Kuzul

Expectations are high for the 2011 Oakland Athletics as they get ready to report to Spring Training in Phoenix, preparing to hopefully bring the World Series trophy back across the Bay Bridge for the first time since 1989.

After finishing last season with a record of 81-81, good enough for second place in the American League West, Billy Beane and the A’s front office spent the offseason adding depth to the A’s lineup, starting rotation and bullpen. Starting with pitchers and catchers reporting on February 15, and position players five days later on February 20, we will get our first look at the roster many believe could be a dark horse contender for the World Series this season.

The offseason transactions began with the highly publicized courting of Japanese starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma after the A’s won the bidding on his posting fee at a reported $19 million. The A’s promptly traded pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks to Kansas City for outfielder David DeJesus. DeJesus’ addition to the team made fan favorite Rajai Davis expendable, and he was flipped to Toronto for minor league relievers Trystan Magnuson and Daniel Farquhar. Toronto third baseman Edwin Encarnacion was claimed off waivers, and the A’s made contract offers to free agents Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman.

Iwakuma and the A’s were unable to reach a deal, and the A’s posting fee was returned to the team. Beltre and Berkman both turned down the A’s overtures to sign with Texas and St. Louis. Edwin Encarnacion was non-tendered and granted his free agency (along with Jack Cust and Travis Buck).

The A’s responded to their failed pursuit of Iwakuma by signing former Texas free-agent starters Brandon McCarthy and Rich Harden, to compete for the fifth rotation spot with a finally healthy Josh Outman.

With Beltre and Berkman out of the mix for spots in the A’s lineup, Oakland signed Hideki Matsui as the teams new designated hitter, and traded Henry Rodriguez and Corey Brown to Washington for outfielder Josh Willingham.

To wrap up their busy offseason, the A’s added relievers Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes to solidify their bullpen behind their already solid rotation.

Hard to ask for much more excitement in the offseason.

The biggest question that will be answered during Spring Training is, who will emerge as the fifth spot in the rotation behind current starters Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden?

Another question that likely has already been answered is where Chris Carter fits with the 2011 A’s. Blocked in the outfield by the additions of DeJesus and Willingman, with Ryan Sweeney and Conor Jackson representing the fourth and fifth outfielders, Carter looks headed back to AAA-Sacramento to start the season. Carter is a versatile athlete who also has experience at first base, arguably his best position, and can also spend time at designated hitter. If there is an injury to any of the A’s starters, he could still break camp with the A’s major league squad.

The A’s have a few interesting side stories to follow as the season progresses with the release of Moneyball, the movie starring Brad Pitt about the Oakland A’s and GM Billy Beane’s approach to building a team in the early 2000’s.

The signing of Hideki Matsui along with a multitude of international signings over the past few seasons will thrust the A’s and their brand of baseball into the conscious of the world wide baseball community in 2011.

The A’s also hope to hear news about their desired move to San Jose before the completion of Spring Training.

A’s Projected Starters (By Position):

Catcher, Kurt Suzuki: Suzuki, 27 years old this season, enters his fifth season with the Athletics, and will once again handle one of the most talented rotations in all baseball. Suzuki hit .242/.303/.366 last season with 13 home runs and 71 RBI. Expect Suzuki’s average to rebound back to the .270-range where he hit the previous two seasons with his home run totals to stay consistent in the 13-15 range. With an improved lineup around him, his RBI production should increase in 2011.

First Base, Daric Barton: Barton emerged as one of the best defensive first basemen in the American League in 2010. The A’s committed early in the offseason to Barton as their starting first baseman in 2011, a definite boost in confidence as he enters his fourth season with the A’s. Barton hit .273/.393/.405 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI. Much like with Suzuki, you can expect to see Barton hold steady in the power department, however his RBI production could improve with more batters reaching base around him. Barton should be a .270-.280 hitter, so a huge improvement seems unlikely in 2011, but with DeJesus, Willingham and Matsui hitting behind him in the lineup, he should see better pitches to give him more opportunities at the plate.

