what is happening with Oakland A's ?

[niming]

is it just a slump or are there signs of weakness after trading away cespedes?

shouldn't panic just yet, but even though i admire them and always wished them well as underdogs in past seasons, it seems strange to see them priced as favorites for the world series. i don't think they will win it, even if they deserve it.

[innovation]

in that ballpark, weather in October, with that staff.....

assuming they make it..


they will be built for that moment.

[existential]

two really bad trades by the most overrated GM in any sport

[STAX]

I was never on the As bandwagon.

[turbozed]

Slump plus BABIP bad luck plus some expected regression from some hot batters (like Vogt). By the numbers, losing Cespedes' bat shouldn't have been worth the loss of 1.5 runs/gm they've been averaging lately as compared to the entire season.

I haven't heard a satisfactory explanation. It started before the Cespedes trade, so that can't be all of it.

[jjgold]

Hard to say but I think they're pitching should hold up in the playoffs

[vividjohn45]

I wudnt traded cespedes for pitching. Lester is good but he loses due to lack of run support with boston.

[winz]

yea cespedes trade was a shock to me...lester is out there every 5 days...cespedes can be the difference every night.

[existential]

neither lester or samardzija will be resigned. also gave up their best prospect. trades ruined chemistry as well, horrible moves.

[2daBank]

neither lester or samardzija will be resigned. also gave up their best prospect. trades ruined chemistry as well, horrible moves.

cespedes was gonna be gone after what? next year i believe, same as shark i think right? their window with the guys they got is closing and det pitching has beaten them a couple years straight.. i mean sure lester is only every 5 days but he is 2 starts in a playoff series which is very likely to impact a series more so than cespedes.. certainly hard to argue the chemistry issue and yes cespedes was a huge sacrifice to the lineup but pitching wins in the postseason so while they struggling right now imo it hard to really criticize a move in aug that was made for the postseason.. i think you gotta give them credit for going for it and doing what they felt was necessary to get over the hump they were never able to with the team they had before the moves...

[rm18]

Every other year they are mediocre the first 110 games or so and great at the end of the regul season Ikind of had a feeling this was coming they are in trouble

[CWD]

fukk a billy beane

florida marlins did what he has only dreamed of twice

and making a playoff push again, should have made a movie about their roster dumps

[SBRMAN23]

It's like after trading cespedes they stop hitting should of kept him

[vividjohn45]

cespedes was gonna be gone after what? next year i believe, same as shark i think right? their window with the guys they got is closing and det pitching has beaten them a couple years straight.. i mean sure lester is only every 5 days but he is 2 starts in a playoff series which is very likely to impact a series more so than cespedes.. certainly hard to argue the chemistry issue and yes cespedes was a huge sacrifice to the lineup but pitching wins in the postseason so while they struggling right now imo it hard to really criticize a move in aug that was made for the postseason.. i think you gotta give them credit for going for it and doing what they felt was necessary to get over the hump they were never able to with the team they had before the moves...

If they make the playoffs.

[2daBank]

If they make the playoffs.

lol, got me there. if they dont make playoffs i will happily agree they might have really fukked up.. i glanced at the schedules around all star break when i was kinda checking out futures and seem to recall they have a incredibly soft sept schedule tho (just going off top of my head so correct me if im wrong), if that the case dont think they have a problem getting in..

[No coincidences]

Their lineup = inevitable correction. They're a good team without question, but not 100-plus win season good.

[2daBank]

Their lineup = inevitable correction. They're a good team without question, but not 100-plus win season good.

i feel like while everyone killing billy boy for the moves they kinda overlooking the fact that this very well could have been coming anyways and having cespedes who hitting .237 since trade (granted he does have 3 hrs) prob wouldnt have changed this little slide.. guess it 1 of those no way to really know type deals but i lean to thinking this isnt a direct result of trades but more inevitability that they fell off a little bit at some point and they still a more dangerous team entering the playoffs (if they make it that is john)...

[niming]

trades ruined chemistry as well, horrible moves.

i was thinking about the same thing. they are 7-8 since the trades. coincidence?

[niming]

i feel like while everyone killing billy boy for the moves they kinda overlooking the fact that this very well could have been coming anyways and having cespedes who hitting .237 since trade (granted he does have 3 hrs) prob wouldnt have changed this little slide.. guess it 1 of those no way to really know type deals but i lean to thinking this isnt a direct result of trades but more inevitability that they fell off a little bit at some point and they still a more dangerous team entering the playoffs (if they make it that is john)...

yes, it could be a coincidence regarding slump and trades, but was thinking long term, if they actually have less chances to win the ws now after the trades.

[Mr KLC]

Their defense has really never been that good. They are near the top in errors this year. The pitchers were able to play their way out of these situations in the past, plus the offense would mask the problem also. As far as pitching, Hammel, enough said. Sonny Gray has declined over the last month. As far as hitting, Coco Crisp has been in a major funk, Jed Lowrie is on the DL.

I think they will be OK. They have an easier schedule in September, which gives them plenty of time to figure it out, and snap out of it. They had to have a pitfall in the season somewhere, plus initially, it can be expected with the turnover they had. They'll be ready come October.

