Oakland Park Baseball

How do you all think the A's will do this year? (and no bull shit!)

They'll have an ok year, but with Texas on the rise, Seattle with some big free-agent signings, and Anaheim always there, it's going to be rough. I mean when you lose two Ace pitchers... eh. I'm excited about Kendall though, he's been one of my favorite players for a long time.

Texas - unless they get a healthy Magglio Ordonez, they can't do as well as last year. They lost Brian Jordan, and still have no pitching at all, especially starters. Colby Lewis starting Game 1 of the ALDS? I don't think so!

Anaheim - They have seriously downgraded from last year. They lost Troy Glaus and Jose Guillen (top RBI producers from 2003-2004 for Ana.), plus they lost their closer Troy Percival. Granted they have one of the better bullpens in the AL, provided Frankie "K-rod" Rodriguez can handle the closing job. They're going to have to rely on rookie Dallas McPherson at 3rd base without Glaus. McPherson/Chone Figgins do not a 3rd baseman RBI man make.

Seattle - Ok, they picked up Adrian Beltre & Richie Sexson, definite offensive pluses if Sexson can stay healthy. But After Ichiro, Bret Boone, Sexson & Beltre, what do you have? 29 year old rookie Bucky Jacobson?! Dead half of their lineup, and no Edgar Martinez. Plus, no pitching, unless Madritsh & Pineiro & Meche can step it up from their 2004 numbers. And who's replacing Moyer in the rotation, he's not pitching again is he?!?

So that leaves the A's in the AL West.

Major offensive upgrade at Catcher with Jason Kendall, slight upgrade at 2B offensively. But the A's are about pitching and defense (they think they're in the National League), and they lost the Two Aces Mulder and Hudson. But Mulder & Hudson are injury-prone, and chocked in the clutch post-season for the A's. I think they'll do fine, now that in the NL for the first time in their careers, but not numbers like 2004 for Hudson or 2003 in Mulder's case.

Yabu, Meyer, Blanton, Haren, Duchscherer, Cruz..... any of these guys have a good chance to be solid, above average 3rd,4th & 5th starters after Zito and Harden. Remember, Harden & Zito were A's system products (like Mulder and Hudson), and Blanton & Duchscherer are as well. Haren, Meyer, Yabu, & Cruz have their pluses as well. Anyone not making the starting rotation joins the most improved overall aspect of the team--the bullpen. They picked up a bunch of people with good numbers in the relief last year-from Kiko Calero to Juan Cruz to Tim Harikkula. Overall, even with losses of Mulder and Hudson (and Mecir, I guess), the A's pitching staff will be better than last year, which is to say above average.

And the A's might bag another rookie-of-the-year in Nick Swisher.

Spring Training will be interesting to see who ends up where for the A's. Scutaro even ripped it up in Winter Ball (7th best overall average with 241 ab's... .335 batting avg.), so there could be a battle for 2nd between him, Ellis, and Ginter.

Only at the end of Spring Training can I speculate about whether the A's will go beyond the AL West in 2005.

The A's have Harikkula? I didn't know that. Hmm.

The A's have relied on their pitching for the last 3 years and it has taken them far. The only problem is that the A's are scrappy/streaky offensively TOO streaky. You have to score more than 3 runs in the A.L.; especially in the A.L. West. Looking forward to having Ellis back (if Scutaro doesn't supplant him down in Cactus play) and while Durazo's .321 batting was welcome... it would be nice if he could reach the 30/100 threshhold to bolster the offense. I see the A's just missing the playoffs but in the mix making noise as always. In any case I'll be in Sec.334. Row 1 Seats 11-13 (some say bad seats but great for just chillin'and studying the game)rooting them on throughout the year.

The A's will shine, only if the coach makes better decisions about the situation of the game.

...like this?

Baseball=Life wrote: But the A's are about pitching and defense (they think they're in the National League)

No. The A's could be an NL team if they belived in one thing: the sacrafice. You ALers need to learn about that

I remeber former Giants manager Dusty Baker saying after the first interleague game that he felt like he didn't have anything to do, and I can see why. In the Al, with the DH, the manager has very little to do, besides fret about the pitcher's pitch count.

It's NL time in Oakland!

I think with the acquisition of Charles Thomas, and the loss of Jermaine Dye, the A's are going to have to manufacture runs more than previously. So I expect to see more bunts, groundballs to the rightside to move the runner over from 2nd, SacFlys, and stolen bases. At least I hope this happens, I want to see Thomas, Byrnes, and Kotsay run! Chavez, Durazo, Crosby... . .can't wait around for them to hit 3-run HRs.... we're not the Yanks or the 'Sox!

Scott, you know full well that Beane would rather bathe in the clubhouse shitter before letting the team run. He's so fundamentally opposed to the stolen base that it'll be a miracle if any one player on the team even has 10 SB this year.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a lot more stolen base attempts this year. At least it'll provide some excitement, seeing as how there are no 3-run homers as you mentioned earlier. I could count the times the A's had a game with 2 multi-run homers last year on one thumb.

That's right, you scrubs, I just got my 2005 season tickets in the mail!!!!

They even came in a fancy calander-type format with a commerative 2005 season ticket holder pin.

So I'll be hitting up at least 23 games this year, all in the lower level, about 8 rows back from the A's bullpen pitcher's mound. I splurged big-time on this last December.

And that number doesn't count any additional games you guys drag me to, of course!

A's! A's! A's! A's! A's! A's! A's!

PS: Fuck Canseco

It's now 2006.

So I'll be hitting up at least 23 games this year, all in the lower level, about 8 rows back from the A's bullpen pitcher's mound. I splurged big-time on this last December.

And that number doesn't count any additional games you guys drag me to, of course!

A's! A's! A's! A's! A's! A's! A's!

PS: The forum has Poker AIDS.

Yeah, at least the pokerspammer brought back some good threads. I'm already buying tickets not included in that same 23 game field level season ticket package. My tickets miss 2 jersey and 2 bobble head games, gotta pick those up a la carte.

Yeah the Wife and I have the 23 game season ticket package also. We will be second deck(top floor). Lets go root the A's to the 2006 World Championship.

who is charles thomas? i know you meant frank, but there was a guy named charles, and i think he was pretty good, but i can't remember.

i'd say the a's have a damn good chance at the division. the angels are still a good team, and texas and seatle have clearly gotten better, but the a's by far have the most complete team. their fortune's gonna turn on guys like thomas and bradley. i'm not sayin' that they can't win without those two, but they'll be the difference between a lineup that can compete with the big boys and one that can barely scratch out a win. chavez has gotta finally start crushin' the ball too. if you want to get beyond the first round, the offensive production needs to make some major improvements, which it should. things may not end up so rosy though. regardless, they'll be in it. it's a good team they'll field. just hope it's enough.