Second Base, Mark Ellis: The A’s picked up their team option on Mark Ellis in the off season, bringing the veteran back for his ninth season in the A’s infield. Ellis is one of the game’s elite defensive second baseman, and will provide plenty of support to the A’s young rotation. Ellis is a steady hitter annually, posting a line of .291/.358/.381 with only five home runs and 49 RBI. His home run total should rebound back to double digits in 2011, and as a result his RBI total should also increase. Ellis’ true value to Oakland however is his veteran leadership, and reliable defensive play.

Third Base, Kevin Kouzmanoff: No one had a more frustrating offseason than Kouzmanoff. While he returns for his second season with the A’s, he was forced to sit and watch as the A’s pursued Adrian Beltre throughout the offseason. Kouzmanoff is a defensive specialist who produced one of his best showings last season with the A’s. Many consider his 2010 offensive statistics to be disappointing, however they were in line with his career averages. In 2010 he hit .247/.283/.396 while leading the A’s with 16 home runs, and 71 RBI. Both Kouzmanoff and the A’s would like to see his batting average and on-base percentage and power numbers to improve in 2010. He will be pushed to a position in the lineup with less pressure than his regular placement in the 3-4 slots in 2010, this should help him to improve on his 2010 statistics.

Shortstop, Cliff Pennington: Pennington enters his fourth season with the A’s, and second season as the full-time starting shortstop. Pennington has good range at shortstop although he commits too many errors (he would commit less errors if he was not able to get to as many balls as he does). Pennington hit a respectable .250/.319/.368 with six home runs and 46 RBI. Pennington adds speed to the A’s lineup, stealing twenty-nine bases in 2010 while only being caught stealing five times.

Left Field, Josh Willingham: Willingham comes over to Oakland for his first season with the A’s. Injuries cut his 2010 season short, however he still managed a line of .268/.389/.459 with 16 home runs and 56 RBI. Willingham will hope to stay healthy in 2011 and return to his career average of 20-plus home runs per season. Willingham is an upgrade to an A’s offense that lacked power throughout 2010, and he will be counted on in the middle of the A’s lineup.

Center Field, Coco Crisp: Crisp returns for his second season with the A’s after they picked up his club-option during the offseason. Crisp had a very respectable season last year, although injuries only allowed him to play in about half of the A’s games. Crisp is a solid defender in center field, and hit for a line of .279/.342/.438 with eight home runs and 38 RBI in only 75 games. Crisp also managed 32 stolen bases while only being caught three times. Crisp will bat leadoff for the A’s in 2011 and count on better health to keep him on the field for the entire season.

Right Field, David DeJesus: DeJesus, like Willingham, comes to Oakland for his first season with the A’s. DeJesus also had his campaign cut short by injuries in 2010, but appears fully healthy entering spring training. He brings with him a streak of 241 consecutive games without committing an error. The A’s will count on DeJesus’ excellent defense in right field in 2011. DeJesus hit .318/.384/.443 with five home runs, and 37 RBI in 2010. Improved health, and a lineup considerably better than the one he was a part of in Kansas City should improve his opportunities in 2011.

Designated Hitter, Hideki Matsui: Matsui comes to Oakland after a brief one year stint in Anaheim after several seasons with the Yankees. The longtime Yankee is no longer a real option in the outfield, and will be primarily responsible for manning the designated hitter position. He is a professional hitter who can be counted on come through in the clutch and spread hits around the field with more regularity than his predecessor, Jack Cust. Matsui hit for a line of .274/.361/.459 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI last season. Matsui will likely hit fifth in the A’s lineup this season, and solidify a much improved lineup.

Rotation

Brett Anderson: The talented lefty has arguably some of the best stuff on the A’s pitching staff. Injuries plagued his 2010 season, but he was still able to compile a record of 7-6 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Anderson will look to stay healthy in 2011 and take over as the ace of this talented rotation.

Trevor Cahill: Pushing Anderson for ace status in the rotation is last year’s break out pitcher Trevor Cahill. Cahill put together a very impressive 18-8 record with a 2.97 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Cahill will look to maintain his level of success in 2011 and prove that 2010 was not a fluke.

