Oakland Athletics: Can they still win the AL West?
On July 1st 2014 the Oakland Athletics not only had the best record in baseball but held a three and a half game lead over division rival Los Angeles Angels and a five game lead over the Seattle Mariners. Flash forward two months and the Angels now hold the best record in baseball but a four and a half game lead over the Athletics and ten games over the Mariners.
What in the world happened to the Oakland Athletics?
My momma used to say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and while I have mad respect for Athletics General manager Billy Beane I just shook my head when he traded top prospects Addison Russell and Billy McKinney plus Dan Straily to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.
Since the trade, Samardzija has gone 4-4 with a 3.96 ERA and Hammel is 2-5 with a 4.98 ERA. There is no way to sugarcoat this either. Hammel has, until his most recent start, absolutely sucked and Samardzija has been a victim to the long ball and in his last two outings he’s received zero run support. It hasn’t been pretty and as much as I would like to pin the skid on that trade, Samardzija and Hammel are only part of the problem.
The Athletics offense was firing on all four cylinders scoring 422 runs during the months of April-June. A big reason was slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes clubbed 14 bombs while driving in 55 runs. His slash line of .272/.327/.496/.823 with 25 walks and 62 strikeouts. Just like the rest of the Athletics hitters Cespedes slumped a bit in July: the team scored 113 runs in July (as opposed to their May total of 132) so rather than going out and looking for another bat, Beane goes out and trades Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Jon Lester and OF Jonny Gomes and then acquires Sam Fuld from Minnesota for pitcher Tommy Milone. Lester has done okay for the Athletics as has Gomes and Fuld but none of them have been lighting the world on fire.
One move I thought Beane should have made was upgrading at the middle infield position and primarily at second base. Eric Sogard, Alberto Callaspo and Nick Punto are decent defensive shortstops but their combined -1.0 wins above replacement is just atrocious and needed to be upgraded. Shortstop Jed Lowrie and his season slash line of .241/.319/.355/.674 hasn’t exactly set the world on fire either. One weak hitter in the lineup is one thing but two positions that are liabilities on offense could spell disaster come October. Why Beane didn’t try and fix this mess while attempting to upgrade in areas that weren’t broken leaves me shaking my head.
August has been an unmitigated disaster for the A’s including being swept by the Angels where the Athletics went 29 consecutive innings without scoring a run. The Athletics August slash line of .223/.301/.345/.646 was truly offensive compared to June’s .261/.326/.383/.709 and placed them twelfth in the American League. This was probably one of the reasons Beane bought Texas Rangers catcher Geovany Soto and traded away pitching prospect Nolan Sanburn to the Chicago White Sox for slugger Adam Dunn. Dunn cracked a home run in his first at bat for the Athletics in a Monday win over the Mariners. Soto has played in just three games but his slash line of .333/.455/.444/.899 is encouraging.
While we can ramble on and on about how bad this offense is — and they have been downright awful — one thing we have to make known is how well Josh Donaldson has performed. During the month of August while everyone else seemingly went in the tank, Donaldson slashed out a line of .313/.427/.490/.917 with three bombs and 12 runs batted in. Donaldson wasn’t part of the problem and unfortunately for the Athletics he wasn’t part of the solution either.
So, what does September have in store for the Athletics? Fourteen of their remaining games are with the White Sox, Rangers and Phillies and just six games are against above .500 teams; September 12-14 they visit the Mariners and they host the Angels September 22-24. This club better solve their offensive woes and fast otherwise the Athletics are in for a rude awakening come playoff time.
In conclusion Billy Beane went all in and it’s this season or bust for the Oakland Athletics. While the late season additions of Dunn and Soto should help they really need Brandon Moss to get going again and keep it going. Donaldson needs to remain hot and if they get good outings from Scott Kazmir, Sonny Gray, Lester, Samardzija and Hammel the Athletics could still win the American League West.