Kuzul

The Oakland A’s went into the winter meetings looking like they might contend again in 2015. They came out of the meetings three All-Stars lighter.

Now what?

Last we heard from general manager Billy Beane, he told the media he now plans to spend some of the cash saved in the Brandon Moss, Josh Donaldson and Jeff Samardzija trades. Here’s what Beane said in quotes captured by John Hickey of Mercury News:

We’ve collected young players, and we’re going to try to redeploy the extra payroll. We are trying to walk the delicate balance, getting younger and trying to be as good as we can as quickly as possible. We’ve never been an organization that says, ‘Hey, we’re going to punt for the next five years and get a top-10 draft pick. That’s not in our DNA.

But here’s the most interesting quote from the Hickey article: “We are not done. There are a few things we’d still like to do. We have a laundry list of things we’d like to get done.”

Not an item or two—a laundry list.

What is on that list is anyone’s guess, though. Most saw the Samardzija trade coming. The act of trading Brandon Moss didn’t shock too many. Josh Donaldson joining the Toronto Blue Jays was a most unexpected move.

From the given to the unforeseen, Beane‘s touched on both sides of the spectrum this offseason in terms of moves made.

At this point it’s clear Beane shed some money where it was easy to do so. That seems to be the offseason plan on an annual basis. If we take his words as truth without deception, we can assume the plan moving forward is to remain in competition in the near future.

But does that mean 2015?

Ten teams go to playoffs. As one of them, the A’s lost in their first postseason game, and that was with Moss, Donaldson, Samardzija, Jed Lowrie, Luke Gregerson and Jon Lester. All six are gone now and should their replacements take Oakland further than the All-Stars did, then Beane should be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame immediately.

Let’s assume the replacements will not do that, though.

The other nine teams in the 2014 postseason should compete again in 2015. Another four teams just missed and three more were fairly close. Throw in the Miami Marlins, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs who think they can compete and the Boston Red Sox who should return to the fray and we’re now talking 20 of 30 teams legitimately threatening to take one of 10 spots.

That’s not including Oakland.

Perhaps in this wild free agency full of crazy-big contracts, heavy spending and Oprah Winfrey-style trades (“You make a trade, you make a trade, everyone makes a trade”), the A’s are smart to take a seat for a year.

Typically the MO is selling off anyone who is aged, talented or will make big money for as many prospects as possible, no matter what level they play in.

This offseason, Beane acquired guys right on the edge between Triple-A and Major League Baseball. That has to be by design.

It doesn’t appear as if this offseason is a complete dismantling. Beane seems to have also confirmed it isn’t. At this point, however, it’d take an insane amount of Moneyball magic to jump the Los Angeles Angels for the AL West, or the Kansas City Royals, White Sox, Blue Jays, etc. for a Wild Card spot.

The offseason plan should continue down the path already laid out.

Beane and company should fill any remaining holes, without committing too much money, with guys who can simply gain experience this year in hopes of proving themselves or turning the corner. Management should also continue to stockpile pieces that can either contribute sooner rather than later or be swapped in, say, the 2016 offseason as a part of a larger master plan.

Stick with the team, A’s fans.

It may feel like Beane just sold the house for a one-room apartment. He’s done that before, a few times. Instead, think of it like this: After doing everything he can to his mid-size home, he’s sold it at peak value and purchased a slightly smaller home, but it’s no condo.

Hopefully now he makes a handful of minor, cheap moves that turn out to be amazing upgrades—and then Beane adds a room here and a story there with the saved cash to finally have the biggest home on the block.

Sit out 2015 and try to recreate 2012-like magic—that’s my theory. But what do fans think?

I asked them on Twitter.

“JosephThomasD” agrees, thinking Beane will make typical Beane moves—moves with low risk and high reward.

That’s the Beane way after all.

“DillzPicklez” sounds like he’s on board with my assessment:

“Josh_Muller85” said the act of retooling is OK, but questioned the returns:

Most believe Beane‘s words about retooling over rebuilding and see light at the end of the relatively short tunnel, even if that tunnel passes through next season without a stop. The A’s will likely continue picking up typical Moneyball players who project low but produce high and perhaps surprise in 2015 but realistically hit it hard in ’16.

Let’s hope those returns are ready by then.

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The Oakland Athletics have had an interesting offseason to say the least—one extremely difficult to grade.

If you look at it from the perspective that the A’s were contenders and are retooling to remain as contenders in 2015, then the grade is an F. They downgraded at third base, traded their starting first baseman and one of their top starting pitchers and did not sign a proven shortstop.

If they couldn’t get it done with Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester (not to mention Yoenis Cespedes before him), then they’re not going to get it done with Brett Lawrie, Ike Davis, Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin and Craig Gentry.

Grading this offseason based on the long-term effects is a crapshoot.

Prospect experts and analysts can certainly try, but the truth is, there are too many variables—too many things can happen that throw projections off.

For instance, take the Moss for Joe Wendle trade.

