At Home Plate - 2009 Oakland Athletics

2009 Oakland Athletics

Written by Jonathan Leshanski (Contact & Archive) on March 27, 2009

Unless the A’s are planning on switching their direction after years of building things on the cheap, this year’s club is clearly designed to do or die and have that fate decided before the trading deadline. If the A’s aren’t firing on all cylinders and challenging the Angels for the top spot in the division, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the team unload Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Bobby Crosby and even Eric Chavez midseason.

And the odds are that is what will end up happening, because while the A’s will be better than they were last year, the pitching is young and questionable. Still, general manager Billy Beane may have a card or two up his sleeve, as he often seems to and could end up surprising everyone.

The third deck of the Coliseum is covered in tarp.

Photo by Shazari, used under creative commons license.

2008 Regular Season Record: 75-86
Rank: Third in the AL West - 24.5 games back.
Home Park: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

New A’s:
1B/DH Jason Giambi (Free Agent from Yankees)
OF - Matt Holliday (Trade from Rockies)
OF - Ben Copeland (Rule V selection from Giants)
IF - Yung-Chi Chen (Waiver Claim from Mariners)
RHP - Edgar Gonzalez* (Free Agent from Diamondbacks)
RHP - Chris Schroder (Free Agent from Nationals)
RHP - Russ Springer (Free Agent from Cardinals)
RHP -Michael Wuertz (Trade with Cubs)

Looking for Greener Pastures Elsewhere:
OF - Carlos Gonzalez (Traded to Rockies)
OF - Matt Murton (Traded to Rockies)
OF - Richie Robnett (Traded to Cubs)
LHP - Dan Meyer (Claimed off waivers by Marlins)
LHP - Greg Smith (Traded to Rockies)
LHP - Alan Embree (Free Agent, signed with Rockies)
RHP - Huston Street (Traded to Rockies)
RHP - Andrew Brown (Released)

*Signed minor league contract.

Strengths: Offense

The addition of Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi to last year’s lineup should give the A’s a big offensive boost, but how long can it last? Well, the answer to that lies with GM Billy Beane and just what he has in mind, especially for Holliday who cost the A’s quite a lot in trade.   Still his value to the team, even if just for half a season, can’t be underestimated.

That doesn’t mean the A’s will be an offensive powerhouse. They were dead last in the AL in runs scored last year and 27th in the Majors in that same category. But they’ll be a lot better. Still to be realistic, they’d have to have scored 135 more runs last year to have even rated in the middle of the pack. You have to wonder just how many Giambi, Cabrera and Holliday can add.

Weaknesses: Pitching

The pitching for the team is a huge question mark and will feature a rotation in which every single starter is under 25 years old and three of those starters will be left handed. The ace of this staff is Justin Duchscherer, who’s never pitched more than 141.2 innings in a single season.   Duchscherer is a converted reliever and has been battling elbow issues all spring which could be related to a workload which more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.
The rest of the starters after Duchscherer have been unimpressive and are very inexperienced. The best of them, Dana Eveland, had a very good rookie season last year (9-9, 4.32 ERA) but he had control issues at times and he wore down as the season went on. He pitched 168 innings and his endurance is questionable but there is some upside there.

And that’s the best of the starting staff. The bullpen is even more inexperienced but has some upside as the A’s have some talented young arms. The battle for the closer’s position is between two of those players -- the sidearming Brad Ziegler (who was shelled in the WBC) and righty Joey Devine who has sidelined the last few weeks with pain in his elbow.

There is some upside on the pitching side however. The A’s expect several of their top starting pitcher prospects (Vin Mazzaro, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson) to be ready just a couple of months down the road. But while they do have big upside, expecting rookie pitchers to save this team is a reach.

Potential Lineup
CF - Ryan Sweeney
SS - Orlando Cabrera
LF - Matt Holliday
DH - Jason Giambi
3B - Eric Chavez
2B - Mark Ellis
RF - Jack Cust
1B - Daric Barton
C - Kurt Suzuki

Rotation
SP1 – Justin Duchscherer
SP2 – Dana Eveland
SP3 – Sean Gallagher
SP4 – Dallas Braden
SP5 – Gio Gonzalez

Closer
CL – Brad Ziegler/Joey Devine

One question that need answering:

Is management in Oakland committed to seeing what this team, as built, can accomplish if left to play a whole season? Or will Billy Beane start disassembling this team midseason, rather than just get a first round pick in compensation for Matt Holliday, who’ll be a free agent after the season?

Prediction:

The A’s are limited by their pitching, and several of the key pitchers including Justin Duchscherer and Joey Devine are already injured. Once the pitching starts failing, or the Angels and Rangers open a reasonable sized gap in the standing, Beane will start dealing away the veteran players who have good value, and the A’s will finish third once again.   Could they finish higher? Certainly, if the pitching steps up, but being skeptical here is a good thing, especially if Duchscherer’s injury turns out to be somewhat serious.

What do you think of Oakland’s chance of competing this season?

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