The Oakland Athletics recalled their surprise phenom Daniel Straily in time to start last night's game. I wrote in a previous article that the element of surprise might benefit Oakland. The borderline prospect suddenly became a strikeout machine against Toronto.It was smart to bring him to the majors to record punchouts before any scouting report caught up with him.What Straily experienced in his debut against Toronto was a microcosm of the 2012 Oakland season.Straily contributed his share to meeting Oakland's expectations. He is a young pitcher who virtually nobody has heard of, and who contributed on the big league stage ...
It was if they were waiting for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to sound last call before winning. Either way, the Oakland A's won their second 15-inning game this week, using a Coco Crisp sacrifice fly to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 at the Coliseum. The win moved the A's to 58-48, a game-and-a-half ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the first AL Wild Card.The game went on for so long that many had long since forgot about the solid debut of super prospect Dan Straily, who went six innings allowing only one run on five hits ...
On Friday night, Oakland Athletics right-hander Dan Straily will make his major league debut at home against the Toronto Blue Jays. Widely unknown and left off nearly every prospect ranking headed into the 2012 season, Straily has emerged as the top “pop-up” prospect in the game. Leading all of baseball with 175 strikeouts this season, the 23-year-old right-hander has been absolutely dominant—and no, it’s not a fluke. Selected by the A’s in the 24th round out of Marshall University, Straily has quietly put together a quality minor league career over the last two seasons, but nothing that suggested that he ...
As fans of the Oakland A's brace for the first start of unlikely phenom Dan Straily, the fallout of his potential impact could be felt into the month of October.The man who leads all of baseball with 175 strikeouts in 2012 is, at worst, another option for a team that could honestly use another arm or two.At best, Straily has the chance to have the kind of surprise impact that Francisco Rodriguez brought to the Anaheim Angels on their way to the 2002 World Series title.But before we can get to October, it is very important to establish what is ...
While we’ve learned not to question Billy Beane and his seemingly heinous transactions over the years, it’s awfully difficult to wrap your head around the post deadline Kurt Suzuki trade. The A’s sent their long-time fan-favorite catcher and cash considerations to the Washington Nationals in exchange for catching prospect David Freitas. Oakland sits just 4.5 games out at the time of the deal. While Suzuki’s season-long slump has diminished his value to the A’s lineup and kept him on the bench for a good portion of the season, it can be a bit difficult to grasp why the A’s would ...
The A's were not particularly active at the trading deadline this season. General manager Billy Beane's only move was the acquisition of catcher George Kottaras from the Milwaukee Brewers. Beane then dealt the under-performing incumbent catcher, Kurt Suzuki, to the Washington Nationals on Friday, after the non-waiver deadline had passed.However, Beane's offseason was so outstanding that deadline activity was not a necessity to keep the A's in contention. Even if the A's fall short of the postseason this year, Beane should still be named Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year for what he accomplished this winter.After five straight seasons ...
Long before it was a $100 million film starring Brad Pitt’s rakish haircut, Moneyball was an introspective glimpse into the inner workings of Major League Baseball. And in his bestselling book, author Michael Lewis described the traditional way teams were run, prospects were graded and the revolutionary changes brought about at the dawn of the century by Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. Along with his team of mathematically-inclined assistants—sabermetricians, as they've become known—Beane brought to the table a new way to measure players efficiency: statistical analysis. He used this metric to gauge players on the team, players he wanted, ...
The Oakland Athletics have long had one of the best systems for producing great pitching talent. Just look at the names: Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Huston Street, Trevor Cahill, Andrew Baily and now...Dan Straily.Never heard of him? You will. Straily began the 2012 season playing for the Double-A Midland Rockhounds where he put together a resume that included 85 innings pitched, 108 strikeouts and a 3.38 earned-run average. At just 23 years old, Straily leads all of minor league baseball in strikeouts with 175 in 22 starts between Triple-A and Double-A ball. Not impressed? He also has an ERA of 2.60, ...
The big veteran who was supposed to be dealt may very well be the key arm in the race to the playoffs. Bartolo Colon went eight shutout innings and the Oakland A's survived a shaky ninth inning to win 4-1 and snap a two-game losing streak.Colon evened his record at 8-8, as a three-run third inning was keyed by Josh Reddick's 23rd home run. That was more than enough for Colon, who was his usual strike-throwing self, allowing seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts in his eight innings.Oakland's offense showed a lot of patience, drawing eight walks off ...
Nobody expected the Oakland A's to do anything this season, and for good reason. All it took for doubts to start creeping in was one look at their roster.Before the start of the season, the best word to describe Oakland's roster was "embarrassing." Featured in it were old castoffs like Bartolo Colon, Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, and the A's inspired even more facepalms when they went out and signed disgraced slugger Manny Ramirez to a minor league contract.The rest of Oakland's roster consisted of young, unproven players, most of them rookies. In fact, the A's seemed to have twice ...