? Is he still a #3 type starter like so many suggested entering this season, or has he shown he can do more? Will teams hit him better when they see him more often?

We won’t really know the answer to those questions until next season.

Wrap-up

The Sox appear to have a solid rotation locked up for next season, so this may be a bit of nitpicking. However, it’s hard to ignore that the Sox have given up three productive major league starters with relatively little return so far and a lot of money committed to the players they acquired.

The biggest thing these starters would have given the Sox is cost certainty, with none of them being arbitration eligible until at least 2012. Hudson in particular would be under team control for several more years. With over $40 mil committed to 4 starters already and John Danks needing an extension soon, the extra money committed will be a big issue the next few years.

Hopefully this will all be a moot point in a few years, but the early returns don’t look particularly good.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Lately a lot of the fresh faces in new places are making the most out of their change of scenery. This week it’s time for you to take advantage! Let’s stroll though and see who to sit and who to start.

Start ‘Em

Ian Desmond, Washington Nationals, 23 percent owned

As long as your league doesn’t count fielding percentage or errors, then Desmond is your man this week. He’s been hot after the break, hitting .304 with a .790 OPS since. All of his games next week are at home where he’s hit all but one of his home runs. Against his team’s two opponents next week (CHC, STL), Desmond’s hitting .500 through 20 at-bats this year.

Ryan Theriot, Chicago Cubs, 84 percent owned

You can expect this new acquisition to pay some major dividends this week for the Dodgers. First up, he plays in Milwaukee against the Brewers, where he has a career mark of .368 and a .451 OBP through 102 at-bats—great numbers with a large sample size. 

He also has a .400-plus average against three of the five Brewers starters. His numbers against the Rockies and at Coors Field are great too. Lifetime he’s hitting .327 at Coors Field and .299 against the entire current staff.

Pat Burrell, San Francisco Giants, 18 percent owned

“The Bat” has been on fire since being acquired from the Rays. Five of the six pitchers that he faces this week are right-handed (40 points higher against righties, and 11 of 14 home runs). Against Cincinnati’s pitching, Burrell has a career mark of .333, in 33 at-bats, with great individual numbers against Arroyo (.333, two HR in 18 AB).

Sit ‘Em

Jason Kubel, Minnesota Twins, 94.8 percent owned

This week is going to be Jason Kubel’s gauntlet. He’s hitting .200 with a .290 OBP against lefties this year (a career-long weakness of his). Four of the seven starting pitchers that Kubel will face this week are left-handed. Included in those four are Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson.

Against both the Rangers pitchers and Mariners pitchers, Kubel has a combined career line of .206 in 102 AB and only one home run. This might be a career year for him, but this week showcases his career weakness.

Jorge Posada, New York Yankees, 92.6 percent owned

Posada’s numbers away this year are dismal and his numbers at both the Rogers Centre and Kaufman Stadium fall in line. In away games Posada is hitting .197, 101 points lower than at home. This year at both fields he’s a combined two for 19 (.105).

John Buck might be an affordable option to back-up since most teams only have one catcher on their roster and Buck is only owned in 12.2 percent of leagues. Over the last month he’s quietly hit .297.

Two-Start Pitchers To Use

Jake Westbrook, St. Louis Cardinals, 16 percent owned

Since being acquired from the Indians, Westbrook has thrown four consecutive quality starts. He has amassed 26 strikeouts in only 25 innings, while walking only four, and has posted a phenomenal 3.5 ground to fly-ball ratio. While he is not likely keep that rate up, this week shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for him to maintain those numbers.

PNC Park provides Westbrook with the fifth-worst place for home runs and the Pirates lineup is virgin to Westbrook, limiting their scouting of him. Washington doesn’t fare much better against Westbrook. While their park isn’t as good at containing the yardball, their lineup has only 22 hits in a career 97 at-bats against him.

Gio Gonzalez, Oakland A’s, 29.9 percent owned

Gio’s week from a distance may look like a bumpy one since they face the powerful Rangers. Yet with good, current-year numbers, Gio should make it through this week easily. So far this year Gio has pitched two shutouts against the Indians (13.2 innings total). As for the Rangers, in three starts he has maintained a 2.65 ERA and has kept the batters in check throughout his career (.227 average through 75 ABs, only two home runs).

Two-Start Pitchers To Avoid

Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians, 23.6 percent owned

This week a large sports website posted an article about using Carmona because of his two-starts. I’m here to tell you why you should do just the opposite. As a team, the A’s are hitting .344 against Carmona, with the bigger bats crushing him. Cust is hitting .500 against him with two home runs in 10 at bats. Carmona’s BAA post all-star game is a disgusting .335. He’s given up seven earned runs in 10 innings against Kansas City previously this year.

Huroki Kuroda, Los Angeles Dodgers, 86.7 percent owned

Unfortunately for Kuroda owners, he’s taking a trip to two of the top 10 homer-friendly parks in the bigs (third place for Coors Field and seventh for Miller), and his career numbers at both places are horrendous. His career ERA at Coors is 9.00 and his career ERA at Miller is 20.25!

Adding to his troubles are his career numbers against the players of both teams. Colorado players have a combined career .325 average against Kuroda through 83 at-bats. Milwaukee players are hitting .294, however in his defense, this is only through 17 at-bats.

