Offseason Review: The Oakland Athletics

Newly acquired Oakland backstop John Jaso will provide
a good hitting presence for Oakland.

Last years signing of Yoenis Cespedes by the Athletics both surprised and drew skepticism from many people, myself included.  The Athletics hadn't been expected to be anything special in 2012, as one of their division rivals (the Rangers) had made it to the World Series the year prior and another (the Angels) had made a huge move in signing Albert Pujols, arguably the best player in baseball at the time.  As it turns out, the A's ended up winning the AL West and made it to the 5th game of the ALDS before getting eliminated by the Tigers.  The result was a shift from an offseason strategy focusing on rebuilding, to one focused on sustaining success.

Hiroyuki Nakajima is just thrilled to be on the Athletics

The Oakland A's, synonymous with the Moneyball concept, clearly weren't going to go out and sign a player like Zack Greinke or Josh Hamilton, so the moves had to be strategic from an economic and baseball standpoint.  Earlier in the offseason, Oakland made moves to acquire outfielder Chris Young from the Diamondbacks and re-sign veteran RHP Bartolo Colon, who was putting up a good season in 2012 for Oakland before getting caught using performance enhancing drugs.  Later on the A's shored up some loose ends like acquiring shortstop Jed Lowrie from the Astros to play utility and platoon the newly signed Japanese import Hiroyuki Nakajima, and trading for good-hitting catcher John Jaso, who was acquired in the three-team trade that sent Mike Morse to Seattle.

While these frugal moves may effectively improve Oakland, it seems probably that a repeat is unlikely.  It may seem unduly cynical to be skeptical of a team's chances when they are fresh off of a division championship, but that championship can be accredited more on happenstance then Billy Beane's strategic prowess.  The Angels, acting completely the opposite of Oakland's stingy nature, signed 2010 MVP Josh Hamilton to an enormous five year contract.  The Rangers fall from the top was due to an unexpected collapse that was in no way predicated on the A's budget.  It's strictly an issue of opinion, but much like the Brewers and Orioles, teams carrying the burden of a small budget do, from time to time, need to stray from there usual spending habits in order to sustain their success.

So with the postseason officially over now that the first spring training game has completed, I can say that I think the Athletics had a just OK postseason.  There are plenty of good players (Sean Burnett and Dan Haren for example) who signed extremely team-friendly contracts, so affordability is not an argument.  Time will tell if the A's will see the postseason again in 2013, but I wouldn't count on it.

TRADED! Jed Lowrie

To the Athletics with RHP Fernando Rodriguez
 for Chris Carter, Brad Peacock and prospects.

Fresh off of an unexpected playoff rearing 2012 season, the A's have been uncharacteristically busy building a competitive team this winter.  Former Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie figures to be the last addition in a long line of additions, which include the trading of shortstop Cliff Pennington AND the signing of Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima.  With the signing of Nakajima, Jed Lowrie doesn't figure to be an everyday player.  A's GM Billy Beane; who's usually prone to keeping his moves close to his chest, proclaimed to reporters that this is likely the last major move for the A's this offseason, and that the Athletics goal is to build a team who is capable of winning now.

Oakland unloaded quite a substantial bundle in order to acquire Lowrie's services.  First baseman and DH Chris Carter, one of the more powerful bats for the A's last season, will move to Houston.  Also joining the newly AL West Astros is starting pitcher Brad Peacock and catching prospect Max Stassi.  Peacock showed flashes of talent in 2011 and became a key piece in the trade that sent Gio Gonzalez to Washington, but struggled at Triple-A Sacramento posting a 6.09 ERA.  The trade makes sense for both teams with the A's trying to repeat last season's success and the Astros needing a complete rebuild, but I think Houston came out on top.