Moss could go downhill rapidly, in talent or in health, while Wendle overachieves and becomes the next Mark Ellis. That’d be an A+ trade for the A’s. Or Wendle could be a bust, while Moss consistently hits 25 home runs and drives in 75 runs for the next three seasons.

There’s no way to tell. You can only guess.

That said, let’s grade this offseason based on general manager Billy Beane‘s notion that the team is retooling.

First, let’s define “retooling.”

Rebuilding is a process that takes a minimum of three years, typically, and can last a decade (looking at you, Houston). Rebuilding is a commitment to a massive overhaul—a fire sale or two—to stockpile hoards of prospects.

The A’s aren’t doing that.

Though Beane himself has never clarified his exact definition of retooling, one can guess it simply means the A’s will sit 2015 out, nab a handful of nearly ready prospects without carrying out a complete fire sale and try to pull off a shocker (like 2012) again in 2016.

We’re throwing out the high (years and years away) and the low (2015) and grading this offseason based on its effects on the 2016 and ’17 seasons.

Now, let’s grade each move individually, then come up with a cumulative grade with “retooling” for 2016-17 in mind.

Signing Billy Butler

Beane acted swiftly and signed free-agent power hitter Billy Butler. The move would have provided a solid cleanup hitter and full-time DH who can feast on left-handed hitting—something the A’s lacked in 2014—to hit behind Moss and Donaldson.

Butler, hypothetically, could make up for some of the power lost when Oakland traded Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox.

In the short term, this would have been a solid move.

However, after trading Donaldson and Moss away, signing Butler is a bit of a head-scratcher for 2015.

Still, there are two ways to view this signing in a positive light.

First, Butler is signed to three years, so he could very well be around still in 2016-17. When the A’s are ready to compete again, Butler remains at DH and is hopefully still hitting for power. At the least, he’s providing veteran leadership and teaching the younger guys what he knows about the game, pitchers’ tendencies and hitting tips.

Or, he’s traded halfway through 2015 and nets one more fringe player who can contribute in ’16 or ’17.

Either way, there’s value there, it’s just in the long term, not in the short term.

Grade: B

Trading Josh Donaldson

After completing the Butler signing, Beane simply needed to find a shortstop, decide who will play left field and potentially upgrade second base.

Instead he shocked the Oakland contingent by trading away the team’s best player, Josh Donaldson. In the extremely short term, it makes no sense trading your superstar if you intend to compete.

That said, the trade wasn’t all that awful.

Oakland had an A+ third baseman and a below-average farm system. Now it has a B+ third baseman and a slightly above-average farm system (before the other trades occurred). The A’s upgraded their prospects while avoiding a huge hit on the major league level.

In 2015, it will hurt not having Donaldson.

But Lawrie is no slouch. He’ll be 25 to start 2015, is locked up until 2018 and will be much cheaper than Donaldson. Meanwhile, the A’s also get a top-tier shortstop prospect and two pitchers who could contribute in Oakland in 2015.

Might these pitchers be the next Jarrod Parker and Tommy Milone, two guys who arrived in Oakland as possibilities to contribute and ultimately earned starting spots immediately?

Grade: B+

Trading Brandon Moss

Beane‘s next move is easily the worst of the offseason.

On Dec. 8, Beane traded Brandon Moss to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Wendle—a Double-A prospect.

One guy. A fringe prospect.

The Miami Marlins were rumored to be interested in Moss. They eventually gave their No. 1 prospect to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dee Gordon, which makes it even more confusing that Oakland shed Moss for so little.

Scouts are mixed on Wendle, though.

Jake Seiner of MiLB.com wrote, “MLB.com’s Pipeline touts Wendle‘s hitting ability as his ‘lone standout tool.'”

Hitting is undoubtedly important, but of five tools, only the one seems to stand out, and that’s a concern. So if Wendle fails at that, he fails period. Also going against him, Wendle is 24 and has never played above Double-A.

Let’s hope Wendle absolutely crushes pitching at all levels. That, or he betters his other tools.

Clearly, this move was solely about shedding the $7.1 million arbitration case Moss was expected to win.

Grade: D+

Trading Jeff Samardzija

Next up, Beane traded starting pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa to the Chicago White Sox for Marcus Semien and three other prospects.

Here’s Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle on analysis of each player coming to Oakland in 140 characters or less:

Grading this on the short term only, it’s not a good trade for 2015. The A’s needed a shortstop or an upgrade at second base. In a trade with the White Sox, one could only hope Oakland would net Alexei Ramirez (and in the long term, the hope was Tim Anderson).

It’s Semien instead.

He may or may not fill the shortstop hole. He may or may not be an upgrade over Andy Parrino and Eric Sogard. No one knows at this point, because he’s still essentially unproven.

But this is where the “in Billy we trust” mantra comes in.