All Statistical Information was obtained through ESPN.com

Written exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com by James Bryce. James is a grad student at UCSD and is currently in his 13th year of fantasy sports.

Follow us on Twitter@TheFantasyFix

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Here are some more articles that will smack some sense into you…

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For the Oakland A’s the team has a ton of talented starting pitchers and one of those pitchers is Gio Gonzalez. The word to describe his season so far has been inconsistent at one point he looked like the ace for the A’s and other times he’s struggled mightily. 

Looking at his numbers before tonights game he’s got a record of 10-7, with a 3.51 ERA, has started 23 games, has one complete game, and has struck out 114 while walking 62 hitters. 

One of his biggest problems has been walking batters. What’s really been noticeable though is the walks tend to come after a hitter gets on either by a hit or an error. While watching Gonzalez it’s almost as if he expects to get every hitter out and when things don’t go his way like he expected he loses concentration for that inning. 

Looking at his splits it’s understandable on why he struggles at times with runners on base. 

With runners in scoring position batters are hitting .257 against Gonzalez, but looking further it’s even more telling. With no runners on he’s very effective holding batters to a .202 average. 

Yet, when runners get on base that’s when things get out of control for Gonzalez. With a runner on first opponents are hitting .333, with just a runner on second batters are hitting .308, and when there’s only a runner at third teams are hitting .375 

When there’s runners on first with less than two outs he’s held hitters to a .231 average, with runners at third with less than two outs he’s held hitters to a remarkable .056 average, but more concerning is what happens with two outs and a runner at third Gonzalez is hit at a .296 clip.  

Clearly shows that if a hitter gets on base his concentration is off! What about with multiple runners on base? 

With runners on first and second Gonzalez is just a bit better than when there’s just a runner on base with hitters batting .289. When there’s runners on first and third Gonzalez buckles down and pitches extremely well holding batters to a minuscule .077 average. 

Gonzalez even does decent with runners on second and third holding batters to a .250 average. Bases loaded against Gonzalez hitter are only hitting .200 against him. 

In general though when there’s no outs in an inning Gonzalez is holding batters to a .189 average, when there’s one out he’s still at a respectable .231, but when there’s two outs Gonzalez struggles with hitters having a .285 average. 

Batting in the clutch against Gonzalez such as with two outs and a runner in scoring position hitters are hitting him at a .323 clip. In the later innings with the game close though Gonzalez does much better holding hitters to a .222 average. 

As for when teams are trying to comeback when they are within one run hitters are batting .215, when trailing by two runs a .247 average, within three runs a .234 average, within four runs .241, and trailing by four runs or more a .125 average. 

Problem innings for Gonzalez have been the second inning where hitters are batting .289 and the fifth inning opponents are hitting .295 against him.

Strong innings for him have been the third inning teams are hitting just .175 and the sixth inning teams have just a .193 average.

Counts are an interesting as well:

First Pitch: .268

1-0 count: .378

2-0 count: .368

3-0 count: N/A has walked all 14 batters

0-1 count: .238

0-2 count: .109

1-2 count: .113

2-2 count: .085

1-1 count: .327

2-1 count: .324

3-1 count: .424

Regardless of the count with a three ball count opponents are hitting .365, with two strikes hitters are batting .155, when the count is even .203, and when a batter is behind .143

Just looking at numbers though is hard to put into context on how Gonzalez struggles with runners on base. The best example of this came in a recent start against the Chicago White Sox.

Gonzalez was pitching extremely well in fact he was perfect up until that point and what’s more disconcerting is the fact that he struck out 11 White Sox in that start as well.

The trouble inning was the bottom of the fifth inning and even then the inning started off well. Gonzalez struck out Paul Konerko on three pitches, but after that is when he got in trouble. 

Carlos Quentin hit a single, Ramon Castro hit an infield single, he gets the second out of the inning by getting Dayan Viciedo to fly out, Gonzalez then hits Andrew Jones with a pitch. 

The next batter up Brent Lillibridge who Gonzalez shouldn’t have had any problems with, but instead he gave Lillibridge way too good of a pitch to hit a fastball that Lillibridge took to right field for a three run triple. 

Matt Carson made an attempt to catch the ball but came up just short of making the spectacular catch when in reality regardless of the situation the ball was going to drop and score at least two runs even if Carson didn’t dive.

Juan Pierre bunted and scored Lillibridge bringing the score to 4-0 White Sox and Gonzalez finally ended the inning by striking out Alexei Ramirez. 

Besides the White Sox game what really stand out is what happens when Gonzales falls behind in the count. He becomes very hittable in those situations and one of the biggest thing during the offseason is how Gonzalez makes an adjustment. 

Gonzalez has been quoted as saying this about Dallas Braden “because of Dallas, I have great composure, and I have grown up big-time throughout my big-league experience.”

Yes, the overall numbers for Gonzalez are impressive with a 3.51 ERA and he has grown as a pitcher. As the season winds down it will be interesting to see how he progresses and what will be interesting to see is Gonzalez being able to work back from falling behind in the count.

If Gonzalez can keep up his work while being ahead of hitters and improves on when runners on base, he could become a top of the rotation starter for the A’s.

But if he continues to struggle while falling behind then he’s most likely going to find himself out of a job of back in Sacramento…

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