Gio Gonzalez: Rounding out Oakland’s new “Big Three” is Gio Gonzalez. Gonzales had a break out season in 2010 where he compiled a record of 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. Gonzalez showed giant leaps in maturity in 2010, and will continue to improve in 2011 rounding out a dominant 1-2-3 punch with Anderson and Cahill to match up with other teams top pitchers.

Dallas Braden: “Mr. Perfect” returns to the A’s rotation in 2011 after posting an 11-14 record with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP with the A’s last season. Braden was the victim of poor run support for much of the season, and will benefit from the A’s improved lineup this season.

Bullpen: New comers Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes will join Craig Breslow, Brad Ziegler, Michael Wuertz, Jerry Blevins, and closer Andrew Bailey in a very deep bullpen. Joey Devine, returning from Tommy John surgery, will also compete for a spot in the rotation, along with the losers of the fifth starter competition (Rich Harden, Brandon McCarthy and Josh Outman).

Pitchers and catchers report: Feb. 15.

Full squad reports: Feb. 20.

First Spring Training game: Away vs. Chicago Cubs, Feb. 27, 12:05 p.m.

Opening Day: Home vs. Seattle Mariners, April 1, 7:05 p.m.

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There are still plenty of players left on the free agent market that could improve a major league club. What if it was decided there would be a new expansion team? The team would have to assemble itself by whoever is left, and this is what I believe this team would look like. A team filled with former all-stars, and overlooked players.

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The A’s first round pick of the 1996 draft, Eric Chavez made his professional debut with the Oakland Athletics on September 8, 1998 in a pinch-hit role against the Baltimore Orioles. Over the course of the next 13 seasons “Chavvy” would become the second longest continuous tenured player to wear an Oakland Athletic uniform.

Chavez reached free agency for the first time this offseason when his club option was not picked up by Oakland. After four consecutive seasons in which Chavez spent the majority of the season on the disabled list, there was no doubt that the A’s would not exercise his high priced option.

Earlier this week Chavez agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training with the New York Yankees. If he is able to make the team he will spend his time as a backup to Alex Rodriguez at third base as well as backing up first baseman Mark Teixeira and occasionally seeing some at-bats as the designated hitter to spell Jorge Posada.

Oakland A’s fans will have their first opportunity to see Chavez in a Yankee uniform up close May 30 to June 1 when the Yankees visit the Oakland Coliseum for their only trip to the Bay Area in 2011. As a lifelong A’s fan, I know all too well the temptation that exists to boo anyone wearing the Yankee uniform while playing against the A’s. Eric Chavez, however, is not deserving of any negative response from A’s fans.

Over his 13-year tenure with Oakland, Chavez gave A’s fans everything he was capable of producing. He batted .267 for his A’s career with 1276 hits and 230 home runs while setting the standard for defensive third basemen throughout the American League.

Chavez won six consecutive Gold Glove Awards between 2001 to 2006. Chavez also won a Silver Slugger award as an Oakland Athletic in 2002 when he posted a slash line of .275/.348/.513 with 34 home runs and 109 RBI. Chavez finished 14th in MVP voting as a result of this campaign.

Chavez was a key member of the A’s playoff runs in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006.

Before injuries derailed his career he was a consistent presence in the A’s lineup hitting in the .270 to .280 range while remaining steady with 29 home runs in 2003 and 2004, and 27 home runs in 2005.

The stretch from 2006 to 2010 proved frustrating for Chavez as well as A’s fans as he was unable to stay on the field due to several trips to the disabled list. Chavez was finally replaced as the A’s No. 1 option at third base last season with the trade for Kevin Kouzmanoff from San Diego. Chavez did his best to stay on the field and help the A’s win, and in the end it proved costly for his offensive statistics.

While he never lived up to the contract he was awarded by the Oakland A’s following the 2004 season, it certainly was never for lack of effort. Eric Chavez gave his best and everything he could offer to the only professional organization he had ever known.