Beane must have targeted Semien for a reason. He must see something in Semien that he doesn’t see in one of his incumbents. So if Semien starts and is efficient, all at 24 years old and for $500,000 and not arbitration-eligible until 2018, then this move will look genius.

And Beane got three other guys on top of that, all for a guy (Samardzija) who would have only been in Oakland one more season before leaving as a free agent anyway.

Grade: A-

Recap and Final Grade

Beane says the team will retool, and he signs Butler, trades Donaldson, trades Moss and trades Samardzija. In return, he gets Lawrie, Semien and a half-dozen prospects.

Beane traded the starting first baseman (an All-Star), the starting third baseman (an All-Star) and one of his starting pitchers (an All-Star). He filled his shortstop hole with an unproven player. He also never replaced the power-hitting left fielder he lost at the 2014 trade deadline.

For 2015, the grade is an F.

For 2016, the grade is a C+.

It’s a safe grade, for sure. It means the A’s didn’t blow it. But on the surface, they didn’t openly fleece teams, at least, not that we can see.

The grade could certainly go higher, though, as soon as 2017.

Once upon a time, the A’s traded star pitcher Rich Harden for a couple of prospects not many had heard of. One was a catcher who was not the feature piece and spent years in the minors, blocked by so many options ahead of him. That guy converted to third base out of desperation (on the team’s part).

That guy is Donaldson.

The C+ grade also assumes Beane is done making moves. The 2015 offseason isn’t over yet, though. If he’s retooling, then 2015 could just be Part I of a two-part series that includes next year’s offseason, too. Count on it.

None of the guys Beane acquired will make the 2015 team better than the 2014 team. But maybe—just maybe—the 2016 team will be even better than the 2012 team, if you know what I mean.

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This has to stop.

Hearts are broken, and that is certainly understandable. But the screaming has to stop. Now.

Billy Beane is not a villain. He is not a moron. He is not attempting to piss off anyone who has ever cheered for the Oakland Athletics.

And most importantly, he is not trying to lose. To think that is his goal is not only ridiculous but also completely ignorant.

Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s, has traded four All-Star players in the last five months. The Yoenis Cespedes trade last summer was to make the A’s better immediately, as Beane believed his club was good enough then to win a World Series with an ace pitcher. After a postseason exit, Josh Donaldson, Jeff Samardzija and Brandon Moss were dealt to make Oakland better in the long run.

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan broke the Moss deal on Monday, and the Samardzija trade was announced by the A’s just 24 hours later.

But you do have to hand it to Billy Beane for not being scared. Few other clubs would have cut their losses this quick after failed try.

— Phil Rogers (@philgrogers) December 9, 2014

These trades have people—many of them intelligent human beings and some of them Oakland players—baffled and/or livid. But the moves show that Beane is looking out for the team’s future.

“If you wait too long, you cost yourself a number of years,” Beane told the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Susan Slusser.

Beane was referring to years of being a competitive team and his failure to retool after the team went to the American League Championship Series in 2006. After that playoff run, the A’s missed the postseason the next five seasons.

He learned from that mistake. After the 2007 season, he traded 27-year-old Nick Swisher and acquired Gio Gonzalez. In 2008, he traded 26-year-old Rich Harden, who had a 2.34 ERA at the time. That trade brought in Donaldson. Then, after the 2011 season, Beane moved Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Bailey, all of whom were All-Stars, and he was pounded by a media contingent that then predicted the A’s would finish last in 2012.

The A’s went on to win the division the following two seasons and have made the postseason in the three years since that trade.

“Billy is about as good as it gets as far as being able to handle that balance, keeping us competitive currently and looking down the road for the future,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told Slusser.

Melvin gets it. These latest moves are proactive. They aren’t a way to simply dump salary and pocket the savings. This is replacing the carpet before anyone realizes it needs to be replaced—a metaphor owner Lew Wolff likes to use when describing Beane’s methods of operation.

People can gripe about the young players the A’s got in return for Donaldson, Moss and Samardzija if they want. Those debates happen in most trades. But also understand that Oakland still thinks it can compete in 2015. The pitching is still good, even without Lester and Samardzija.

Beane is not done working here. He is not tanking for 2015. He is attempting to compete in a pretty good division with different personnel.

“We still have an awesome pitching staff,” All-Star closer Sean Doolittle said, per Slusser. “And it’s still early. Who knows what other moves we make?

“It’s such a cop-out [to say we are rebuilding]. Look at 2012.”

The A’s won 88 games last year, and Donaldson was one of the best players in the league. But the team wasn’t good enough to get beyond the Wild Card Game, and Donaldson is 29 years old—his value will never be higher than it was when Beane traded him.

Remember, this is an era of better PED testing. We aren’t going to see hitters get better after 30. We also weren’t going to see the A’s drastically improve by standing pat with a team that lost the division to the Los Angeles Angels by 10 games last season.

“They weren’t necessarily going to fall apart tomorrow, but they weren’t going to get any better,” Athletics Nation’s Alex Hall said on The Phil Naessens Show. “Billy Beane wants to be getting better. He doesn’t want to be getting worse.

