A’s rebuild Begins

As every baseball fan knows, when the calendar turns to July, teams begin to assess where they are in the standings. Teams that are contending and at the top of their division usually trade for players that will make their club stronger suited for a run at a World Series championship by filling a weakness or just enhancing the starpower of the roster.  On the other hand, teams with losing records that are out of the hunt for the upcoming playoffs tend to trade their best players to contending teams. In return these teams either rebuilding or just having a down year get prospects or sometimes major leaguers that they hope will fuel the losing team back to prosperity.

From 2012-2014, the A’s were one of the best teams in the MLB. As a result, they were busy buyers at the trade deadline over these years as they tried to win a championship. However, things took a nosedive in 2014. They were the best team in baseball up until the trade deadline when Billy Beane messed up the team’s chemistry and rhythm by trading star and fan favorite Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester hoping that combining Lester with Sonny Gray would carry the A’s to a championship. Yet, the A’s faltered down the stretch and ended up blowing the wildcard game to the Royals. After that season, Billy Beane continued to do the unexpected by trading late blooming superstar third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays even though he is extremely far away from free agency and would be under the A’s control for many years to come.

These two trades really slammed shut the A’s contention window as the team lost its two offensive stars in bonehead moves by Billy Beane.These trades were just the latest instance in which Billy Beane traded away his best players just as they became established players in MLB. As a result, A’s fans know the feeling all too well of buying jerseys and getting fond of a star player only to watch him be traded rather than extended.

http://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-fans-are-used-to-saying-goodbye-to-their-11298052.php

This feeling was recently brought up once again when in the first of presumably many trades to come involving star A’s being sent to contending teams for prospects, fan favorite Sean Doolittle and fellow reliever Ryan Madson were traded to the 1st place Nationals for the Nats 2nd(inf Sheldon Neuse) and 3rd rounders(Jesus Luzardo) from the 2016 draft.

Pros of this deal: relievers are volatile and the A’s in what Billy Beane is finally calling a need for a “full rebuild” do not need relievers as much as the Nationals who are trying desperately to win a title while they still employ Bryce Harper. Also Madson is 36 and Doolittle has had a fair amount of shoulder problems over the past couple of years. Lastly, the two prospects are young, yet they both have quite a bit of upside especially the lefty pitcher Luzardo who was considered a 1st round talent before Tommy John caused him to fall two rounds.

Cons: Both of these relievers are having very good seasons and Doolittle was a true fan favorite who made the remarkable transition of converting from a first basemen to a dominant all star left handed reliever in a little less than a year.

http://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-trade-Sean-Doolittle-Ryan-Madson-to-11292260.php

Many GM’s and experts believe that this trade is only the beginning of the sell off that Billy Beane is planning for this deadline as rumors are constantly swirling regarding the likes of Lowrie, Alonso, and Sonny Gray(three very good players who would greatly improve any of the contending teams). Sonny Gray in particular hears many rumors and speculation about him as he is the best starter believed to be available on the trade market.

While I was pissed off when Beane made his first trade and likely will be if he makes any more stupid trades or doesn’t get the return that matches the talent of the player of he trades, I can take solace in the fact that recently Beane said he would finally commit the A’s to a full rebuild. He is planning to hold on to this young core starting to emerge at the Major League level(actually keep players!!!) and make the A’s a winning team when they finally open a new stadium. These statements signify a new and better direction for the A’s franchise,but until action is taken on these statements,I and many other remaining fans will still be mad at the A’s ownership and front office.

http://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/Billy-Beane-insists-A-s-committed-to-major-11292397.php

The Oakland A’s Burgeoning Youth Movement

The 2016-17 Oakland A’s entered the season employing many newly signed along with already rostered veteran placeholders. The list of veteran placeholders who began the year on the team is as follows: Matt Joyce(right field), Rajai Davis(center field), Trevor Plouffe(third base), and Adam Rosales(utility,however mostly shortstop). They signed these guys to give them a chance to play and prove themselves while the youth movement continued to brew down in the minors. This particular youth movement is spearheaded by a group of guys that for the most part developed together in the A’s minor league system playing winning baseball in each stop of their development(Single A, Double A,and Triple A). The main young prospects who the A’s front office think will  restore the storied franchise to greatness are listed below.

Ryon Healy: Emerged as a top prospect last year when he shot through the top levels of A”s minors and impressed when he got promoted to the big leagues for the second half of the season. He is continuing to put up big power numbers this year and cementing his status as a huge piece of the future.

mercurynews.com/…/as-beat-tigers-8-6-on-ryon-healys-two-run-home-run-in-ninth-inning

Chad Pinder is a man that can play short,second, and corner outfield as he has turned himself into kind of a super-utility player. He has also impressed with the bat since his promotion.

Enteathleticsnation.com/…/oakland-as-2017-community-prospect-list-18-chad-pinder

Matt Olson-Above-average defender at first who can also play right field. He is a true three outcomes hitter who is projected to rack up a ton of home runs, walks, and strikeouts.

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Bruce Maxwell-the A’s catcher of the future who is very good defensively and decent at the plate.

Enterrotoprofessor.com/baseball 

Matt Chapman-Elite defender at the hot corner.This guy also has huge power potential but a big question experts ask about him is if he will be able to make enough contact to have success in the MLB.

Brugman-the A’s most advanced outfield prospect who is good at everything but doesn’t excel at any one aspect of the game. He is better defensively than all A’s outfielders on opening day roster.