Yankee stadium is very friendly to left-handed hitters and should provide Chavez with an opportunity to resurrect his once promising career if he is able to remain healthy.

The New York Yankees will likely be only a one-year stop for Chavez if he is able to prove his health over the course of a complete season. The Yankees have Alex Rodriguez entrenched at third base, and Mark Texeira at first base. Chavez will be granted his free agency again next offseason and hopefully compete for a starting position with another team, one in which it will be easier for A’s fans to show him support.

For the three-game visit the Yankees make to Oakland this year, A’s fans owe Chavez their appreciation. A long standing ovation is owed to Chavez in his first at bat back in the Coliseum, and anything less is completely unacceptable. There are plenty of other Yankees that we can boo.

Eric Chavez’s Oakland A’s career statistics:

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It has been 689 days since Major League Baseball began their review of the A’s stadium situation and options. There has been no report made public, and no clear indication of whether the A’s will make their new home near Jack London Square, or 40 miles South of the Coliseum in San Jose. Since their wait began, the only thing that has become clear is that the A’s can not wait any longer for an answer.

The Oakland A’s have long maintained that they need a new stadium in order to remain successful as a franchise both on the field and financially. The increased revenue that a new stadium would bring to the A’s could be used to retain some of their homegrown talent rather than losing them to free agency when they become stars.

The A’s argue that with a new stadium they no longer will lose players as they did when Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Johnny Damon, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito all left town as either free agents or via trade because the A’s would not have been able to meet their contractual demands. Constant turn over of players has hurt the A’s ability to draw and retain fans.

Increased revenue from a new stadium could also help the A’s attract top free agent talent to help supplement their own homegrown stars of the future. Lately the A’s have repeatedly found their overtures to top free agents declined.

The A’s missed out on their top two free agent targets this season in large part because he did not want to play in the rundown Oakland Coliseum. Adrian Beltre turned down a six-year, $76 million contract to sign with the Texas Rangers, and Lance Berkman turned down the A’s two-year offer to sign a one-year deal with St. Louis.

Beltre’s agent, Scott Boras, was recently quoted in an interview that the stadium is the main deterrent in signing free agents. Boras said “You talk to players. It’s not the city. It’s not the team. It’s the ballpark.”

“When teams recruit against the Oakland A’s, they say, ‘Why do you want to play in an empty park?’ It’s not about the organization. It’s not about ownership. It’s about locale.”

Those last three words of Boras’ quote are the key to this argument however. Oakland or San Jose?

Oakland has recently stepped up their pursuit of keeping the A’s in Oakland. Oakland has identified a stadium location near Jack London Square, and ordered an environmental impact report to speed up the process of getting shovels in the ground if the MLB Blue-Ribbon Panel determines the A’s are to stay in Oakland.

Athletics owner Lew Wolfe has been less than receptive to this proposal from the city of Oakland. Wolfe maintains that the A’s have exhausted all options within the city of Oakland and determined that there is not a suitable site to serve the A’s long term interests.

The city of San Jose has been purchasing the parcels of land necessary to build a stadium for the A’s, and also attempted to place a measure on last year’s ballot to secure voter approval. The measure was removed at the request of Major League Baseball.

Both Oakland and San Jose could lose out in their bids for a new baseball stadium if no decision is made before Governor Jerry Brown freezes all local redevelopment however.

It is the role of MLB to determine if there will be a vote by the owners to remove the territorial rights to Santa Clara County from the San Francisco Giants to allow the A’s to move South. The Giants were granted territorial rights in the early 1990’s when the Giants were considering a move to San Jose, ironically enough because the A’s surrendered the rights to the Giants. The Giants of course now have their new stadium in San Francisco’s China Basin.

The Giants franchise would be effected by the A’s relocating to San Jose, there is little doubt that this is true. The Giants Single-A minor league affiliate currently calls San Jose home, and as a result of this there is already a Giants fan base in San Jose. An A’s move would challenge this fan base and also force the Giants to relocate their minor league team. (The A’s would front the bill for relocation however.)