“This was the definition of selling high.”

And that is how the A’s compete on a relatively consistent basis despite having a payroll that hasn’t ranked higher than 26th in the last three seasons and has an average ranking of 24th out of 30 teams in the last 10.

This is how the A’s survive, and it’s worked time and time again for Beane. He has earned the benefit of the doubt because his track record for keeping his roster competitive with limited resources is stellar. If he had money to work with, he would not have to do these kinds of things. But he doesn’t, so he does. If by now people cannot understand why he works this way and why it is necessary, then they may never get it.

Beane is a competent baseball executive and understands his situation better than anyone else and how to manage it. He is not done making deals. Oakland’s offseason is nowhere near finished.

So before saying Beane is tanking for 2015, let’s actually see something close to a finished product.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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A busy day in baseball saw another trade go down on Tuesday, as the Oakland Athletics shipped starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija to the Chicago White Sox for a number of prospects, including Chris Bassitt and Rangel Ravelo.      

The A’s official Twitter account has the details:

The 25-year-old Bassitt made six appearances and five starts for the Chicago White Sox this past season, going 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and 21 strikeouts in 29.2 innings pitched. He also pitched 13 innings in the Arizona Fall League this offseason, finishing with a 0.69 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 22 strikeouts.

John Manuel of Baseball America broke down his stuff:

And CJ Wittmann from Baseball Prospectus passed along this note from a scout:

The 22-year-old Ravelo, meanwhile, spent last season in AA ball. Jesse Spector of Sporting News has more on his production this past season:

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports adds:

In the end, the four prospects in this trade will always be compared and contrasted to prospects Addison Russell, Billy McKinney and Dan Straily, the players Oakland traded to the Chicago Cubs this past season to land Samardzija and Jason Hammel.    

Russell is considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball, so Bassitt, Ravelo and company have big shoes to fill.

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The Oakland Athletics might not be done selling off their most prized assets, as according to Jim Benson of The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Illinois, the A’s could be on the verge of sending starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija to the Chicago White Sox.

Saturday, Nov. 29

Oakland Targeting Alexei Ramirez, Tim Anderson

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest on Samardzija:

As I reported yesterday, the White Sox are among the teams with interest in Oakland starter Jeff Samardzija, and while many outlets today are reporting that shortstop Alexei Ramirez is the A’s target, I’m hearing that minor-league shortstop Tim Anderson is also a player Oakland likes a lot.

Anderson, a first-round pick in 2013, played 10 games at Double-A last year, so he’s not quite big-league ready, but he’s a name to keep in mind. He’s ranked the White Sox’s No. 2 overall prospect, though, so he’d be a tough get. Would the White Sox move him for one year of Samardzija? Maybe, if they had some assurance Samardzija would sign a contract extension.

Samardzija on the Trading Block

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier in the night that Oakland was considering trading Samardzija:

The White Sox were among the teams Slusser mentioned as a possibility:

The A’s already sent Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brett Lawrie and prospects:

Trading both Donaldson and Samardzija would further signal that Oakland’s beginning to rebuild.

The 29-year-old made 16 starts for Oakland last year after moving midseason from the Chicago Cubs. He went 5-6 with a 3.14 earned run average in 111.2 innings pitched.

Since the right-hander has only one more year left on his deal, whatever the A’s could get in return is unlikely to match what they received in the Donaldson deal.

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The Oakland Athletics have dealt Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brett Lawrie and three players you’ve never heard of, per the team’s Twitter account.

#Athletics trade Josh Donaldson to Toronto for Brett Lawrie, Sean Nolin, Kendall Graveman and Franklin Barreto

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) November 29, 2014

The central question here is not whether general manager Billy Beane got a fair return in the trade, but why the American League West club would trade Donaldson at all. 

The third baseman is affordably priced and ridiculously productive. 

MLBTradeRumors.com projects that the 28-year-old will make $4.5 million via arbitration in 2015, and he can’t become a free agent until after the 2018 season. Donaldson ranked No. 6 in WAR in all of baseball last season (per FanGraphs), finished as the runner-up for the AL Gold Glove at third base and clubbed 53 home runs at the cavernous O.co Coliseum over the past two seasons. 

What’s not to like about that?

One response is that the team is simply rebuilding. But if that’s the case, why did Beane bother to dish out a three-year, $30 million deal to designated hitter/first baseman Billy Butler earlier this month?

Another response is that Beane‘s not done—not even close.

Next up on the trade block could be Josh Reddick. The right fielder shared his thoughts on the decision to jettison Donaldson via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Josh Reddick tells me he is shocked by Donaldson trade. “This doesn’t make sense to me. We just traded our best player the last 2 years.”

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

Josh Reddick says it’s clear to him and other #Athletics players that team is now in rebuilding mode.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

Regardless of your line of work, it’s never a good idea to publicly question your boss. After all, it was just a couple of weeks ago that Donaldson fired a shot at the club’s brain trust on Twitter. 

