A's to acquire Zobrist and Escobar

[Inside Pitch]

I usually don't get so contrarian to the board but I completely disagree about the A's ability to contend.

 

They have above average players now at virtually every position. Those that need platooning, like Ike Davis have good platoon partners.

 

The A's will not be a pushover in 2015. I'm not saying they are going to bust down doors but they will be in the mix for 1st place. If they hit the deadline and they are out you'll see the sell-off some of you spoke about but until then they have solid starting pitching (Gray, Pomeranz, Nolin), a great bullpen (Doolittle, O'Flaherty, Cook, Otero), above average defense (Lawrie, Yunel, Zobrist, to name a few) and a good mix of offensive pieces (Davis/Butler, Reddick, Vogt, Zobrist).

 

I know the myriad of trades has thrown everyone off but you should see their team for what it is: a potential winner.

 

I'm with you.   Zobrist gives them all kinds of flexibility or they can just drop him into LF and make for a very solid defensive OF.  Escobar lets them move Semien to 2B, providing last year was just an off year and not the beginning of the end he's a pretty decent chance to give them what Lowrie did.  I wouldn't be shocked to see them bring back Gio Soto now to play catcher with Vogt.   They also have Parker and Griffin on the mend.   They may not be the team they were last year, but they don't really look like a complete pushover either.   At worst they will have a few solid pieces to move at the ASB.  

[Docwaukee]

they have pitching and bullpen.  

 

not sure what happened to Escobar's defense this year by the metrics.  probably small sample because he'd been an excellent defender up until 2014.

 

If he regains his form, they are very strong defensively.  If semien emerges, I could see them moving zobrist to LF.  If not, they still need a LFer.  

 

But they have zero power.  There is an outside chance that they don't have anyone on the team hit double digit hrs.  Most likely, there will be half a dozen guys around 10 but I could see where maybe 1 or 2 guys at most get into the teens.  They might not have anyone with a SLG% above .400.  

 

BTW, here is zobrist slash line from last year:

.272/.354/.395

 

Guess who's slash this is:

.254/.349/..383

 

I'll give you a hint:  zobrist is a way better defender and that's where his additional value comes from as long as he plays 2b as opposed to a corner OF spot.   The other guy is a halo and plays subpar corner OF defense.  just sayin'

 

Actually, I think the A's would be smart to flip Escobar for a LFer or some prospects to get one.  

 

Anyway, I think they are a .500 team at this point, but I don't think Beane is done.  They are gonna add another bat.  

[Docwaukee]

I'm with you.   Zobrist gives them all kinds of flexibility or they can just drop him into LF and make for a very solid defensive OF.  Escobar lets them move Semien to 2B, providing last year was just an off year and not the beginning of the end he's a pretty decent chance to give them what Lowrie did.  I wouldn't be shocked to see them bring back Gio Soto now to play catcher with Vogt.   They also have Parker and Griffin on the mend.   They may not be the team they were last year, but they don't really look like a complete pushover either.   At worst they will have a few solid pieces to move at the ASB.  

 

Agree with both you guys.  The only think I will say is that having zero power in the lineup changes the entire dynamic of how you approach them as a pitcher.  If they had a middle of the order bat to play LF, kept zobrist at 2b, traded escobar and put semien at SS, they would be somewhat dangerous with their SP, defense and pen.  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

What are they doing! I never know what they're doing.

 

Suddenly there seems to be no real plan in Oakland. Up until late last season I usually had some idea what their end goal was. Any more, no idea.

[disarcina]

I think Zobrist is pretty good and if it's Y. Escobar, the MIF -- he's better than average -- not great by any stretch of the imagination.

 

As for Jaso -- not sure what his contract status was/ is -- but am sure the A's are saving some payroll here --plus they signed Butler to a two year (or was it was it a three year deal?) deal -- a move which made little sense to me other than the quick signing sort of took KC off the hot seat to re-sign a long time fan favorite whose best years are probably behind him.

 

Not sure who you flip Butler to unless some AL team needs a DH power guy at deadline time and then you're going to have to carefully select a hitters' park for the guy to play in.  Butler lost weight last year --- usually a good thing -- but his power numbers suffered significantly and he didn't contribute much to the Royals all season -- although his bat did come alive a bit in August/ September but not his power numbers -- I think he went two or three months between home runs from something like May to August. I don't see him faring well in Oakland's ballpark.

 

But A's will find a way to contend - they always do.

[stormngt]

Just the other day we had all kinds of people were arguing that we needed Zobrist at 2b. Now he is part of a bunch of scrubs

I think most of you are seriously underestimating the A's ability to win 95 games with a bunch of scrubs, something that they often do.

[Inside Pitch]

Agree with both you guys.  The only think I will say is that having zero power in the lineup changes the entire dynamic of how you approach them as a pitcher.  If they had a middle of the order bat to play LF, kept zobrist at 2b, traded escobar and put semien at SS, they would be somewhat dangerous with their SP, defense and pen.  

 

You bring up a good point, they really do lack power at this point.

[disarcina]

the real issue in Oakland is where is the franchise headed in the long term - they've been a half-season team/ roster at a time for close to two decades now.