Baseball’s owners would need to approve the move, and the Giants will undoubtedly fight the move until the end, but the Giants would find themselves well compensated in the event the move is approved. The precedent has been set by the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington DC and into the territorial rights of the Baltimore Orioles. Major League Baseball guaranteed the Orioles $130 million per year in revenue and a minimum sales price of $360 million.

Major League Baseball has taken too long to weight the benefits and downfalls of both Oakland and San Jose. The time is now to make a decision.

While East Bay fans of the A’s will argue that the team belongs in Oakland, a deeper look tells the story of why the A’s covet San Jose.

San Jose boasts the largest population in the Bay Area, and as a whole is more prosperous than Oakland. The benefit in season-ticket sales and walk up sales being drawn from within the city would be an instant boost to a franchise that struggles to draw fans to their current home, even during winning seasons in the early 2000’s.

San Jose businesses are another major advantage over Oakland. A downtown ballpark in San Jose would be hot real estate for corporate advertising and sponsorships. The A’s can not secure this level of advertising revenue in the struggling Oakland business environment.

A move to San Jose could arguably make the A’s a “Big Market” team that would be able to compete financially with New York, Boston, Anaheim, San Francisco and Los Angeles for top free agents. The A’s, annual recipients of revenue-sharing, would much rather contribute to the revenue sharing fund, and be independently successful as a franchise than to continue receiving an annual revenue sharing check from the big market teams.

This would be a positive development for Major League Baseball as a whole, increasing the values instantly of the teams that would no longer need to pay a portion of their revenue to the A’s, and increasing the revenue share that the other teams still on the receiving end would receive.

Oakland has argued that the A’s need to stay in Oakland to prevent the negative impact that their departure would have on the city’s unemployment rate and in essence, their overall financial well-being. Oakland believes that a stadium near Jack London Square at Victory Court would revitalize the area and bring new businesses into Oakland. They may very well be correct in their rationale.

It is not, however, the A’s responsibility to look out for the best economic interests of the city of Oakland. The A’s primary responsibility is to operate in the best interest of the A’s, to build a winning team to compete for World Series Titles that also operates as a successful business. This is a goal that can only be accomplished in San Jose.

In the midst of their often frustrating quest for a new stadium, the A’s have managed to build a team that stands an excellent chance at competing in the AL West this season. They made acquisitions of Hideki Matsui, Brian Fuentes, Grant Balfour, Rich Harden and Brandon McCarthy through free agency, and traded for Josh Willingham and David DeJesus.

These additions, along with their strong core farm system will keep the A’s competitive in 2011 and beyond. It sure would be nice if the A’s had a new stadium in an area with a fan base and revenue sources to retain this talent and give the fans familiar faces to cheer and form attachments with.

The right decision, for the Athletics franchise, and for baseball as a whole, is to allow the A’s to make the move South to San Jose.

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After a very busy off season, the Oakland A’s are poised to make some noise in the American League this year, and for once they won’t go unnoticed. At least this is what the A’s are counting on.

The A’s busy off season has landed them star players through trades such as David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, to go along with free agent signings: Hideki Matsui, Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes, Brandon McCarthy, and the return of Rich Harden.

The return of Joey Devine and Josh Outman from injuries add further depth to the roster. This newly acquired depth will help the A’s compete in 2011 against the injury bug that has plagued them in recent years and should keep them in contention deep into the season. Increased depth also gives them the ability to acquire an impact player at the trade deadline if the A’s find themselves in need of help to make a deep run into the playoffs.

If you think it is premature to start thinking playoffs, I’d like to give you a few points to consider:

The A’s are in a position where winning has an increased importance this season. This year, more than ever, a winning season has the potential to drastically increase the fan base. While this is always important, it means more to the A’s in 2011 than ever before: The A’s are in a position this season to drastically increase their visibility and promote their brand world-wide. The signing of Hideki Matsui brings with it the 24/7 media coverage of the Japanese fan base locally as well as foreign. Matsui will definitely be responsible for selling several more tickets to A’s games during the season, but his impact will have a greater effect on TV-coverage world wide as well A’s merchandise sales. Having a winning team will further impact their ability to capitalize on this opportunity. Matsui being signed to only a one year contract necessitates the A’s taking advantage of his presence this season by building a winning team around him.