Should have never sent this tweet: pic.twitter.com/PeJmWVvu2x

— Karl Buscheck (@KarlBuscheck) November 29, 2014

In the wake of the trade, Beane said that he had never even heard about that tweet.

A’s GM Billy Beane said he wasn’t aware of Josh Donaldson’s recent twitter comments about A’s finances, so no they didn’t play a role.

— Athletics Farm (@AthleticsFarm) November 29, 2014

Still, not everyone is buying that line. 

Billy said he had no clue Donaldson called the organization cheap on Twitter last week, bout as believable as me turning down 2nds yesterday

— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) November 29, 2014

Even if Reddick‘s comments don’t lead to his departure, Oakland has much bigger chips to deal than the 2012 AL Gold Glove winner. 

Outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss knows he could be on the clock with the Athletics. 

“The whole world noticed,” said Moss, via Slusser, after the team added Butler and Ike Davis in rapid succession. Like Moss, both are capable of playing first. “You never know; the front office likes to mix [it] up. I’m trying not to let anything surprise me, because I don’t want to be blindsided.”

Jeff Samardzija is another high-profile player who has no excuse to be blindsided if he gets a text from his agent in the next couple of weeks. The right-handed starter is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2015 season, and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wrote in the beginning of November that Oakland would take calls on Samardzija. 

According to John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group, the team could part with the 29-year-old in order to land a big-time bat.

#Athletics talking with #Braves about Justin Upton, Evan Gattis sources say. Jeff Samardzija may be the bait.

— John Hickey (@JHickey3) November 29, 2014

Rosenthal also tabbed Scott Kazmir as another Athletic who could be on his way out of town. Like Samardzija, the lefty starter will become a free agent at the end of next season. 

Reddick, Moss, Samardzija and Kazmir are some of the names at the top of the list, but really anybody on the roster could be moved between now and spring training. 

That’s just how Beane does it. 

Now, the only questions are who’s next and whether Beane can once again, inexplicably, build a contender in 2015.

If you want to talk baseball, find me on Twitter @KarlBuscheck.

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Despite a 22-33 record over the past two months as well as injuries and inconsistency, the Oakland Athletics secured the second American League wild-card spot in the season’s final game.

With 162 games now in the rear-view mirror, MLB.com’s John Schlegel reports the A’s will send Jon Lester to the mound on Tuesday night against Kansas City’s James Shields in the hope of avoiding an early offseason.

During the team’s stretch-run slide, Oakland’s lineup struggled to hit in the clutch, its defense looked shaky on routine plays and several members of the starting rotation showed signs of fatigue.

In recent weeks, fans and media learned that the Athletics had been playing with less than a full deck, including a Brandon Moss hip condition that will require offseason surgery and nagging knee issues for Josh Donaldson—not to mention John Jaso and Craig Gentry being lost for the foreseeable future with concussions.

Jonah Keri and Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight offered some statistically based reassurance to Oakland fans, indicating that heading into the postseason hot has had no correlation with performance in the playoffs since 1969.

Regardless, the Athletics need to click from the moment the lineup is submitted until the final out is made to survive Tuesday night’s play-in game. How can Oakland give itself the best chance to win?

Here are its three keys to winning the Wild Card Game.

Lean on Lester

It’s been repeated over and over: Jon Lester wasn’t acquired for August. He was brought on board for October. After shipping fan favorite Yoenis Cespedes to Boston in exchange for the lefty ace, general manager Billy Beane’s insight will—fairly or unfairly—be judged by Tuesday night’s outcome.

Faced with a win-or-go-home scenario, there’s not one starter on the roster that manager Bob Melvin would rather send to the mound.

“This is why you get a Jon Lester, to pitch in big games,” Melvin told Schlegel.

Lester faced Kansas City three times in 2014, winning all of his decisions and compiling a 2.61 ERA. Throughout his career, he has held middle-of-the-lineup power threats Alex Gordon and Billy Butler to .160 and .143 batting averages, respectively.

To further aid Lester’s cause, MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel reported that Ned Yost will sit Jayson Nix—who is 8-for-26 with three home runs in his career against Lester—in favor of Mike Moustakas.

The Royals offense finished last in the league in home runs and walks, which means Lester must stay aware of sacrifice plays and heads-up baserunning.

“It’s the same mentality, same preparation, same routine,” Lester told Schlegel about the preparation for this game.

An early lead of one or two runs may be all Lester needs to shut down Kansas City and continue his long history of success in October.

Get Clutch Performances from Donaldson and Reddick

While Oakland’s ace has only worn green and gold for two months, right fielder Josh Reddick and third baseman Josh Donaldson have been part of Athletics postseason baseball since their division win in 2012.

Reddick was the team’s most consistent hitter through the doldrums of August and September, putting up a .294/.337/.510 line with six home runs over 46 games. Donaldson has been debatably the gutsiest, making spectacular plays at the hot corner and igniting the offense in the clutch despite a nagging left knee injury.

