2012 MLB Handicapping: Oakland Athletics
Last season the A’s finished the season 14 games under .500 and they ranked dead last in the league in attendance. Do the A’s have any chance to win back their fans? Hard to say and while there are a lot of question marks on offense Oakland does have a legit pitching staff.
Here are some futures odds for the A’s this season.
Odds to win the World Series +7500
Odds win the AL Pennant +5000
Odds to win the AL West +3000
How will the A’s fare this season? Let’s take a look.
The A’s ranked 20th in the league in runs scored last season and they made a big splash in the off-season signing Yoenis Cespedes from Cuba. He has solid tools and has a lot of power, but has never played at the Big League level. Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks have the speed, but Crisp needs to hit better than he did last season. Weeks hit over .300 last season and he was the only Oakland player that hit above .265.
They will need Cespedes to produce right away and the team is hoping that Manny Ramirez still has some gas left in his task. However, he will have to sit out the first 50 games of the season after his suspension for PED’s. Cespedes and Brandon Allen have the potential, but they have to get it done on the field. Josh Willingham led the team in HR and RBI last season, but left for Minnesota and he will be missed. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
One bright spot for the A’s last season was their pitching staff, which ranked 10th in the Majors in team ERA. However, starters Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez are now gone and Dallas Braden will have to step up and be the #1 starter. Bartolo Colon is a wild card, but he has pitched well in the past couple of seasons.
Jarrod Parker and Brad Peacock are the 2 unproven starters and these guys have a lot of pressure on them. They both have talent, but if they struggle the A’s may be in big trouble with the lack of offense they have.
The bullpen was solid, but not outstanding, for Oakland last season and most of the guys are back. However, the one guy they did lose was closer Andrew Bailey, who was traded to the Red Sox. Grant Balfour or Brian Fuentes may be the new closer, but one intriguing player is Fautino De Los Santos, who had 43 strikeouts in just 33.1 innings of work. He has the gas, but has to master his control. If he can do that the A’s may have a solid young closer for some years.
Projection: Like the last several seasons the A’s have young talent, but not enough of it overall to compete. I think they will be, pretty much, like last season, as their pitching will be solid, but their offense will struggle to score runs.
Projected win total: 73-89