 

Bud Selig's reign as commissioner ended without him ever making the decision on the A's move to San Jose.

 

An A's move to San Jose is the only way this team has a future of some sort.......they've been stuck in a low budget team rut in Oakland playing in the Raiders' ballpark for far too long now.

 

the plans to move just down the freeway to Fremont got stymied by local opposition and other politics re the traffic interchange needed to make it happen. So that's apparently officially dead.

 

A's are left to be treated as hold-over tenants by a Landlord that does nothing for them except block their ability to re-locate (well the SF Giants are doing a pretty good job of that as well). New Commissioner needs to step in and give the A's the approval to move to San Jose and put a three year time table on the city/ region to get the park there up to MLB standards or lose the right to have a team -- Commissioner needs to just over-rule the SF Giants opposition and tell them that's that.

[Docwaukee]

Suddenly there seems to be no real plan in Oakland. Up until late last season I usually had some idea what their end goal was. Any more, no idea.

they are going back to their old philosophy.  The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  

 

pitch well, play good defense, get on base and try to catch lightning in a bottle.  

[ten ocho recon scout]

Oakland 3 years ago was like the guys at the beginning of the movie 'juice'. Beane has gone all tupac on them now.

[Chuck]

Escobar and Zobrist are not good defensively.

[Ohtaniland]

Their most expensive player in 2015 is Scott Kazmir at $13 million. They have no real long term expensive liabilities and they will probably compete

[Oz27]

Of course any time the A's do anything most people here are falling over themselves to laugh at it and say what a terrible move it is. If I was an A's fan I'd really like this move. If I were an A's fan I'd be pretty happy with the position they're now in going into the season. They're likely to be a top-tier offensive team and lower to mid tier offensive team, which is typicaly more than enough to stay in the playoff race. If it's not, they trade Zobrist and Escobar at the deadline and probably get back a haul of prospects not too dissimilar to what they gave up. If it is, they look to add one or two pieces in July and suddenly they look an incredibly strong team for the second half of the season. Frankly I don't understand why people are bashing it, to me what they're doing makes perfect sense.

[floplag]

i think the key here as has been said is power... The A's have won a lot of low scoring games in recent years seemingly by someone always hitting a ;late inning 2 run home run...   whos gonna do that now?
They will i think lead the things in stranded runners next year till some of that develops

[Stradling]

The issue with all these trades lately is the A's aren't getting better. They won't resign Zobrist and when they trade him at the break they won't get as much as they gave up. When they traded for Smardzja they gave up more than they got when they traded him. Do I think this trade makes them better going into this year? Of course but if it isn't enough and they have to trade him they will get back 50 cents on the dollar. If they sign Zobrist to an extension then it's an even trade, but realistically who sees that happening?

[Oz27]

If Zobrist performs at a similar level to previous years, they'll get a prospect of a similar level to Robertson if they trade him in June or July.

[Stradling]

For half a year of Zobrist, maybe. Isn't he there number 1 prospect? Has their farm fallen that much?

[ukyah]

It's only a rebuild if it makes the team better for the future. I have serious questions about how they are truly better for the future with all the trades they made. I get their money issues, but, still, don't get what they've done to their team.

 

 

agreed. i thought their future looked a lot better with several top mlb prospects ready to come up, but they're all gone now. sweet!!! i don't care what you flip zobrist for, it's not going to be for the quality of prospects that they've already lost, not to mention the number of top prospects.

Edited January 10, 2015 by ukyah

[Guest]

The A's are a mess and none of their offseason moves have made sense. The A's will suffer for a long time because of Beane's hubris.

Edited January 11, 2015 by failos

[Lou]

i laugh  when people  talk about  the A's and their money issues.  Their owners have more money than  just about every other team.

 

The A'th have a spending issue

[Inside Pitch]

i laugh  when people  talk about  the A's and their money issues.  Their owners have more money than  just about every other team.

 

The A'th have a spending issue

 

This was also very true of the Pohlads in Minnesota --  they had a ton of money, they just didn't like to part with any of it.

[DW711]

i laugh  when people  talk about  the A's and their money issues.  Their owners have more money than  just about every other team.

 

The A'th have a spending issue

 

Irrelevant!

 

The owner isn't the GM.

 

If you want Lou Wolfe and his billions... PLEASE take him!

 

I'll take one that gives a damn about the team.

[eligrba]

I have spent too many seasons wondering how it was possible for the A's to compete with a team of average players to believe that they will struggle next year.  They seem to always find a way to give the Angels' nightmares.

[Troll Daddy]

i laugh when people talk about the A's and their money issues. Their owners have more money than just about every other team.

The A'th have a spending issue

The A's have a wealthy owner and so do the Twins .. etc. It doesn't mean they're going to throw out their own money on players.

I've read that the A's invest all profits back into the team.

[Troll Daddy]

I have spent too many seasons wondering how it was possible for the A's to compete with a team of average players to believe that they will struggle next year. They seem to always find a way to give the Angels' nightmares.

A's are the most interesting team in baseball. Bean is a GM that thinks outside the box. These moves aren't just his but involve many people behind him you don't see.

I doubt the A's are done making moves. I think will see a SP acquired soon.