“What [Donaldson] means for our team is pretty significant,” manager Bob Melvin told MLB.com’s Jane Lee. “It’s production, it’s defense, all of the above. He gives us exactly that.”

Oakland will need both cornerstones to be a presence in the lineup, especially in the early innings.

Reddick’s numbers against Shields—three home runs and a .318 average in 22 at-bats—speak for themselves, and the team will need big hits from him and Donaldson to take the lead before the game winds up in the hands of the Royals’ bullpen.

Control the Running Game

What the Kansas City lineup lacks in pop, it makes up for in speed. With burners Jarrod Dyson, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar on the roster, the Royals will depend largely on their running game to manufacture runs.

Protecting against the stolen base begins with the backstop, and Derek Norris’ struggles throwing out runners have been well-documented as of late.

Melvin showed his commitment to keeping Royals runners honest when ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield reported that Geovany Soto would get the nod despite never catching a Lester start.

Soto gunned out 10 of 23 attempted base stealers, which is stellar when compared against Norris’ 12 of 72, and his bat came alive with five hits in the final series against Texas.

Curbing Kansas City’s speed goes beyond the starting catcher, however. The Athletics will need to avoid the miscues in the field that haunted them down the stretch and prevent runners from reaching or advancing on errors.

Despite two months of play that it’d like to forget, Oakland is in a position to win behind one of the strongest postseason pitchers in the game.

Expect a tight game, a low score and an Athletics team ready to turn the calendar’s page.

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My mama always told me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Well, if you go by that philosophy, there hasn’t been much to say about the Oakland A’s over the past two months.

But with the A’s looking likely to fall backwards into the postseason, fans are looking for something, anything, good to say about this team. “All you need to do is get in, then anything can happen,” they say, halfheartedly. Because, while that’s ostensibly true, there’s not a whole lot of evidence in front of us for anyone to truly believe that.

Nonetheless, I’m nothing if not an eternal optimist. There is a bright side to Oakland’s collapse, and I will find it if it drives me to insanity.

Bright side No. 1: I’m no longer scared of aces.

The last two seasons, the A’s have gone into the postseason and gotten mowed down by aces. They were 0-5 against the combination of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Even with Oakland adding an ace of their own, Jon Lester, there was still the worry that the offense could get beat again by a certified No. 1.

Now? Over the past week, the A’s have managed one run or fewer against the following pitchers: Colby Lewis (ERA of 5.18 this season), Wade LeBlanc (4.23) and Jerome Williams (4.71).

So right now, every pitcher terrifies me. No matter how good or bad they are, every pitcher has the ability to shut the A’s down. I’m no more scared of facing Felix Hernandez than facing Roberto Hernandez. The A’s can get shut out by anyone, why should an ace make any difference?

Bright side No. 2: There’s no chance of being crushed emotionally.

Both times the A’s lost to the Tigers in the postseason, they came in hot and got my hopes up. Both losses, in the fifth game, to Verlander, left severe emotional scarring. I wasn’t sure if I could take another exit like that.

Now? Oakland has left me so dead inside with their play over these past two months that there is no possibility of being disappointed. They lose the Wild Card Game? Oh well, saw that coming. They lose in the ALDS again? Well it was great to even get to that point. Lose in the ALCS? They’re playing with house money at that point. 

Bright side No. 3: Every run feels like a wonderful gift.

Remember early in the season when the A’s were scoring runs at will? The first two months of the season they were scoring 5.28 runs per game. Oh, another run, that’s nice. I see runs all the time. Nothing special there.

Now? 3.46 runs per game over August and September and that feels high. They have been held to one run or less in 10 of the last 26 games.

A’s fans now appreciate every single run that crosses the plate. Nothing is taken for granted. Each run is a blessing and is meant to be celebrated as such. Because who knows when we may see one again?

See? There are positive takeaways from the A’s recent play. So even though baseball is not exactly “fun” anymore, it doesn’t mean that we can’t try to find the little things to appreciate as fans.

There’s still a small chance Oakland could miss the playoffs. At this point, I wouldn’t put it past them. But if they make it in, if they find themselves in that one-game playoff with Lester on the mound, say it with me: “Anything can happen.”

There, didn’t that feel good? I almost believed it.

Follow @TheRealMattKing

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The Oakland A’s could look a bit different in 2015, dependent on how the postseason plays out.

If the team doesn’t make the playoffs at all, general manager Billy Beane could put everyone in cleats on the trade block. If they win the World Series, Beane may feel that after capturing that elusive ring, one in Oakland is good enough and recommit to the farm system.

If, however, the team barely falls short of a World Series win, management could keep the roster intact. With Beane at the helm, you just never know.

Let’s be realistic and go somewhere in the middle.