Speaking of increased visibility, Hollywood is releasing “Moneyball” the movie starring Brad Pitt on September 23. At the risk of repeating myself, I will once again emphasize the A’s taking advantage of exposure and merchandising opportunities by building a winning team to take them deep into the playoffs in a year when Hollywood will help put the A’s in the spotlight. It is not only better for the team to be competitive at the time of the movie release, but it is also important for the public image of GM Billy Beane, who is the main character of the movie. A losing season at the time of the movies release would arm his critics and allow them to argue that he has lost his touch and is not the genius portrayed in the movie.

The Giants World Series victory last season further pushed the A’s out of the Bay Area media spotlight. The A’s need a winning season to compete with the Giants for ticket sales, advertising revenue and merchandise revenue around the Bay Area. The A’s have long been playing in front of an empty stadium and the Giants deep run last season unfortunately converted some previous A’s fans into panda hat and fake beard wearing regular attendants of AT&T Park. The aforementioned Hollywood and International exposure, along with a winning season would help bring back some of those fans along with create new fans. (Plus if it bothered the A’s front office as much as it bothered die-hard A’s fans, then the A’s need to answer back with their own World Series run).

Sadly, this year’s team features eight potential free agents at season’s end: Mark Ellis, David DeJesus, Coco Crisp, Josh Willingham, Hideki Matsui, Conor Jackson, Rich Harden and Brandon McCarthy. Surely the A’s will be able to retain some of these players, but they will inevitably lose some of these players to free agency. The A’s have long argued that their stadium is a major deterrent in signing major free agents to come and play for the Oakland A’s. If the A’s are able to increase their attendance and put together a winning season, and still fail to retain their free agents and sign additional free agents as they had trouble doing this off season (Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman both turned down offers to play elsewhere), their claim they need a new stadium to remain competitive will be proven accurate.

Financial benefits, increased fan base, and potential stadium benefits? When you look at it,  it sure does look like the A’s had a master plan going into this off season. Maybe Billy Beane really is the mad-genius he was portrayed as in Moneyball.

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Nobody is talking about Billy Beane anymore.

Moneyball hit its talking peak five years ago; the last time the Oakland Athletics managed to make the playoffs, in 2006, after winning the AL West with a 93-69 mark.

Their record dropped to 76-86 in 2007 but held steady at 75-86 and 75-87 in the next two years, respectively. In 2010, the A’s returned to .500 after finishing 81-81, nine games behind the eventual World Series runner-up Texas Rangers. 

Their consistency and moderate progression in wins masks Oakland’s transition from a middling club filled with stopgap starters and power hitting health risks on one-year deals to a franchise with reason to be excited about its future after its spoils of struggle (and free agency departure) have finally begun to show.  

Brett Anderson (22), Trevor Cahill (22), and Gio Gonzalez (25) are a trio of young starting pitchers who have reminded A’s fans of the Hudson-Zito-Mulder combination from the early part of last decade in more ways than just their handedness (oddly, two left-handers and one right-hander; Cahill, Hudson).

Cliff Pennington and Daric Barton are good young defenders, who both hit just enough to keep themselves in the lineup. Kurt Suzuki is now an experienced and solid starting catcher, going into his fifth year, who looks poised to improve his power (if you don’t believe me, watch the video on the right). 

Additionally, Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham were acquired via free agency and trade to boost the power of the third weakest offense in baseball last year (.122 Isolated power, in front of only Houston, .115, and Seattle, .104).

Billy Beane also traded for David Dejesus of the Royals, who should play stellar defense in right field, and combine for a pest-like one-two on-base combination with center fielder Coco Crisp at the top of the lineup. 

