Oakland Athletics: Offseason AL West Power Rankings

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Rank #3: The Oakland Athletics

Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher

Jon Lester

(31) is relieved by manager

Bob Melvin

(6) during the eighth inning of the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The A’s rank third because, even though the team has been completely overhauled, the acquisitions of Butler, Zobrist and Tyler Clippard do give Oakland somewhat of an advantage over other the other teams in the division. The A’s also still have a solid set of starting pitchers to choose from, in Sonny Gray, A.J. Griffin, Jarrod Parker, Scott Kazmir, Drew Pomeranz, and Jesse Chavez.

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The Oakland bullpen also has not changed much, and despite losing Gregerson, the A’s still have a solid line-up in Evan Scribner, Dan Otero, Eric O’Flaherty, Fernando Abad, Ryan Cook, Eury De Le Rosa, and Sean Doolittle. Oakland’s pitching might be top-notch, but none of it will matter if the offense cannot generate enough run support for their pitchers.

The A’s offensive power has gone down tremendously after trading away All-Stars Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, and Derek Norris. These All-stars have all been replaced with minor-league prospects who, for the majority of them, are not major league-ready.

However, two of the prospects, Marcus Semien and Josh Phegley are major league-ready and could potentially fill the holes at catcher and short stop. The A’s also got Butler, Zobrist and Brett Lawrie this offseason, who are all seasoned veterans of the game. A potential lineup for Oakland this year looks like this:

August 22, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher

Derek Norris

(36, left) and starting pitcher

Sonny Gray

(54) talk after the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at O.co Coliseum. The Athletics defeated the Angels 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

1) Coco Crisp (CF, avg: .246)

2) Lawrie (3B, avg: .247)

3) Zobrist (2B, avg: .272)

4) Butler (DH, avg: .271)

5) Stephen Vogt (1B, avg: .279)

6) Craig Gentry (LF, avg: .254)

7) Josh Reddick (RF, avg: .264)

8) Semien (SS, avg: .240)

9) Phegley (C, avg: .216)

However, this lineup may not be the strongest lineup the A’s have. They could play Sam Fuld in left and Eric Sogard at shortstop as well. Maybe fans just need to give Lawrie and Semien a chance, as they could work out nicely. Or they could be total train wrecks, who knows?

Last season with Toronto, Lawrie hit .247, with 12 home runs, 38 RBI’s and a .301 OBP. While his home run and RBI numbers are significantly lower than Donaldson, he had a batting average that was similar and got on base just as much.

Semien, in his major league career, has hit .240, with eight home runs, 35 RBI’s and a .293 OBP. These numbers may not be overly impressive, but in the minors, Semien had a .272 batting average, .374 OBP and a .465 slugging percentage. Overall, Semien has 51 home runs, 98 doubles, and 16 triples to go with his 203 RBI’s in the minor leagues. Also, the fact that Billy Beane chose to trade Escobar to the Nationals, after just receiving him in a trade, shows how much confidence the A’s have in Semien.

The main reason Oakland is number three is because their pitching can help them get through those 3-2, 2-1 and 2-0 games. Also, the team chemistry will take some time develop, as it does with any team that has a major roster shake-up. Lastly, even though the A’s lineup may not appear to be as bad as it sounds, there is still that chance that the A’s have too many inexperienced players, and not enough offensive spark, like they had at the end of the 2014 season.

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