Yowza! The red hot Oakland Athletics have been grabbing national headlines of late after their dramatic sweep of the New York Yankees and posting an impeccable 15-2 record through the month of July. The A's are hitting on all (or most) cylinders, and have emerged as a considerable threat to steal a playoff berth in the American league, sitting atop the Wild Card standings and just five games out of first place in the AL West behind the Rangers.However, the Athletics still have almost half a season to play and with the trade deadline fast approaching, they will need to ...
If I were to tell you at the beginning of the season that the Oakland Athletics would be one of the most exciting teams in baseball and in the hunt for a wild-card spot, you probably wouldn't have believed me. It's time to believe. The A's are playing solid baseball right now and find themselves six games back in the AL West behind only the Texas Rangers. It's going to be difficult catching the Rangers for the division title, but if the A's continue to play this brand of baseball, the postseason is highly plausible. Jump on the bandwagon before it's too ...
The Oakland Athletics are in the heart of the playoff hunt, but are they legitimate contenders?That question’s answer would easily be yes if they could work out a trade for Hanley Ramirez. Just yesterday, I explained why Oakland shouldn’t trade for Chase Headley, but acquiring Ramirez would be a completely different story. The A’s lack production from both positions on the left side of the field. They rank last in the AL in terms of WAR from shortstop, according to FanGraphs. They are fourth-worst from third base. Luckily for the A’s, Hanley can play either position. Ramirez had been the ...
The Oakland Athletics are one of the hottest teams in baseball, but just because they’ve had some success doesn’t mean that they should go all-in and acquire Chase Headley. The A’s are winners of nine of their last ten games and most recently swept a four-game set from the New York Yankees. They are currently in the mix for a spot in the playoffs, sitting in a tie for first place in the wild card standings. There is urgency to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006, but a big deadline deal would be the opposite of what ...
WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season. To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times—50 at home and 50 at the opposing ballpark so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location. (Note: This means that if a pitcher who was in the rotation was recently put on the DL, he will ...
Chase Headley has been one of the most popular names in the rumor mill, and according to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Oakland Athletics have joined the hunt for the San Diego Padres third baseman. The Oakland Athletics are in the middle of a miraculous July, and they are definitely in the race for a playoff spot. They are currently a half-game behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for one of the wild-card positions. However, even with all of this incredible success so far, the Oakland Athletics simply need more offense if they are going to be a legitimate ...
You saw the movie, and you probably read the book, so you would think that Major League Baseball would know the history by now of the Oakland Athletics and how they are run by a mad-scientist genius general manager.But instead, the league is once again being taught the value of Moneyball 101.Billy Beane, the brilliant general manager behind the Oakland A's and the subject of Michael Lewis' book, entered the 2012 season with the second-lowest payroll in the league at just over $55 million. In the offseason, Beane dealt away a pair of starting pitchers in Trevor Cahill to Arizona, Gio Gonzalez to Washington and two-time All-Star closer ...
Coming off a four-game sweep of the Yankees and losing only once so far in the second half of the season, the Athletics' confidence is currently at an all-time high. Finding themselves in a position few thought they would be in at this point in the year (the playoff hunt), the A's have now surely become buyers come the July 31st trade deadline.Oakland shouldn't need much help, just one or two guys max at key positions, mainly on the left side of the infield. With no answer at all right now at short, and Brandon Inge in a year long ...
The Oakland Athletics are not considered to be a big draw in baseball these days. They rank 12th out of 14 teams in American League attendance and the top decks of The Coliseum (or whatever it is called this week) remain tarped off.Their park is probably the ugliest one in baseball not located in Tampa Bay, and the team does not have the cool quality of the division-leading neighbors across the bay, the San Francisco Giants.But A's fans who do show for games up are getting a great show. Oakland has won 12 of 14 games this July. With a ...
A dominant Oakland pitching corps is back in Oakland for the first time since the original big three of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito were around way back in 2000-2004.Back then the A's were consistent playoff contenders and were always feared when any of these three pitchers were on the mound. That memory is long gone in the city of Oakland; however, there are three young pitchers that can bring the magic back.The pitching corps of Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker and Brandon McCarthy have a combined record of 21-13 with an average ERA of 3.08. They are ...