My Observations About The Oakland A's

[JoJo26]

First of all, the A's have always had pitching. I mean friggin' good young pitchers. This season, no different.

 

Then - Billy Beane decides to "go all in" and makes that trade with the Cubs.

 

Hammel wasn't pitching that great in Chicago...and he's wiffing in the AL...MISS

That Notre Dame receiver has been pretty steady...so that's a WIN

 

So - Oakland is hitting and they got the staff...BUT

 

they trade the Halo Killer - Cespedes....great bat...better arm....for a dude who they can only trot out every 5th day. WHOOPS!

 

Said it at the time...but the Oakland A's effed up. Cespedes is young and talented, and Lester is a FA after the season...right?

So...now the A's who were TIED FOR FIRST place last Sunday - August 24th, find themselves FIVE games behind one week later.

 

This reminds me of Los Doyers, who felt the need to trade team leader, catcher Paul LoDuca to Miami for Brad Penny. The team was solidly in 1st at the trade deadline - but their GM felt the need to "make a move"

The team faded - but barely hung on to win the division...Sometimes you can't eff with this thingy called CHEMISTRY.

 

Also - just an observation...Are the A's the "Whitest" team in MLB? Cespedes traded and CoCo hurt...last two days...it's like the Halos were playing a scruffy beach team from Newport Beach (they hit like it too).

 

#FireBillyBeane

[Angel Oracle]

And Adam Dunn ain't gonna help them all that much with an OPS barely above mid .700s and only 37 XBHs.

His time has come and gone.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[DW711]

First of all, the A's have always had pitching. I mean friggin' good young pitchers. This season, no different.

 

Then - Billy Beane decides to "go all in" and makes that trade with the Cubs.

 

Hammel wasn't pitching that great in Chicago...and he's wiffing in the AL...MISS

That Notre Dame receiver has been pretty steady...so that's a WIN

 

So - Oakland is hitting and they got the staff...BUT

 

they trade the Halo Killer - Cespedes....great bat...better arm....for a dude who they can only trot out every 5th day. WHOOPS!

 

Said it at the time...but the Oakland A's effed up. Cespedes is young and talented, and Lester is a FA after the season...right?

So...now the A's who were TIED FOR FIRST place last Sunday - August 24th, find themselves FIVE games behind one week later.

 

This reminds me of Los Doyers, who felt the need to trade team leader, catcher Paul LoDuca to Miami for Brad Penny. The team was solidly in 1st at the trade deadline - but their GM felt the need to "make a move"

The team faded - but barely hung on to win the division...Sometimes you can't eff with this thingy called CHEMISTRY.

 

Also - just an observation...Are the A's the "Whitest" team in MLB? Cespedes traded and CoCo hurt...last two days...it's like the Halos were playing a scruffy beach team from Newport Beach (they hit like it too).

 

#FireBillyBeane

 

First of all, the A's have always had pitching. I mean friggin' good young pitchers. This season, no different:

 

Parker has been out for the year. So has Griffin. Chavez had been fading for a little while.

 

He probably didn't need to trade Milone for Hammel (which is basically what happened), though...but I think he'll be fine.

 

So - Oakland is hitting and they got the staff...BUT

 

they trade the Halo Killer - Cespedes....great bat...better arm....for a dude who they can only trot out every 5th day. WHOOPS!

 

His (Beanes') big mistake was not trading for a guy like Dunn sooner. Guys like Moss have been totally exposed without the 'protection'. A second baseman that wasn't an all around detriment to the team might have helped, too.

 

Sometimes you can't eff with this thingy called CHEMISTRY.

 

This is one thing I'll never understand. Do you have super hearing like that one gal from Season One of Heroes? Maybe x-ray vision so you can see what Melvin (or anyone else) is saying in the clubhouse?

 

How does anyone that has no affiliation with the (teams name) know how each player/coach gets along with each other?

 

 

 

 

The A's are 20 games above .500 and this is their first losing month in about the last 13 (I forget the exact count).

 

They're getting some players back soon and are an all-around good team.

 

Were they the best team in the league before a month ago? No, because just like now...no one exists.

 

Some of what the OP said is true, but a lot of it (imo) is knee-jerk.

 

This isn't the NFL. and I'm not going to say "it's a marathon not a sprint" typical cliche'''but everyone that's on this board knows this game is about longevity.

