So I may have gotten some hopes up in the Bay Area yesterday when I ranked the Angels at Number 16. Sorry A’s fans your squad is good enough to do your division rivals one better, but not much more. I am a big fan of the A’s and the way their organization runs things, no matter how many times they reject me as an intern. This team is definitely good enough to finish around .500 in 2011, which puts them smack dab in the middle of our countdown in 15th place.
No. 15 Oakland Athletics
Projected Rotation
- Trevor Cahill-RHP
- Brett Anderson-LHP
- Dallas Braden-LHP
- Gio Gonzalez-LHP
- Josh Outman-LHP
Projected Bullpen
- Andrew Bailey-RHP
- Brain Fuentes-LHP
- Craig Breslow-LHP
- Grant Balfour-RHP
- Michael Wuertz-RHP
- Brad Ziegler-RHP
Projected Lineup
- CF Coco Crisp
- RF David DeJesus
- LF Josh Willingham
- DH Hideki Matsui
- 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
- 1B Daric Barton
- C Kurt Suzuki
- 2B Mark Ellis
- SS Cliff Pennington
Analysis
Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of teams behind the A’s that made bigger off-season acquisitions than Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui. However, I think the A’s got two guys that will fit in perfectly and they will make the batting order more solid from top to bottom. The addition allows Barton and Suzuki to move to the bottom of order, which adds talent and power to the A’s lineup.
Coco Crisp is easily slated as the leadoff man in spring training and something drastic would have to happen for him not to win that job. The season Crisp has this year will be more important than people thing. He hasn’t played in more than 100 games since 2008, and it would be a stretch to assume he can accomplish that feat this year. If he does Crisp could hit .300 and potentially steal 50 bases and the A’s will need everyone of them to try and catch the defending AL Champion Rangers in the AL West.
A lot of people will keep a close eye on the A’s prized prospect Chris Carter. Carter still has work to do and should not be on the opening day roster, but he is undoubtedly one of the most talented young players in baseball and they will only be able to keep him in the minors for so long. Carter was in the bigs for just 24 games last season and hit .186, don’t let that fool you Carter is a beast and will be tearing this league apart sometime soon. If he can do that by June then the A’s might stand a chance, if not then A’s fans will be praying for the best season in the history of Hideki Matsui. Well, I’ve heard fans pray for way crazier things so don’t write of Godzilla just yet.
The strong point of the A’s will be their bullpen that contains six potential closers. That’s right, six! The closing job will stay with Bailey for now and he will have an abundance of help behind him. Fuentes, Breslow, and Balfour are all proven vets with capable arms and the only issue the A’s should have to deal with will be getting all of them enough innings. Not a bad problem to have if you consider yourself a playoff team.
I’m a big believer in the A’s rotation, Dallas Braden has assured himself a place on my fantasy team for life. Not because of his perfect game, but because he talked smack to A-Rod! Something I’ve wanted to do for my entire baseball viewing life!
Braden is just one of four intriguing young arms hoping to carry the A’s this year. Trevor Cahill was an all-star last year and Gio Gonzalez showed amazing stuff down the stretch, and Brett Anderson posted a sub-three ERA last season. Combine that with Rich Harden when he’s healthy and this rotation is quite terrifying.
That’s the good news; the bad news is that out of all these great young arms only Gonzalez was able to make all of his starts in 2010. I have a lot of faith this rotation will be fun to watch and I have even more faith that each one will spend extensive time on the injured list. The talent’s there for the A’s it’s just still a little rough around the edges but 2011 could be a major building year for the growth of this young team and could definitely be contender for the division crown in 2012.
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