Oakland Athletics: All-Decade Team for the 2010s
Starting Rotation
The Oakland A’s have seen several impressive pitchers come and go over the last ten seasons.
While some of the names on this list might have fans questioning what might have been, the rotation demonstrates how capable the A’s were at identifying pitching talent.
Sonny Gray
Though Sonny Gray had a rough go of it in his final year with the Oakland A’s — and an even tougher time in pinstripes with the New York Yankees — fans are beginning to catch glimpses of his talent once again with the Cincinnati Reds.
For A’s fans, this shouldn’t be all that surprising.
Gray was one of the most dominant pitchers that the Oakland Athletics have seen since the days of the much-ballyhooed Big Three of Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson.
In five seasons with the team, Gray accumulated an 11.2 WAR, received an All-Star nod, and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting after posting a 2.73 ERA in his age 25 season.
It was another tough pill to swallow when the A’s decided to deal Gray to the Yankees for a trio of prospects — but we may finally be seeing some of those names make an impact in the bigs this season.
Sean Manaea
The A’s struck gold when they traded a handful of months of Ben Zobrist for Sean Manaea.
It may be an example of the rare win-win for both teams, but Manaea has proven to be the real deal. In just four seasons, he’s posted a cumulative 8.7 WAR — good for second-highest among A’s pitchers this decade.
The highlight of Manaea’s 2010s was easily his no-hitter thrown two seasons ago.
At the time, the A’s were a team with few expectations, With the hard-hitting Red Sox offense rolling into town, it looked like a preview of the rest of the season might be in order.
Instead, Manaea tossed nine innings of sensational pitching. He muted the Red Sox offense and, indirectly, inspired the A’s to begin one of their many miraculous turnarounds for the decade.
Headed into 2020, Sean Manaea could be poised to enter his prime as a starter.
Bartolo Colon
Though he pitched just two seasons with the Oakland A’s in the 2010s, both of his seasons were impressive.
The journeyman Bartolo Colon — who has since garnered league-wide adoration for his hitting approach — served as one of the many veteran pitching experiments that the A’s took on in the early part of the decade.
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He was one of the success stories.
He was selected as an all-star and finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting. And, beyond that, he proved that he could reinvent himself by tempting hitters with a selection of fastballs with slight speed variation.
‘Big Sexy’ is now in his mid-40’s, but he’s still chasing the dream of pitching in the majors again next season.
Gio Gonzalez
Before Sonny Gray, Gio Gonzalez was the highly anticipated arm coming up in the system.
It was obvious from the lower levels that Gonzalez had big-league stuff — and a variety of pitches to work into his repertoire. The only thing that held him back in the early years was his command.
But when he found his command, everything changed.
Gio received all-star consideration along with plenty of interest from other teams in the league looking to swoop him up from the Oakland A’s.
Fans were sad to see Gio head to the Washington Nationals, but the A’s were keen on selling their asset at his absolute peak value.
Trevor Cahill
An interesting addition to the list, Trevor Cahill pitched three seasons with the Oakland A’s in the 2010s with a very long gap in between.
His resume as a whole isn’t bad — an 8.0 WAR, an All-Star appearance, and a top-10 finish in Cy Young Award voting.
Of course, the Trevor Cahill who entered the decade was much different from the one who pitched at the end of it.
While the luster of his prospect value had dimmed, his leadership in a young A’s clubhouse in 2018 was essential in having the Oakland A’s make a serious push for the Wild Card down the stretch.
Honorable Mentions: Brett Anderson, Jarrod Parker, Scott Kazmir