2014 Oakland Athletics Thread

Well, that's one way to get the second half started!

Just got back from the game. So f**kin awesome and I'm a giants fan. My buddy danced his way onto the big screen

Originally posted by captveg:
Well, that's one way to get the second half started!

Absolute poetic justice...just as it looked like friggin Machado was going to be the hero, Donaldson walks it off...and with as bad as he's been, I honestly was just hoping for a K and not a DP. So maybe that means everything has come full circle and the curse is broken.

And even though Angels won, at least it pushed the Mariners another game back, don't need them guys thinking they have a shot or anything. A little worried Angels picked up Street from the Pods, gives them a legit closer.

Originally posted by YungAce:
Just got back from the game. So f**kin awesome and I'm a giants fan. My buddy danced his way onto the big screen

C'mon you can do it, become an A's fan, you're allowed to root for both...they're a fun team to watch.

See if the Cubs will take Hammel back, then bring Milone back up.

This seems like the appropriate place to put this. Ray Fosse absolutely blows as a broadcaster. He has been doing this too long to be this inept. All announcers a homers, but this dude is so over the top it is sickening. He overstates the obvious, and goes on rambling tangents that really have no bearing on the current game action. I cannot believe he has lasted as long as he has. Must have compromising photos of someone with decision making power.

I listen to certain plays for almost every game with the opposite broadcasters, and Fosse's honestly pretty middle-of-the-pack, with very little being much better. He has his negative tendencies, but so does everyone else as far as I can tell. And, yeah, he can be homer, but not to the degree where he fails to acknowledge when the A's caught an unfair break or when an opposing player made a good smart play that cost the A's.

And having Shooty in the booth for multiple games makes Ray a far better commentator by comparison.

Don't think Fosse is terrible, but also not a huge fan like I am of a local old-timer such as Jim Barnett. That said, the fill-in "audition" guys the past couple years, Scott Hatteberg and Shooty Babbit aren't very good at all. I wouldn't mind seeing them give Dallas Braden a shot...he's young so he knows the game/players as it is today, he's got good knowledge and he's not afraid to give an opinion. I think he's an analyst on ESPN but I hear him on 95.7 all the time, actually look forward to his segments.

A's "offense" shut down yet again...except for the 10-runs vs Orioles on Saturday, they've been in a rut of consistently having trouble scoring more than just a few runs. They're still in the midst of a major power outage, hard to believe this is the same team that hit HRs in something like 13-14 straight games just a few weeks back.

A month ago I thought it was a lock A's would end up with 3 players with 30/100, maybe even 35+ HRs. Moss and JD might get 30/100 which is cool, but don't think Cespedes will...he hasn't gone deep in over a month, and besides the HRs just a total lack of power, slugging .177 in July and only 3 RBI.

And even though Moss and JD haven't been as awful as Cespedes this month, they've still been pretty bad. Reddick is back from trip number whatever to DL, so we can look forward to him contributing absolutely nothing at the plate. Wish I was more optimistic, but unless they start hitting and scoring like they did up through June, then barring a major collapse by the Angels don't see the A's holding them off.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

A's "offense" shut down yet again...except for the 10-runs vs Orioles on Saturday, they've been in a rut of consistently having trouble scoring more than just a few runs. They're still in the midst of a major power outage, hard to believe this is the same team that hit HRs in something like 13-14 straight games just a few weeks back.

A month ago I thought it was a lock A's would end up with 3 players with 30/100, maybe even 35+ HRs. Moss and JD might get 30/100 which is cool, but don't think Cespedes will...he hasn't gone deep in over a month, and besides the HRs just a total lack of power, slugging .177 in July and only 3 RBI.

And even though Moss and JD haven't been as awful as Cespedes this month, they've still been pretty bad. Reddick is back from trip number whatever to DL, so we can look forward to him contributing absolutely nothing at the plate. Wish I was more optimistic, but unless they start hitting and scoring like they did up through June, then barring a major collapse by the Angels don't see the A's holding them off.

I'm going to preface this with I'm a giants fan but.... Consistency will be the A's biggest issue the rest of the season and come playoff time. The A's are built for the long ball and not situational hitting. When the A's hitters are hot there is no other offense I would rather have top to bottom. They can all hit the long ball. But come playoff time when the pressure is on and they face tougher pitching... they need to manufacture more runs. With the speed of coco & gentry they should be stealing, hit & run, sacrificing to get these guys in scoring position. Just my 2 cents.

Jim Johnson.....

The bad mojo for JJ is at epic levels at this point. EPIC. LEVELS. He can't even make you feel secure in the 8th inning with a 7-run lead. Melvin has to be telling Beane that he'll never play him again, which means the A's have a 24-man roster for now until he gets shipped away for peanuts / cut outright.

What is even more frustrating is that this should have happened IN FREAKING MAY. Bring Milone back up, make him the 5th starter, and put Chavez back to to long relief. Then if Hammel continues to struggle a bit you just slot Chavez back in. Or bring up freakin' Scribner, for the love of all that is holy.

BUT NEVER LET JOHNSON PITCH AGAIN IN AN A'S UNIFORM. I mean, even he must be begging for a change of scenery at this point. Oakland has been an utter nightmare for him and the fans.

Johnson being DFA'd with Scribner being called up. THANK THE MAKER

For Johnson's sake I hope he catches on with a club, regains his form and doesn't hurt the A's in the future. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the combo of bad pitching + bad luck = disaster season in Oakland for him, and at this point even he has to be relieved to seek out a fresh start elsewhere.

Originally posted by captveg:
Johnson being DFA'd with Scribner being called up. THANK THE MAKER

For Johnson's sake I hope he catches on with a club, regains his form and doesn't hurt the A's in the future. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the combo of bad pitching + bad luck = disaster season in Oakland for him, and at this point even he has to be relieved to seek out a fresh start elsewhere.

Who knows, he could end up back in Baltimore...don't hate him, just want him gone, he can dab his tears with $100 bills. But I was totally with the idea of bringing back Milone and putting Chavez in the BP, that's what I was hoping for as soon as they sent Milone down, but instead they called up Scribner. Don't agree with it, but guess it's testament to the A's depth and maybe it does work out for the best.

And everyone can thank me for the reverse-jinx...A's put up big numbers, the Big 3 got hot, and even Reddick swinging the bat very well. But it is the Astros, so I'm not going to get too giddy.

"From a strictly economic perspective, not offering Beane however much money it took to get him may have been one of the Red Sox's poorest decisions since letting Babe Ruth go to the Yankees for next to nothing. And I mean that literally: Over the past 15 years, Billy Beane has been nothing less than the Babe Ruth of baseball GMs. The Red Sox offered Beane $2.5 million per year, but even $25 million would have been a bargain."
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/billion-dollar-billy-beane/

So what did Morris find? Since the start of this millennium, the Athletics have won 180 more games than we would expect, given their payroll. Then, using various estimates pertaining to the price of a win, Morris suggests that the A's have exceeded expectations by $1.38 billion. The next-best team, the Dodgers, comes in at $702 million. On the other end of the spectrum, the Royals have under-performed expectations by nearly $800 million. If statistical wizardry is your bag, then the column is certainly worth your time.
http://m.nbcsports.com/content/according-five-thirty-eight-billy-beane%E2%80%99s-a%E2%80%99s-have-exceeded-expectations-nearly-138-billion