Jed Lowrie will by no means be a bad addition to the Oakland lineup. He is a proven major leaguer who will show some much needed infield versatility; with the ability to play second, short or third. That all being said, Chris Carter was one of the few power bats in Oakland, and he's still young enough to develop in to something substantial. Stassi and Peacock are prospects so their development and ceiling is always in question, but for a pretty decent utility guy and a not very good reliever, prospects of their caliber are a lot to sacrifice.  If Oakland can beat the gauntlet that is the AL West again and make it in to the 2013 postseason, this move will pay off. Time will tell.

Offseason Review: Oakland Athletics

Hi! I'm on the Athletics!

OK, I realize it's popular to find something honorable or charming about the A's but I just don't. I've already written two separate articles discussing my confusion over two of Oakland's bigger moves and that confusion hasn't gone away. Yoenis Cespedes confused me and Manny Ramirez just pissed me off. I want to make this one brief because if I don't I'll go off on some tangent about the bastardized version of Moneyball that Billy Beane has enacted in Oakland. No one wants to hear that.

Contract Corner: Manny Ramirez

Over the course of my working life I've been employed at two different delis in two different parts of the state of Wisconsin. When I first entered the sliced cheese and meat market I had no idea what pastrami was. I always figured it was one of those old people meats that Nickelodeon cartoon characters would use as a token gross food product that lame grandpas would suggest instead of pizza. Boy was I wrong.

Contract Corner: Yoenis Cespedes

The newest/highest paid member of the Oakland Athletics

So I totally shit the bed on Sunday when I said the Yankees were gonna be the surprise team in on Cespedes. The Oakland A's (of all teams) came out of nowhere with $36MM in hand and signed him for four years. I'm not exactly sure what the hell to make of this, because the A's have made it pretty clear by stripping their rotation and trading off their closer that they do not intend to compete in the next year, or likely the year after that.

One argument could be made that if Cespedes succeeds to an ideal extent, an unlikely scenario by my estimate, that the $36MM four year deal could be a bargain. He has huge raw power and is going to be given an immediate shot in the bigs to become the A's every day right fielder. There is an immense hype surrounding the defector, who put up a .333/.424/.667 line with 33 home runs in 99 RBIs in 90 games over 2010-2011, but he's playing in unfamiliar territory. I'll get in to what this means for the A's specifically more when I do my offseason review (get ready for 15 paragraphs on the impact of Jonny Gomes), but for now I'll say this. If Cespedes pays off and performs to his ceiling, Billy Beane will have maybe earned his extension, if not, he's going to make Lew Wolff look like the biggest rube on the planet.

Contract Corner: Billy Beane's monster extension

no, no, no, no, no......

Billy Beane has been extended as the General Manager for the Oakland Athletics through the 2019 season....no no no no bad bad no no bad bad bad bad bad no....

OK look, I don't hate Billy Beane. I understand sabermetrics and their value and realize what putting moneyball in to the limelight did for baseball. I also get that rebuilding takes time and that for small market teams competition is a perpetually uphill battle. Benefit of the doubt aside, the A's haven't enjoyed a postseason berth since 2006. That's five completed seasons for a team in a four team division. A team that seems to be an undying state of rebuilding

I'm not supposing that Beane deserves to lose his job, but why would you want to secure the job of the head of a management staff who hasn't won in THIRTEEN CONSECUTIVE SEASONS for another SEVEN YEARS!? Shouldn't he have a little bit of a fire under his ass, so as to prevent consistent manic rebuilding? If Beane's personality resembles Brad Pitt's spazzy disjointed depiction of his, then the A's should be very, very worried about the next half of a decade plus.

Before anyone gets up in arms about this, ask yourself this. If Jim Hendry was depicted by Ryan Gosling in some movie glorifying the modest accomplishments that the Cubs had achieved under his tenure, would he still have his job? Yep! He totally would.  They should have kept him on until 2016, waited on a new stadium, collected revenue and hoped in one hand, while signing a pink slip with the other. If the experiment fails in that amount of time, it's probably time to rebuild the front office, manically.