With the No. 4 and No. 5 slots in the rotation filled by some (likely productive, and advantageous) combination of Dallas Braden, Rich Harden and Josh Outman, Beane’s next logical focus was the bullpen; a unit that finished 22nd in the league in 2010 in Fielding Independent ERA (4.19) after finishing first in the same category a year earlier (3.35).

If the A’s plan to return their bullpen to elite status, their blueprints will require the health of closer Andrew Bailey, who has a 133:37 strikeout to walk ratio in 132.1 MLB innings, but is coming off of elbow surgery during the offseason. 

The next in line behind Bailey is likely Brian Fuentes, the former Angel who was signed this offseason as insurance (or surplus in the event Bailey is full-go). Fuentes has lost effectiveness the past few seasons, but along with the very underrated Jerry Blevins, the Athletics bullpen should be death to left-handed hitters in the late innings.  

Grant Balfour, the hard-throwing Australian with the ironic last name who was yet another of the Rays’ offseason losses, will combine with Michael Wuertz and his nasty slider as the primary setup men from the right side. B

oth are strikeout pitchers, and Balfour might be the best setup man in Oakland since Chad Bradford. Wuertz’s peripherals declined towards the end of last year, but if he rebounds, he would make for a ridiculously good fifth man out of the gate. 

Brad Ziegler, while unspectacular, is a more than serviceable middle reliever with his ability to churn groundballs and keep crooked numbers off the board. Joey Devine, the former first round pick out of NC State, is also an intriguing name. Devine is in his second year of recovery from Tommy John surgery. If he is able to return to full strength, he has closer potential, and the minor league numbers to back it up.

This collection of arms is among the most talented I have ever seen in one bullpen before the start of a season. 

Combined with an above average rotation that may soon be among the best in baseball, and a lineup capable of playing defense and hitting just enough to let their pitching win, the 2011 Oakland Athletics are the bizarro Texas Rangers. With loads of young pitching, there’s a lot to be excited about in Oakland, for both this year and the future.

Nobody is talking about Billy Beane anymore. But they will be soon. 

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Since the A’s last made the playoffs they’ve had successive win totals of 76, 75, 75 and 81, and thus been stuck in mediocrity.  But there is reason for optimism this year, thanks mostly to a young pitching staff that took a huge step forward last year.  

Billy Beane has a wonderful eye for pitching talent, unfortunately for A’s fans, his eye for positional talent is just as spectacularly bad. In 2010, the Oakland starters led the league in quality starts, ERA and finished second in Batting Average Against (BAA), but only 24th in strikeouts. 

These overall stats reflect the nature of the starting staff; all quality pitchers who need a true strikeout pitch to reach elite fantasy status.  The top-three in the rotation (Cahill, Anderson, Gonzalez) will probably fall in the 20-40 draft pick range for fantasy pitchers.  

The clear No. 1 after last year’s breakout season is Trevor Cahill (18-8; sub-three era; 21 quality starts).  He was dominant for long stretches last year; at one point he had a 20-game streak where he pitched at least five innings and gave up six hits or fewer, tying Nolan Ryan’s modern day record. 

In contrast to Nolan Ryan, Cahill’s glaring weakness is his inability to get the swing and miss—in nearly 200 innings last year he only had 118 strikeouts.  Obviously, this is a negative for fantasy purposes as you lose strikeout points, but stating the obvious, when the ball is in play bad things can happen to a pitcher’s stats.  

Cahill will start the year at only 23 years old, so he has a chance to continue to improve and develop a strikeout pitch and if that happens you are looking at a top-10 pitcher. 

Brett Anderson pitched very well when healthy last year (7-6; 2.80 era; 13/19 quality starts).  Despite nice strikeout numbers during his rookie year, last year was a bit of a disappointment in that area.  Part of that could be blamed on arm troubles, which might’ve affected his swing-and-miss-ability.  If he stays healthy and reverts back to his rookie year strikeout ratio, he could finish the season as the No. 1 fantasy pitcher on this team.

Perhaps the most enticing talent on the team is Gio Gonzalez.  A formerly erratic pitcher with all the tools, he seemed to figure things out last year.  What makes him especially enticing on this roster is his ability to strikeout opponents. 

