The 2015 Oakland A's Season Preview

It's the same story 13 years later

If you are looking for an example of a rollercoaster season in the world of sports, look no further. The 2014 Oakland A's season started off with so much promise. At one point, the team was the best in form in the league as well as first in the standings. The A's had 7 all star representatives and Billy Beane dreamed big making bold trades acquiring the likes of Lester and Samardzijia. I was so confident about this team that I wrote an article celebrating their success prematurely. Then the team declined. Injuries started to pile up. It took till game 162 to clinch a playoff berth for the Oakland A's. But hey, atleast we are in this thing right? "It doesn't matter how you get into the postseason as long as you get in" was the new mantra for the Oakland A's for the next 2 days. The wild card game was the icing on the cake as it literally exemplified the entire Oakland A's season in one game. Moss started it off with a bang, and then with another bang. The team looked all set to be going into the next round till the 7th inning stretch, then lost a commanding lead, took the lead again in extra innings, only to let it all get blown away thanks to a Salvador Perez walk off hit. As a consequence, the core of the team was completely ripped apart with all the big names walking away or getting traded for "now and the future". Now imagine being a Liverpool fan and a Sharks fan that season as well. Oh, and the San Francisco Giants won another World Series Championship. Great, now I'm all depressed. I think this explains a lot as to why I love country music so much.

But hey its a new year now! I have already gone through the 5 stages of depression and excited for the new season to begin. I miss baseball in general and going to $2 Wednesday games. Pitchers and Catchers have already begun to report and Spring training games are just around the corner. So it's time to focus on the men in Green and Gold and examine what to look forward this year.

The Offense:

New additions Ben Zobrist, Brett Lawrie and Billy Butler

In 2014, the offense of the A's was built around Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson which relied heavily on the long ball. That philosophy simply wont work with the newly assembled team for the upcoming season. This is a team that will rely heavily on getting on base (Insert Moneyball meme here) either by collecting singles and doubles or by being patient at the plate to draw walks. When Donaldson was traded, I was certainly taken aback since it was a wide assumption that the A's would build their offense around him. So how exactly will this lineup be set up?

Josh Reddick

In the outfield, to preserve Coco Crisp's health, Melvin decided to pencil him as the regular left fielder while Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld will share center field duties. Josh Reddick will man right field. The A's also acquired Mark Canha in the Rule 5 draft during the winter meetings, who has been known for his great splits against southpaws and the considerable power numbers he brings to the table (albeit, it was in AAA). He will serve as outfield depth which will be essential since its only a matter of time before Coco or Reddick sustain an injury. To round off the outfield depth chart, Billy Burns might be called up and down depending on how many injuries pile up during the season and will serve as a speedster when needed.

The one player I am extremely excited to see develop is Brett Lawrie, who was the main piece acquired from the Blue Jays in exchange for Donaldson. It sounds cliche, but maybe a new surrounding is what he needs to live up to his expectations set when he was considered to be a top prospect. Also, not playing in the Toronto artificial turf would surely help with his health one would think. Lawrie, as expected will man up 3B as Billy Buter and Ike Davis will split time at 1B. Billy Butler, who was signed to a 3 year $30 million contract will see his fair share of time at DH while platooning at 1B with Ike Davis, who was acquired from waivers. Ike Davis did have a 32 HR season with the Mets couple of seasons ago, but whether he can recapture that form again is anyone's guess. Billy Butler is an intriguing chip, since he has had a solid track record of being a guy who can hit for average and drive in runs, and is only 28 years of age. The middle infield will probably constantly change on a day to day basis, but its widely assumed that Eric Sogard, Marcus Seimen and Ben Zobrist will be manning up these spots for the team. Seimen and Zobrist are quite versatile, and can certainly contribute to the A's offense. Its been quite a while since the A's have had a productive middle infield as far as scoring runs, and that is certainly nice to see (excluding Sogard of course). Seimen was also a former top prospect, and Zobrist has always had a solid track record of being a guy who hits for average and scores plenty of runs in the 2nd spot in the batting order.

Can Ike Davis recapture his 2012 form?

The offseason saw Derek Norris and John Jaso being dealt, and as a result, the catching depth that was once abundant in Oakland now is led by Stephen Vogt (which isn't bad at all). However, the player at catcher that I am excited to see is the main piece acquired in the Jeff Samardzija trade, Josh Phegley. He showed flashes of power with the White Sox last year and given a whole year to prove his worth, might just be the right fit for the team. Overall, the great thing about this newly assembled team is that a lot of the players are versatile as far as defense goes, which opens up spots for a lot of guys that are penciled in as bench players to start off the year down in the depth chart. Here is my starting lineup for opening day:

Coco Crisp LF
Ben Zobrist 2B
Brett Lawrie 3B
Billy Butler DH
Stephen Vogt C
Ike Davis 1B
Josh Reddick RF
Marcus Seimen SS
Craig Gentry CF

Starting Pitching:

Scott Kazmir, Sonny Gray, Drew Pomeranz and Barry Zito

The A's have always thrived in having depth in pitching, and the 2015 season is no exception to that. Sonny Gray, who started the 2014 season as the team's ace, will once again be the opening day starter for the Oakland A's after the short stints of Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester. Scott Kazmir will probably be penciled in for the 2nd spot in the rotation and its safe to assume Drew Pomeranz will be the 3rd starter for the team. Sonny Gray is bonafide, Kazmir started to struggle a little bit in the 2nd half of the season but was still solid, and Drew Pomeranz was doing great till he fractured his hand in frustration (yes, that really happened). Now the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation is where it gets interesting as the A's have a flurry of pitchers that will compete to fill up those spots. Jesse Hahn, Sean Nolin, Jesse Chavez, Kendel Gravemen, Chris Bassit and Chad Smith are the starters who are challenging to grab those spots in Spring training. And who could forget about Barry Zito, who came out of retirement and signed a minor league contract for the team he started his baseball career with. Jarrod Parker and AJ Griffin are also recovering from Tommy John Surgery (for Parker his 2nd TJ surgery), and will probably compete for a rotation spot in the 2nd half of the season. Who gets sent down or stays as a long reviler is anyone's guess, but here's my starting rotation for opening day:

Sonny Gray
Scott Kazmir
Drew Pomeranz
Jesse Hahn
Kendall Graveman

Relief Pitching:

Tyler Clippard and Sean Doolittle

While a lot of roster moves and changes were made during the offseason, the one department that stayed more or less the same was the bullpen for the A's. Nothing new needs to be said here for the most part. Fernando Abad will serve as a leftie specalist as Ryan Cook, Dan Otero and Evan Scribner will work as set up men. There were 2 additions in the bullpen which will certainly be intriguing to watch. Eury De la Rosa was traded from the Dbacks for cash considerations, and while he did have a 4.24 ERA last season, his skillset and his velocity on the fastball seems promising. Not to mention hes only 25 years old. The big chip however, is Tyler Clippard, who was dealt for Yunel Escobar from the Washington Nationals. Having an excellent track record in the majors and having experience as a closer for the Nats before, he is the ideal guy to pitch in the 8th inning or even take over the closers role if Doolittle struggles during the season or suffers an injury. And speaking of Doolittle, he will start off the season in the DL, but will probably work his way back to round off the bullpen for the A's and be the 9th inning man for the team.

The GM and Coaches:

Thankfully, Billy Beane is still the GM of this team and just seems to find new ways to revamp this franchise to stay competitive on a yearly basis. After suffering a playoff drought from 2006 to 2012, its probably safe to say he does not want to endure that torture yet again. When asked about the crazy amount of wheelings and dealings done this offseason and whether this team was trying to just go into a rebuilding mode, Beane stated that the idea was not to tank the next 5 seasons like the Astros. Instead, it was to restructure this team and try to keep it as competitive as possible while also addressing minor league depth and payroll flexibility.

From the coaching standpoint, there were a couple of notable departures as long time A's hitting coach Chili Davis joined the Boston Red Sox and Chip Hale became the new head coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bob Melvin will remain as the head coach for the team as Mike Gallego will remain as the 3rd base coach for the upcoming season.

Prospects:

I'm not Keith Law when it comes to minor league scouting, but there were a couple of minor leaguers that the A's acquired in the offseason that I wanted to address. The first one was Franklin Barreto, an 18 year old Shortstop from Venezuela who was acquired in the Josh Donaldson trade. Barreto was Baseball America's top ranked international prospect in 2012 and is known for his defensive capabilities as well as having the upside of being a 5 tool player. The other prospect that I wanted to talk about was Joe Wendle, who was acquired for Brandon Moss from the Cleveland Indians. 

Joe Wendle

Wendle, a 2nd baseman, isn't as coveted or flashy as Barreto, and was never rated highly in any minor league scouting reports in the baseball world, which left many people scratching their heads when he was the only player the A's got back in return for Moss. Wendle was injured for most of the 2014 season in AA, but some scouts say that he has the skillset to "develop into a player like Jacoby Ellsbury and contribute to the top of the lineup for any organization in the majors". Ultimately, the Moss and Donaldson trades could be viewed as salary dumps at worst, or trades that made the A's roster more flexible payroll wise and added back some minor league depth that was completely depleted at best.

Expectations:

For the 2015 season, the one good thing going for the A's is that no one will take them seriously as division contenders entering into the new season. That's surely something to be happy about since this team thrives being an underdog rather than being the team that everyone tips to win the division (like it was widely assumed last season). I personally see this team as one that has the tools to contend for a wild card berth, but probably not one that can win the division. The Angels are not going to fade away and the Mariners have bolstered their roster after almost knocking off the A's from the wild card berth last season, so winning the division seems like an afterthought . Ultimately, I think 2015 will be an entertaining, if not a successful season for the Oakland A's.

Prediction:

The AL West looks to be quite competitive in 2015

AL West:

1) Seattle Mariners
2) Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim
3) Oakland Athletics
4) Houston Astros (with their expensive bullpen combining for 40 saves)
5) Texas Rangers

Wild Card:

1) Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim
2) Toronto Blue Jays
3) Oakland A's

  

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About Aditya Sriwasth

Aditya is the Founder, President, and Publisher of SportsKop. His favorite sports teams are the Oakland Athletics, San Jose Sharks, San Francisco 49ers, and most importantly, Liverpool FC. He is a student of the game, who has mastered the rules of the sports he covers, and brings passion, humor, and a fan’s perspective to the writing he contributes. He never really fared too well as a baseball player and therefore called it quits and decided to just mumble about sports. He's fat and obsessed with Steven Gerrard and Bryce Harper, and also has a massive celebrity crush on Kate Upton.

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