As well as Yoenis Cespedes has performed this season, he is still only touching the surface of his true potential. Consider this, since the All-Star break when he's played almost everyday, missing only one game due to injury, Cespedes has hit .388 with five home runs and 21 RBI. It is paramount for Cespedes to remain healthy and play every day. Every day he is out there is another game of experience for a young player who is still learning the American game. This is a guy who coming into the season didn't even know how to properly act after ...
Ryan Cook might have been the Oakland Athletics All-Star representative in July, but if the bullpen arms were ranked today, he wouldn't be No. 1. There are currently eight relievers. As a staff, they have the third best ERA in Major League Baseball. They're also tied for first in most wins and lowest opposing batting average. Clearly, they're talented. The members of Oakland's bullpen fair well against the rest of the league—so how do they stack up against each other? The heaviest factors are total runs allowed and ERA. As a reliever, the main job is to keep the other team ...
Do not be fooled by the logjam in the American League Wild Card standings.Although there are five teams within 2.5 games of each other for that Wild Card play in game, in reality this is about three teams: the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Tampa Bay Rays.That is all you see on the sports networks; that is all you hear on the radio. Except there are still 38 games to play for the surprising Oakland A's, who have managed to win in ways that would surprise even the most faithful fan, still just 0.5 games out ...
It's been a surprising season for the Oakland Athletics to say the least. In what was supposed to be a throw-away rebuilding season for the small market franchise, the A's have created a matinee classic in Oakland by emerging as a bona fide playoff contender midway through the season.As we approach the final stretch of the hunt for October, the A's sit just a handful of games out of first place behind the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers. While the Rangers possess ample high-stakes experience heading through the summer's latter stages, Oakland does have a bit of an ...
On July 15th, the Oakland Athletics finished a sweep of the lowly Minnesota Twins. They had just finished a stretch in which they won nine out of 10 games and climbed from five games under .500 to three games above it in two weeks.The A's, who traded away Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and Andrew Bailey before the season, were a rebuilding team that managed to win some games. It was a nice story, but they were also beating up teams like the Twins, Mariners and reeling Red Sox.They faced a gauntlet for the next 25 games. And as I wrote ...
In a dual reversal of fortune for the 2012 season, the A's offense and clutch hitting was the difference. Propelled by five hits with two outs and runners in scoring position, Oakland erased an eighth-inning deficit to outslug the Chicago White Sox 9-7 Saturday night. Ryan Cook picked up the win and Grant Balfour pitched the ninth for his eighth save of the year for the A's.Oakland erased an early 2-0 deficit with a five-run third inning. Most impressively, all the runs came with two outs. Chris Carter started the rally with a two-run single to left field scoring Coco ...
After striking out 10 Yankee batters over seven scoreless innings on July 20th, Oakland A’s pitcher Tommy Milone was 9-6 with a 3.34 ERA. In his past three starts, against Toronto twice and Tampa, he has been battered for 16 earned runs in 19 innings (7.58 ERA). He dropped all three of his starts to even his record at 9-9 and his ERA ballooned to 3.91. That rough patch has led to many a fantasy owner jumping ship. The question is, should you swoop him up? He certainly has use as a streamer at the very least. In his home ...
The Oakland A's were going out on a limb when they decided to sign Yoenis Cespedes to a four-year contract worth $36 million back in February. They were banking on Cespedes' raw talent, hoping that his inexperience wouldn't keep him from establishing himself as a star in the major leagues.If it did, the A's were going to be in trouble. Some teams can swallow a $36 million contract like it's no big deal. The A's aren't one of those teams.Fortunately for the A's, it looks like they haven't bought a bust with their $36 million. It looks like they've bought ...
Chicks dig the long ball. They also dig movies with the handsome Brad Pitt starring as the equally handsome Billy Beane.The Oakland A's are leading the American League Wild Card chase mostly because of their 3.47 team ERA, which is fifth in all of baseball. However, it is the long ball that has kept the offense afloat this season.On the offensive side of things, the A's are just 23rd in runs scored, dead last in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage, 23rd in slugging percentage and 24th in OPS. However, the A's do two things well on offense that has ...
Everyone was expecting big things out of Yoenis Cespedes this season. After battling minor maladies in the first half of the season, Cespedes has really cashed in for the Athletics after the All-Star break, hitting with a whopping .402 BA and a .455 OBP. He's helped lead the bargain-basement Athletics back to playoff contention and appears to be getting better as the season rolls along.But A's GM Billy Beane is notorious for his wheeling and dealing ways, making no payer safe on the roster, even a star like Cespedes. Cespedes is under contract for the next four years, but that likely ...