Since when have the A's become one of the more bland teams in baseball? For a franchise with a reputation for being wild and out there, their clubhouse has been extremely quiet in recent years.Sure the days of the Mustache Gang, and Charlie Finley and his orange baseball are long gone, but when the A's have been successful, they've always had those fun, and even outlandish locker-room guys that make both the team and game captivating. After Finley began dismantling the team in 1976, the A's wallowed in mediocrity for years until "colorful" players like the "Bash Brothers" and ...
Preparing a mixed-league cheat sheet can be a daunting task for the everyday Joe or Jane, especially when arbitrarily forecasting which pitchers are on the cusp of a breakout...or on the road to an unsettling decline. But there's an easy way to proffer first cuts with starting pitchers, based on below-average Strikeout/Walk ratios. Simply eliminate the established veterans with 2011 K/BB ratios of less than 2-to-1, like these, ahem, bums:Starting PitchersChad Billingsley, Dodgers - 152/84 K-BB rateJhoulys Chacin, Rockies - 150/87 K-BB rate (the most attractive asset on this list)Trevor Cahill, Diamondbacks - 147/82 K-BB rate (with Oakland)James McDonald, Pirates - 142/78Derek Lowe, ...
Most consider the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels to be the front runners for the AL West crown, but the Oakland Athletics have a shot too. Impossible you say? The great Muhammad Ali once said: "Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." Sure, winning the AL West is going to be a difficult task. Improbable, maybe. Impossible, no. Here are seven reasons Oakland has the makeup to shock the baseball world and win the AL West.Begin Slideshow
According to an article in the New York Daily News, Major League Baseball is ready to announce that the much-ballyhooed San Jose territory, coveted by the Oakland A’s, belongs to the San Francisco Giants.On Saturday, Daily News columnist Bill Madden wrote that the ruling is all but finalized.A’s owner Lew Wolff has grown increasingly impatient with baseball commissioner Bud Selig’s lollygagging in making a ruling on the issue.Madden said that there are basically two reasons why Selig is procrastinating: The Giants’ territorial rights to San Jose are part of the MLB constitution as a result of former A’s owner, Levi-Strauss heir Wally ...
Major League Baseball definitely did not disappoint this year when it comes to buzz in the media. As fantasy owners, you may find yourselves in a familiar place; deciding what to make of these relatively over-hyped foreign prospects.Most of the attention as been focused on Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers and Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics.Although I won't get into Yu Darvish in this article, I will say that he seems to be a much better fit than the likes of Daisuke Matsuzaka was just a few years ago. I will however, explain to why you may be ...
The past five seasons have been unkind to the Oakland Athletics. The team has been stuck in no man’s land as getting just 80 wins has proven to be a difficult task. Oakland has missed the playoffs for five straight years. Their best season in that stretch came in 2010 when the team finished at .500 with 81 wins.It has been even tougher during this stretch for the team to get fans into the seats of the O.co Coliseum. The A’s have an old, unappealing stadium. Management seems to shuffle a mix of young, no-name players with old, washed up ...
You smell that? Aaaah, the fresh scent of pine tar and eye black. It’s that time of year again: Pitchers, catchers and position players have arrived to their respective camps. Yes, spring training is always an exciting time of the year. It’s a period that symbolizes the blossoming of new growth, where anything and anybody can get a fresh start to their baseball careers. No team exudes the essence of springtime more than the Oakland Athletics, a franchise that has almost completely re-harvested its roster over the past few months. Out with last year’s crop: Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and ...
Yoenis Cespedes arrived in Arizona for the Oakland Athletics' spring training today, according to the Huffington Post. The 26-year-old Cuban defector signed a four-year, $36 million contract with Oakland earlier this winter and will be looking to make an immediate impact at the major league level. However, beyond all the hype, what do we really know about Yoenis Cespedes? His reputation was essentially built during the 2009 World Baseball Classic while he was playing for Cuba. According to Baseball Reference, in just six games he hit .458 with a double, three triples, two home runs, five runs and five RBI. ...
In the thick of rebuilding mode, the Oakland Athletics have plenty of players ready to prove they can be everyday starters. Typically, baseball's spring training helps veterans get back into the swing of things and provides clarity on a few position battles. In the case of the A's, there's more than a few that require answering. It seems the only real positions that are locked up are catcher, second base, shortstop and the front end of the rotation. Every other spot features multiple players vying for a chance. Spring training has officially begun. Here's a look at the players who must take advantage of ...
This year’s Academy Awards featured the movie Moneyball being nominated for numerous Oscars, including Best Film. The Brad Pitt portrayed Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane exemplified both an audacious general manager and a rebel fighting the system. But while Moneyball might have been a winner in the box office, it remains a question whether or not Beane’s bargain basement statistically approved squad will be winners on the field in 2012. With the front office dealing highly touted staff aces Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill, as well as closer Andrew Bailey, East Bay Area sports fans pondered if the team ...