[2daBank]

yes, it could be a coincidence regarding slump and trades, but was thinking long term, if they actually have less chances to win the ws now after the trades.

long term like after this season? obviously according to scouts they gave up a lot for shark, i dont really follow farm systems just take the "experts" at face value as i dont have the time or interest in any other teams prospects other than my cards. they do have shark under control for another year tho and they can always re-flip him come next season.. yeah lester a loner but cepedes was gone after next year anyways. i was shocked at the lester deal as well, i thought after the acquisition of shark (whether the prospects they gave up for him was too much i have no clue and again even if that the case pitchers are always in demand and no reason they wont be able to get new prospects from a contender next year for him) the trio of him, gray, and kazmir was enough to give them a legit shot so sacrificing the heart of the order and only "scary" bat in the lineup for lester was eye popping.. i can only assume that they viewed it like gray is going way over his previous innings in a season, kaz hasnt pitched this much in a long time, and shark has never sniffed the playoffs, not to mention there no way they could throw hammel out there in the playoffs and expect anything but him getting shelled so they were looking at only a 3 man rotation.. who knows if the gamble pays off, we will never really know unless they win it all, gotta give billy boy this much, he has balls cause if they dont win he a fukk up but we will never know what would have happened the other way, he could have stood pat after getting shark and let it play out and wouldnt have took any heat if they lost but he did what he felt was giving them the best shot, gotta respect that..

[rm18]

Their hitters always were average just have a bunch of lucky innings where they score big

[daneblazer]

they don't have any hitting

[jjgold]

nobody has any hitting

Baseball is a disaster now

Most boring sport in world..not good for their future

[BeanTownClown88]

NFL about to be super boring when every play has a penalty..Thanks to NFL, the MLB stock will rise

[labones00]

Better to slump now, all good teams go through a bad stretch. As long as they are playing well in mid-late September that's all that really matters. As for betting on them, I have them on hold until they come out of this

[The Giant]

Oakland will be fine.

Way too much pitching not to be.

I'm honestly not sure how the Angels have passed them. And I'm an Angels fan.

[niming]

nobody has any hitting

Baseball is a disaster now

Most boring sport in world..not good for their future

soccer is boring. baseball is boring if you like hits and big scores, but for some, a 2-0 baseball game with very good pitching can be very nice to watch if you like that kind of stuff.

[niming]

long term like after this season?

also after this season but also for this one. they looked favorites all season for the ws. now, i don't know... this seamed to be their year with their difference between runs scored and allowed. if they don't make it this season might be a while until they have another decent shot at it

[crustyme]

cespedes was their third best hitter and morons act like they traded away babe ruth or something.

lol

[Dollars2Donuts]

I liked the Samardjza trade, but they missed out on one important component.....after completing the deal they needed to flip Hammel ASAP to anyone that would take him and his salary.

As as for the Cespedes deal...I hated it from the start. While I would ALWAYS take pitching over hitting, in this deal there are too many other factors. First off While Cespedes only has one more year on his deal, I believe that he is worth resigning and that thy could have had him on something like a 6 year, $75 million deal....while that seems like a lot, remember that they paid him $9 mil as an unproven commodity and to fill your lineup with a player that has so many different dimensions (including like-ability with fans) that is not too high a price to pay. I just think that this deal left too large a hole in the A's lineup.

The other problem is that Lester walks...100%. If they had a shot at resigning him, this deal would have been palatable.

I wont judge Beane too hard here....no matter what anyone else thinks this guy in nowhere near 'over-rated'. He deals with a bottom 5-8 payroll every single year and his team has been competitive for a decade +++. My Blue Jays (and half of the other teams in baseball) haven't been to the postseason in YEARS and have far more money to spend. The A's continually have guys like Gray in their system and continue to pick over other organizations' trash heaps and come up with useful players.

In the end I do believe that the A's get in, and Lester pitches them into a series....but I doubt they win the whole deal....but at this point I like the Dodgers to win it all.

[Big Bear]

is it just a slump or are there signs of weakness after trading away cespedes?

shouldn't panic just yet, but even though i admire them and always wished them well as underdogs in past seasons, it seems strange to see them priced as favorites for the world series. i don't think they will win it, even if they deserve it.

Without Cespedes they will struggle vs Left Handed pitching.

That line-up vs Left Handed pitching is weak.

Now most teams have more right handed starters anyway and the A's are awesome against RHP.

John Jaso's health is the key to the world series for the A's.

[2daBank]

also after this season but also for this one. they looked favorites all season for the ws. now, i don't know... this seamed to be their year with their difference between runs scored and allowed. if they don't make it this season might be a while until they have another decent shot at it

their window was closing with the current roster after next year anyway, pretty sure that why they are going for it now.. i just dont think adding a front line proven big time playoff pitcher is hurting their chances to win the ws. cespedes been in middle of the lineup the last 2 years when verlander shut them completely down in gm 5s.. now they have a guy that can go out and do exactly the same thing to opposing teams,,

[Big Bear]

their window was closing with the current roster after next year anyway, pretty sure that why they are going for it now.. i just dont think adding a front line proven big time playoff pitcher is hurting their chances to win the ws. cespedes been in middle of the lineup the last 2 years when verlander shut them completely down in gm 5s.. now they have a guy that can go out and do exactly the same thing to opposing teams,,

true. But Johnny Gomes is a significant downgrade from Cespedes vs LHP.

But yeah now if Sonny Gray and Kazmir get beat in the 1st 2 games of the series they still have hope down 0-2 with Lester on the hill.

[niming]

nice arguments here. you guys know your baseball