The A’s make the playoffs and win the one-game, sudden-death Wild Card Game to move on. Then, unfortunately, they lose in either the ALDS or ALCS—which round they exit doesn’t matter in this scenario.

Again, it’s hard to read Beane, but he’s shown in the past that he’s more inclined to accumulate prospects and keep the payroll down than he is to sign stars.

That said, you would see the same mix of cheap, young players, cheaply signed veteran free agents and a stud or two.

Based on that, here are the positions that could have new starters in 2015.

Left Field

Currently, Jonny Gomes and Sam Fuld split time in left field.

Gomes is a free agent at the end of the 2014 season. Once with Oakland, he left in free agency after the 2012 season in search of more playing time. If he left once because he doesn’t care for platooning, not much should stop him from doing so again.

This time, however, it might be mutual.

Gomes didn’t provide the spark and magic that he did during 2012. Another club will likely try to sign him to bring in positive clubhouse presence for a budding team at a price the A’s are reluctant to even attempt matching.

Fuld may stay on in Oakland, but if he does, it should be more as a fourth outfielder rather than a platoon starter.

Here’s how the outfield should play out: Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick stay in center and right field, respectively. Craig Gentry returns to full health and becomes the everyday starter in left field. Gentry will be arbitration eligible but won’t cost more than $3 million, and he played well enough that if the team is looking to move forward on the cheap, Gentry is more than serviceable.

That keeps Fuld as the fourth guy and the outfield as speedy, defensive specialists.

If the A’s do kick the tires on a few veteran players, guys like Chris Denorfia, Reed Johnson or Grady Sizemore would probably be the biggest names considered, assuming the team keeps that salary toward the lower end of the scale per the norm.

But if they just miss in playoffs and want to make a bigger splash, why not bring back Seth Smith or Josh Willingham?

Starting Pitcher

Jon Lester will be one of the biggest free-agent names available. I will set Oakland’s chances of re-signing Lester at less than 1 percent. He will command way too much money for the Athletics to compete.

And if there’s anyone on the current team the A’s could trade, it’s Jeff Samardzija.

He’s yet to turn 30, he’s talented and he’s still controllable for another full season before becoming a free agent. This is the same guy that landed the Chicago Cubs two top prospects from Oakland. You can guarantee someone will call about Samardzija this offseason. You can also bet Beane will listen and contemplate restocking the minor league system.

Jason Hammel will not be re-signed, or at least shouldn’t be, due to a poor performance.

So two, possibly three, starting pitchers will be gone.

That leaves Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, a returning Jarrod Parker and a returning A.J. Griffin. Multiple names could once again compete for the fifth spot, including Jesse Chavez.

At the minimum, you’ll see Parker and Griffin, new faces—sort of.

As for that final spot, if it’s not a guy like Chavez, there’s one of two options. First, the A’s typically always sign a veteran reclamation project. But they usually keep one at a time, and Kazmir is that guy currently. Names like Colby Lewis, Kevin Correia or Chris Capuano might work if an addition is made.

The alternative route is promoting someone from Triple-A. The best option is Arnold Leon. Leon went 10-8 with the Sacramento River Cats in 2014, with a 4.97 ERA. He struck out 128 and walked 51.

What About Second Base or Shortstop?

I don’t think second base or shortstop will change.

Jed Lowrie and the A’s still seem to be a good match. The team needs someone it can get on the cheap to continue as a stopgap until an up-and-coming prospect is ready. Lowrie has had a down year, making him much more affordable.

Teams will likely swoop in on Asdrubal Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez and J.J. Hardy first. Jimmy Rollins may even go off the market before Lowrie, pushing his stock down more.

Beane showed fans that second base clearly was not a priority this season. Instead, he concentrated on pitching at the trade deadline.

Nick Punto has an option, Alberto Callaspo is a free agent and the team still has Eric Sogard. Additionally, Oakland has Andy Parrino. Callaspo is the most expensive at around $4 million. All other options are extremely cheap. The A’s, typically, are also extremely cheap.

Second base clearly isn’t a need, so the team will probably hold onto the current options—much to the dismay of fans.

Final Thoughts

Beane may listen to phone calls about Crisp, Reddick and Brandon Moss, but I don’t see him moving any of them. The returns wouldn’t be worth too much due to various reasons (age or talent).

For giggles, let’s say Beane does sell off all of Oakland’s assets and goes back to disappointingly cheap ways again.

Nate Freiman takes over first base. Sogard stays at second. Parrino starts at shortstop. Callaspo plays third base full time. Gentry starts in center field. Fuld would probably still be the fourth outfielder, with Shane Peterson coming up from Triple-A to play in left field. Let’s say Reed Johnson (or another cheap-but-older free agent) is signed to play right field. Your starting rotation is Parker, Griffin, Leon, Chavez and a cheaply renewed Drew Pomeranz (arbitration eligible) or a super-cheap veteran.

The above scenario assumes Brandon Moss, Josh Donaldson, Sonny Gray, Kazmir, Crisp and Reddick are all traded. Lowrie is not re-signed either.