 

Beane has the team at 78-58 after losing his number two and four starter before the season even started. Who else could do that?

 

Maybe every GM could in the league...but my guess is three of them max.

Edited September 1, 2014 by DW711

[Vegas Halo Fan]

And Adam Dunn ain't gonna help them all that much with an OPS barely above mid .700s and only 37 XBHs.

His time has come and gone.

 

Even Dunn knows that it's over. He has stated his intention to retire at the end of the season.

[joeywings]

Billy put a lot of pressure on that middle of the order by trading Cespedes.

I don't care who you get, you don't trade your stud.

This wasn't like a Guerrero for Tudor kinda of trade.

 

Team chemistry ? My theory is, leave the bopping to the boppers and leave the slapping to the slappers.

Take out the big bopper, the slappers will try to be boppers.

Vogt is obviously pressing . Looked to me he could have slapped a few pitches to the left field but chose to wait for the inside pitches he could drive.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

This is one of the few times that I can honestly say that Billy Beane made a major mistake. The Athletics had the best record in baseball and they always seemed to find a way to win games, even some that they were apparently out of. Then Beane traded a major piece of their lineup in the middle of a pennant race to try to bolster the rotation with a guy who is leaving at the end of next month. When I heard that the A's had traded for Lester I was concerned. When I then heard that the deal cost them Cespedes, I knew that we had a shot at them.

[TroutBaseball]

I'll take the unpopular position of defending Beane on the trades.  When they were winning their 3 catchers were over performing and giving them the equivalent of 2 Freddie Freemans.  Beane knew that they weren't going to be able to keep producing those kinds of numbers and the offense was going to come back to earth soon and in a hurry.

 

Based on the jump start he decided to go all in and the only way sustain it was through pitching.  Cespedes was not the key to their offensive explosion. It was Moss and the Catcher Trio.  They suck now and Yoenis in the lineup wouldn't have done anything to fix that.  Moss is a windmill and the catchers are all hurting (not to mention Donaldson too).

 

I'm glad they're dying on the vine but it's the wrong idea to hang an albatross on Beane's neck for trading Cespedes.

[101halo]

My observation:

They're toast.

You never know, but it sure looks like they're in deep trouble. Glad that Ianetta acknowledged that tides can turn quickly, but as a fan I have no such responsibility. I can be a sore winner and totally rub it in my A's fan friend's face.

Is that bad of me? I don't care! This has been my favorite baseball weekend since 2009, easily.

[gurn67]

I watch a lot of the lat innings of the A's games, and they drove me crazy night after night. They played with a swagger that they knew they were going to come back and win no matter how far down they were (sort of like the 2009 Angels). Just a few nights after the Cespedes trade, I noticed, the swagger was gone. They are reminding me more and more of the 1995 Halos. The difference is, their GM screwed up the best team in baseball by removing the clean up hitter from an offense that had been performing way above expectations. The Angels, on the other hand, lost their starting shortstop (who was having a career year) and never recovered until the last week of the season.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Im not disagreeing with everything....but lets not count our chickens before they hatch.

Oakland is still a very good team with a pretty easy schedule coming up. We need to stay focused and not let the 5 game lead go to our heads. We can lose it just as quick as they did if we arent careful...

But happy as hell right now

[EDinTUSTIN]

The A's are a good team and there is no wisdom in getting complacent, which I know Sosh and the team will not let happen. Just from an objective baseball viewpoint, I still don't know why Beane traded Cespedes. He was one of the up and coming young players that still was going to continue to get better. He was a fan favorite, too, and it seemed that he was reliable in clutch situations. It is almost a travesty for any ball club and their fan base when a favorite and popular player is traded - particularly when the team is in first place. Lester is a very good pitcher, but he only impacts the game directly once every five contests, and when he loses, he has no chance to atone until 5 games later. It is very likely that the A's will be in postseason, the top 3 teams in our division are all very good, I think that has been really good for our Angels. They are competing day in and day out and seem to be on a mission.The teams that lead the other AL divisions don't have to battle the A's and the Mariners. Winning the West now is tough, and next season when the Rangers get a lot of their injured players back it will be tougher. This division is the class of the AL and probably all of baseball. Sitting on top of it sure feels great for our fan base.

Edited September 1, 2014 by EDinTUSTIN

[Second Base]

Well I can tell you this, Adam Dunn won't be helping the whiteness factor. That dude is pink.