Oakland Athletics 2015 MLB season preview and predictions

Key additions/subtractions

Billy Beane’s strategy of acquiring everyone didn’t necessarily pan out the way he wanted it to in 2014.  While he had the hitting the last two seasons, Beane needed the pitching, something that failed to get him and the Athletics past the ALDS, let alone the Detroit Tigers in five games, the previous two seasons.

After the acquisitions of Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester didn’t work out for Oakland, the A’s went back to the drawing board and went back to what’s worked for them in the past: organizational depth.

Oakland’s offseason began with the trade of third baseman Josh Donaldson (.255, 29 HR, 98 RBI) to the Blue Jays for third baseman Brett Lawrie and pitchers Sean Nolin and Kendall Graveman.

The 25-year-old Lawrie only played 70 games due to injury in 2014, hitting a career-low .247 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI.    The move for Lawrie seems more of a downgrade to Donaldson when one really looks at it.  Lawrie has struggled since being called up to the Jays in 2011, where he hit .293 with nine homers and 25 RBI with a .953 OPS.

His biggest issue, however, has been staying on the field.  He only played over 125 games once in his brief career thus far (2012) and over 100 games twice (2012-13).

While some may believe that the change of scenery could be good for Lawrie, it’s worth mentioning that he’s only hit .182 during spring training so far.

While Lawrie doesn’t seem like such a huge pickup, the A’s did manage to also acquire second baseman Ben Zobrist (.272, 10 HR, 52 RBI) from the Rays and signed DH Billy Butler (.271, 9 HR, 66 RBI) while also signing first baseman Ike Davis (.233, 11 HR, 51 RBI) who’s said to be a “poor man’s Brandon Moss” – in short, exactly what Beane looks for.

Next: Three players to watch