Frankie Barreto: The big prize in the return of the Donaldson trade. A’s top prospect is a middle infielder(SS and 2nd) from Venezuela who can flat out rake and is steady defensively.

Enter amlbdailydish.com/…/athletics-promote-franklin-barreto 

The A’s also have some young pitchers whom they hope can emerge as future members of the rotation down the line. Daniel Gossett is the most advanced starter with hype as he emerged last year with a breakout season and has ridden that success to a recent callup to the A’s rotation recently decimated by injuries. However when it comes to A’s pitching prospects, the first name mentioned is usually AJ Puk(a power lefty projected to go 1st who fell to the A’s with the 6th pick in last year’s draft and is currently dominating the lower minors)

m.mlb.com/…/as-sign-first-round-draft-pick-aj-puk

sfgate.com/…/A-s-Daniel-Gossett-earns-first-big-league-win-11244861.php

Everyone expected the A’s to call up these young players eventually for a taste of the majors in what was expected to be another season of losses and low expectations. However, no one expected them to be called up as early as most of them have been with the exception of Aj Puk who is just beginning at Double A. Gossett was called up to replace the injured Andrew Triggs in the A’s rotation and has performed admirably since a horrible debut in Miami. The A’s cream of young and talented position players have since been called up due to injuries and ineffectiveness among players blocking them on the big league roster. Maxwell has been promoted to take the place of struggling recently released fan favorite catcher Vogt on the left handed hitting side of the A’s catcher platoon opposite Phegley. Chapman was recently promoted to take over third base from horrible Plouffe who also got released and in the process greatly improve the A’s overall defense. However,he only played in 4 games before coming down with a bad knee infection that put him on the disabled list. Pinder was called up to help cover shortstop after Semien landed on the dl with a wrist injury. He has surprised many people with his good all around play, but he is now also on the dl with a hamstring injury. Brugman and Olson got finally promoted after much fan demanding and they are already making more of an impact than declining Rajai Davis. Lastly, Frankie Barreto made his hyped debut yesterday replacing Pinder and immediately showed why everybody thinks so highly of him.

Yesterday’s game of the A’s versus the White Sox was really the first time that most of these top prospects were in the A’s lineup together as the only exceptions were Chapman and Pinder as both are unavailable due to injuries. The prospects that are a huge part of the A’s future shined brightest yesterday in the A’s 10-2 demolishing of the White Sox showing the huge potential they have.Olson, Brugman, and Barreto each hit their first major league home runs which was a major league record that had never happened before.

These three along with Chapman, Pinder, Semien, Maxwell, and Healy are why I along with many others are excited for the future of the A’s. I think that these young players are going to be the foundation of a team that returns the A’s organization to postseason glory and they will experience success only if Billy Beane keeps them together and doesn’t trade them right as they get good like he did with Donaldson.

A New Direction for the A’s

As Memorial Day hits, the A’s are 22-28 thus in 4th place in their division and it is time to asses the current status quo of the club.

Before the season began, the A’s front office hoped to patch up their roster holes and improve the team by bringing in some stopgap veterans while their top prospects would continue to develop and improve at Triple A. Former A Rajai Davis was brought in to man the gaping hole in center field. Vet Matt Joyce was signed to play right field and Trevor Plouffe was signed to man the hot corner.. However all three of these veterans have underperformed both at the plate and in the field which makes me think its time for a change.

The A’s currently have about 12 more errors than any other MLB team and their outfield defense is especially problematic(Joyce). Their pitching has been decent however a rash of injuries has hit the rotation and bullpen recently. However, Sonny Gray is back and appears back on track to returning to his ace like self.

Regarding offense, the A’s have been mostly one dimensional with the main thing the A’s consistently doing being hitting home runs. Khris Davis and Ryon Healy have continued their slugging ways and Jed Lowrie is having his best season at the plate since two years ago. Yonder Alonso has been the one surprise on the A’s so far this season as he’s come out of nowhere to become an power hitting force when he comes up to bat.

To improve the A’s both offensively and defensively thus giving them a better shot at surprising the rest of MLB, I say-let the youth movement commence. The new and improved lineup should be as such

Leftfield-Khris Davis-best player despite very weak throwing arm in left field.

Center field-Jaycob Brugman (A’s top outfield prospect who’s solid at everything and doesn’t make mistakes).

Right Field-platoon of Matt Olson(A’s pick in 2012-high walk rate and great ability to hit home runs-can play first and corner outfield) and Mark Canha.

Catcher-for now Vogt and Phegley. If possible, trade Vogt at deadline and replace him with Bruce Maxwell(top catcher in minors-only if Maxwell healthy).

1st base-Alonso-sign to extension since really good now.

2nd base-maybe trade Lowrie while he’s having a good year and put at this position-Franklin Barreto(A’s top prospect who’s a middle infielder acquired in the Donaldson trade with a great hitting ability and is raking in Triple A) if he is ready to man second.

Shortstop-Marcus Semien who will hopefully continue to improve in all facets of his game once he hopefully returns healthy from wrist surgery.

Third Base-Matt Chapman-A’s 1st round pick in 2014 who is considered a potential Gold Glove defender at the hot corner. Also has a ton of power and is in triple A.

DH-Ryon Healy

Super utility-Chad Pinder.

This is a team that I want to see the A’s have by next year at the latest since I feel it will improve them on both sides and help them get back to the playoffs. Now all Billy Beane has to do is make it happen.