This slight dip in strikeouts from the previous season was worth it as he increased his wins, gave up less walks, less hits and had a lower ERA.  The tricky thing, when someone makes such a big leap is that you have to be careful of a slight regression. 

Still, he’s a player with No. 2 potential who could be overlooked in a lot of drafts with definite sleeper potential.

It speaks volumes about the A’s staff that Dallas Braden (of the A-Rod spat and perfect game) is the fourth starter.  Last year he finished sixth in the American League in WHIP and 13th in ERA.

Throw in his perfect game and he has the ability to completely shut down the opponent, but like the rest of the A’s his lack of strikeouts hurts his value.  Plus, you have to reserve a special spot in your heart for a guy that calls out the highest paid player in baseball.

Continue Reading >>>

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Oakland Athletics center fielder Coco Crisp has established himself as a top outfielder in the game of baseball. His tremendous speed and awareness makes him a perfect player to patrol the outfield.

On top of his defense, Crisp has established himself as a top leadoff man in the big leagues. His quick hands help him get on base and quick feet make him a threat to steal every time he reaches base.

When asked to name his top five favorite center fielders to watch, Crisp had a tough time coming up with a list.

“That’s kind of a loaded question,” he said. “You put a guy in centerfield and he’s supposed to be the best guy in the outfield. Going through all 30 teams — they all have solid outfielders.”

Despite having a little difficulty coming up with a Top 5 list, Crisp did name three that stood out to him.

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A vaunted homegrown pitching staff. A very strong bullpen led by an All-Star closer.

A franchise player behind the plate. A balanced mix of young guys and veterans.

Low expectations. A mild-mannered, baseball-minded manager in the dugout. 

A weak, very winnable division where the other teams made negligible offseason improvements.

Last year was a good year for the Giants. And by good year, I mean they won the World Series. Yes, THAT good. And the above statements pretty accurately describe the team at the start of the 2010 season. 

And if that’s the recipe for success, it looks like the Oakland Athletics are using the same cookbook for 2011. 

Now I’m not going to take that extreme leap of faith and call the A’s the “soon-to-be 2011 World Champions,” but I will say that there are a lot of similarities, both on the team and in the division, that make the comparisons very valid. 

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It hurts me to write this, but it must be done. Don’t buy into the hype surrounding Trevor Cahill, his 18-8 record or his 2.97 ERA last season. I really like Cahill. He doesn’t walk a lot of batters (2.88 BB/9) and he pitches in a spacious ballpark, but it’s almost impossible for him to approach his numbers from last season.

For starters, his BABIP last year was .238. Typically, we expect the average BABIP to be around .300, but pitchers that allow low line drive and fly ball rates tend to have lower BABIPs anyway. Using an equation posted by Fangraphs, we see that Cahill’s expected BABIP based on his line drive, fly ball and ground ball rates last year was .287. That 49-point difference is enormous and explains the gap between his ERA and FIP (4.19). Do you really want to pay for an 18-win pitcher on a bad offensive team who was one of a handful of extremely lucky pitchers the year before and doesn’t strike out that many batters? No.

According to Mock Draft Central, Cahill’s current ADP is 88, putting him in front of guys like John Danks, Matt Garza, Roy Oswalt, Wandy Rodriguez, Colby Lewis and Shaun Marcum, all of whom I have ranked ahead of Cahill. In fact, Cahill was my 48th ranked starting pitcher, and the team at Baseball Professor collectively ranked him 41st in our 2011 fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings.

2011 Fantasy Projection

14-11 | 3.70 ERA | 1.25 WHIP | 137 K | 205 IP | 6.0 K/9

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For more fantasy baseball content, check out our 2011 fantasy rankings:

Top 30 Catchers

Top 30 First Basemen

Top 30 Second Basemen

Top 30 Third Basemen

Top 30 Shortstops 

Top 60 Outfielders

Top 60 Starting Pitchers

Top 30 Relief Pitchers

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