Again, this is worst-case scenario. I don’t see this happening either.

Ultimately, Samardzija is the most likely to be traded—no one else. Lowrie will be re-signed, and Lester, Hammel and Gomes will leave via free agency.

(You might have noticed I didn’t mention catchers at all. I think all three stay: Derek Norris as the starter, Stephen Vogt as the backup and John Jaso as the full-time designated hitter.)

For the most part, you should see just about the same team on the field in 2015.

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This is not on Billy Beane, and it is not a result of Yoenis Cespedes living in a different time zone.

This is just epic all on its own without placing blame or cause on either of those two men.

The 2014 Oakland A’s have set themselves on fire, and it is quite something at which to marvel. The best team in baseball five weeks ago is now playing like the worst, capped Monday night by maybe its worst loss of the season that now has it eight games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West while cutting its wild-card lead to 1.5 games.

After giving up the lead to the Chicago White Sox with one out to go, the A’s lost the game in the 12th inning when Tyler Flowers, who tied the game with a homer in the ninth, won it with a walk-off home run.

This latest loss, on the heels of blowing a ninth-inning lead by allowing two runs without giving up a hit in the inning against the Houston Astros on Sunday, was brutal. 

that is a horrendous loss for the Athletics

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) September 9, 2014 

I am out of words for you A’s.

— Wendy Thurm (@hangingsliders) September 9, 2014

Those are the kind of reactions the A’s have been eliciting since last month. The team is 14-23 since July 30 and 2-9 since Aug. 28. Its lead in the AL West has gone from four games on the morning of Aug. 11 to a virtually un-erasable hole.

In their last 27 games, the A’s have lost 19 times and given up nine games in the wild-card race.

This downward spiral, a pool of quicksand the A’s find themselves in, has all happened in a flash, coinciding with the trade that some believed would make the A’s favorites to reach the World Series in the AL.

When Beane traded for a true No. 1 starter in Jon Lester, it cost him Yoenis Cespedes, but it made complete sense. Cespedes was going to be in a walk year the following season and wasn’t exactly setting major league records for hitting proficiency—he hit .256/.303/.464 with 17 home runs in 101 games. Lester gave the A’s, on paper, the best rotation in the league and made what many considered was the best team in the league even better.

And then, this epic collapse started. However, to properly understand just how bad it has gotten for Oakland, you need to know how good it was before.

“When you put it into perspective,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told John Hickey of the San Jose Mercury News heading into the All-Star break, “overall the numbers suggest we’ve had a pretty good first half.”

*The A’s won 59 games before the All-Star break, the most of any team in franchise history.

*Their run differential at the break was plus-145, which Hickey reported is the fourth-best mark at the break of any club since 1940.

*The A’s led the majors in walks, were second in runs scored and had the fourth-fewest strikeouts.

*Their pitching allowed one run or less in 27 of 95 games, and their overall 3.09 ERA was second-best in the majors.

*At one point in the first part of the season, the A’s were flirting with the 100 percent mark when it came to their chances to make the playoffs.

They’ve gone splat since then.

They are 21-27 since the All-Star break, but while the run differential has gone up to plus-152, the ERA has grown to 3.72. Stud starters Sonny Gray (2.79 ERA in first half, 4.06 in the second), Scott Kazmir (2.38, 5.96) and Jeff Samardzija (2.78, 3.99) have all pitched far worse than they had in the first three-and-a-half months.

The offense batted .222/.300/.344 in August, and it hasn’t gotten any better in September. While the A’s missed Cespedes’ power, his replacements were getting on base more often than Cespedes in August.

Oakland also hasn’t been very good in one-run games this year.

The A’s were 30-20 in one-run games last year. 20-23 in one-run games this year, including 3-9 since Aug. 10, 1-5 in last six games.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) September 9, 2014

Meanwhile, Lester has been just fine with a 2.59 ERA since arriving in Oakland, and the bullpen, with its 2.85 ERA, continues to be one of the best in the league despite Sunday and Monday meltdowns.

As you can see, the blame here can’t be placed on general manager Beane or the loss of Cespedes. This is quite simply a very good team collapsing on itself at all levels.

“You’ve got to get 27 outs, not 26,” A’s outfielder Sam Fuld told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle after Monday’s blowup. “Morale has been fine, it’s not a lack of effort on anybody’s part, we’re just not playing very good baseball, really, it doesn’t have anything to do with our character. Unfortunately we just don’t have a lot of guys swinging it as well as they’re capable of, and we had some miscues. But it’s not a lack of focus or lack of effort.”

It certainly is not, and it is also not because the A’s don’t have Cespedes in the lineup. It’s a combination of a lot of things, none of which is because Beane acquired Lester in a shrewd deadline move.

For the A’s to fall after the kind of first half they experienced, it was going to take something more historic than trading away a power source. And with a few weeks to go in this season, the A’s are making their best effort to accomplish exactly that.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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