Day 19: Oakland Athletics

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Oakland Athletics

2007 Regular Season Record: 76-86

Cost per Win: $79,366,940 / 76 = $1,044,301 per win

2007 Season Recap: In 2006 the A’s made it to the ALCS before getting swept by the Tigers. It’s amazing how much things change in a year. The A’s were nowhere near the playoffs this year and by the end of 2007 they were 18 games back of the Angels in their division. The A’s had the same problems that a lot of teams under .500 had; not enough reliable hitting, the lack of an outstanding ace, and a plague of injuries. As a team they only hit for a .256 batting average which was second worst in the AL and their team leader for RBIs only had 82.

Offensively the A’s didn’t have any major standouts and they had a couple guys not live up to expectations. One of these players was Eric Chavez who hit only .240 in 90 games and he also had 46 RBIs. Chavez is the second highest paid player on the team and for a team that doesn’t like to spend money the A’s were definitely looking for more from him. The team leader in RBIs and home runs was Jack Cust who had 82 RBIs and 26 home runs, he also struck out 164 times which all together gave him a batting average of only .256, not exactly the numbers you want from your DH.

In terms of pitching the A’s had mixed success. Their starters didn’t have as many wins as they probably should since the team really wasn’t able to score runs for them. As a staff they had a 4.28 ERA which ranks 6th in the AL so not that bad. In addition they achieved something that most teams can’t and that is they had a starting rotation that was pretty unchanging over the season, 3 different pitchers got 34 starts. A lot of credit should go to the training staff for that one. The team leader in wins was Dan Haren with 15. Haren has since been traded to the Diamondbacks for prospects. Another pitcher I would like to comment on is Huston Street. Street is in his 3rd year as a reliever and found his role reduced this season which was due in large part to missing a month with a minor elbow problem. When he was pitching he posted 16 saves in 21 opportunities and he had an ERA of 2.88. Hopefully next year he can return full-time to the closer role where he posted 36 saves in 2006.

Key Free Agents: DH Mike Piazza, SP Dan Haren, OF Shannon Stewart; Haren is by far the biggest loss because he had become the ace of the staff. This is normal operating procedure for the A’s though and as long as they keep with their history there will soon be another unknown in the starting rotation putting up win after win, previous examples of them doing this are Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. Stewart is also notable since he provided some veteran experience in the outfield on a team that regularly has one of the youngest lineups in baseball. His number weren’t that great though so he will most likely be replaced by a young prospect who will match his numbers without much trouble.

Offseason Needs: The A’s have salary space after trading Haren and losing the $8.5 million salary that Piazza had. In addition in June of 2007 they traded Jason Kendall to the Cubs so his $12.8 million contract is gone also. Kendall was the highest paid member of the team and was very easily replaced by Kurt Suzuki. With the salary space there is hope that the A’s would make some off-season moves and bring some veterans in but up to this point they haven’t indicated that they are going to do that. This certainly isn’t surprising and in my opinion a lot more teams in baseball should do things the way the A’s do and actually use their farm system to make their players on their own major league team and not just use their prospects as trade pieces. Anyways, the A’s don’t have a lot of needs as long as they can develop the talent that they have. Some more consistent bats would be good but that is rare when you are dealing with inexperienced players like the A’s lineup is filled with. Overall the A’s will be ok with the personnel they have and really don’t need to go out hunting for a big name or anything.

Prediction for the 2008 season: I think the A’s will improve next year but I don’t think they will improve to the point of making it back to the playoffs. The Angels have improved way to much this off-season to be dethroned and the Mariners will be solid again. I think the A’s will compete for the second spot in the AL West but in the end I think the Mariners will beat them out for that spot. I do expect the A’s to have a winning record or very close to it they just won’t be able to get the wins necessary to get to the playoffs.