The Oakland A's have a decision to make about nine major free agents this offseason. Well, one of those names has decided to retire, but that could always change. Another is not quite a big name, but he sure seems to be a "fan favorite" (said with heavy sarcasm).
So nine decisions total need to be made.
Most of the determinations should be pretty easy to make. But with the A's, nothing ever seems to come easy, especially when it comes to the roster.
What the team will do, who knows?
But what the team should do, that is a bit more clear.Begin Slideshow
Trades, upgrades, platoons, starters, personnel—it's decisions, decisions, decisions for the Oakland A's this offseason.
The team has one or two—or eight—to make in what will certainly be a crucial offseason. Answers to a few key questions will shape the direction the organization takes both long term and short term.
And once the most important decision is made, the rest of the dominoes can fall.
This list is in ascending order from most important to least important.
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My fellow Oakland A's fans: This week, we have seen two sweeps in the ALDS. Two World Series favorites were knocked out. One game ended in a walk-off. Another went 18 innings. Unfortunately, none of those games involved the Athletics.
Tonight, this writer speaks to you and the entire fanbase who make the green-collar effort so strong.
Here are the results of general manager Billy Beane's trade deadline efforts: A 22-33 record; qualification for entrance into the Wild Card Game; a loss in extras.
Most believed it could be a breakthrough year for Oakland.
After two years of grit and determined effort, Oakland came ...
A season that began with so much promise ended with the Oakland Athletics skidding into the last wild-card spot then heading home after a marathon game that seemed to sum up the year as a whole.
The A's were 72-44 on August 9, four games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels and outscoring opponents by nearly 100 runs more than the next-best team. But a power outage at the plate combined with a shaky bullpen saw Oakland finish the season 16-30, falling 10 games behind the Angels in the process.
Oakland lost a surprising amount of close games to bad teams, all too ...
Only two short months ago, the Oakland A’s were enjoying themselves at the top of the American League standings. They had the best record in the league and had just acquired Jon Lester to add yet another ace to their already-loaded pitching staff.
Unfortunately, they weren’t the same after that trade. I’m not saying it was that one trade that single-handedly messed up their season, but that was when the funk set in. Starting on August 1, when they traded for Lester, the Athletics struggled mightily. They went a pedestrian 22-34 the rest of the way, including a heartbreaking loss in the American League ...
"Every form of strength is also a form of weakness..."- Michael Lewis, Moneyball, quoting Bill James
In baseball, there is no such thing as an untouchable general manager. Just like the players and coaches, a GM must stand behind his results—and pay the price when the results aren't there.
For years, Billy Beane of the Oakland A's has challenged that notion.
It's not that Beane has never drawn criticism during his seventeen-year tenure in the East Bay. But as his "Moneyball" legend grew and the successful seasons piled up, Beane became, well, something close to untouchable.
When he landed the Athletics GM job, Beane was ...
Arguably the most painful season in Oakland A's history—at least for a fan—has come to an end, with a walk-off loss serving as the proverbial cherry on top.
Oakland has seen its fair share of losing in the playoffs. It's a well-known fact that the team has struggled to make it out of the ALDS under Billy Beane, and the sole time it did so, it was swept in four games. And although fans should be used to this by now—losing in an elimination game by a wild, unforeseeable result—this one hurts much, much worse than any other.
Truly, 2014 was the ultimate ...
It was almost too perfect. Or, if you’re an Oakland A’s fan, too imperfect. After starting the American League Wild Card Game on a promising note and building a comfortable lead, the A’s collapsed.
Then, they pulled themselves back from the brink. And then they collapsed again.
In other words: Oakland’s 2014 season in a nutshell.
These are the A's who looked like world-beaters in the first half and then went big at the trade deadline, acquiring aces Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija. These are the A's who built a six-game division cushion on June 21...the A's who had their sights squarely set on ...
The collapse is complete.
"Did you miss the entire A's regular season? Tonight's game is an encapsulated version," the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser tweeted—and she's absolutely right.
Baseball's best team over the first four months of the regular season, Oakland was one of the worst over the final two. That the team headed into the bottom of the eighth inning with a four-run lead and lost in extra innings shouldn't really be all that surprising.
The baseball gods haven't been smiling down upon the A's for some time.
But after a showing like that, you can bet that changes will be coming. They may not be ...
Despite a 22-33 record over the past two months as well as injuries and inconsistency, the Oakland Athletics secured the second American League wild-card spot in the season’s final game.
With 162 games now in the rear-view mirror, MLB.com's John Schlegel reports the A’s will send Jon Lester to the mound on Tuesday night against Kansas City’s James Shields in the hope of avoiding an early offseason.
During the team's stretch-run slide, Oakland’s lineup struggled to hit in the clutch, its defense looked shaky on routine plays and several members of the starting rotation showed signs of fatigue.
In recent weeks, fans and ...