A blowup would be a most inadequate way to describe general manager Billy Beane’s remake of the Oakland A’s roster during the offseason. A nuking would not even do it justice.
Yet, there is a sense that Beane will once again confound his many critics and have the last laugh. After all, no general manager has been more derided and defamed than Beane, although probably no general manager in the game has done more with less. Beane has been unrivaled in his creative solutions to what would appear to be impossible problems to others. Part of the A’s nuclear winter was Beane’s perpetual effort of staying one move ahead of father time and a player’s decline.
In that, the offseason was a resounding success.
The Morning After
The nuclear fallout of the A’s offseason includes the departures of such key assets as Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija, Jed Lowrie, and Derek Norris.
Perhaps Beane was infuriated with the A’s decline that began last July when he traded Yeonis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox with Oakland comfortably in front of the American League West. Since that trade, the A’s have been in rapid decline, backing into the American League Wild Card playoff, where they blew a four-run eighth inning lead in a crushing loss to the Kansas City Royals.
Beane won’t say it but he has not seemed to be in a forgiving mood since that defeat. And while Beane may not have been forgiving to his team for the loss, he may also be privately unforgiving to the man in his mirror that gambled and lost on the Cespedes trade. It was as if the offseason was a perpetual tirade of transactions.
New Look A’s
Sonny Gray is now the apparent number one starter. The 25 year old out of Vanderbilt had an impressive rookie debut with a 14-10 record and a 3.08 earned run average. Lefty Scott Kazmir won 15 games in his first season for the A’s and will be the number two starter after signing a $22 million deal. From there, however, the starting rotation is full of questions with such names as Jesse Chavez, Drew Pomeranz, John Hahn, Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, and Sean Nolin in the mix as candidates.
The bullpen was the one area of off-season stability as closer Sean Doolittle returns after an impressive season in which he set the A’s record for saves by a left hander. Doolittle failed to close that Kansas City loss but remains trusted by Beane and manager Bob Melvin. Tyler Clippard arrives from Washington to replace setup man Luke Gregerson.
Second baseman Ben Zobrist is expected to pair with shortstop Marcus Semien for a new middle infield. Third baseman Brett Lawrie and first baseman Ike Davis have large shoes to fill in the corners as they replace Donaldson and Moss.
The outfield is a big question with Sam Fuld, Craig Gentry, and the injury plagued tandem of Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick.
Catcher is another question mark as the A’s once deep corps has been depleted. Geovany Soto and Josh Phegley will get looks as Stephen Vogt might return from the outfield where he was sent after hurting his foot.
Billy Butler’s big contract and declining numbers arrive from Kansas City for the designated hitter role.
In Defense of Beane
Beane runs a team that plays in the worst dumpster of a ballpark in all of sports. The A’s are one of the lowest revenue teams in the game. This forces Beane to sell high and buy low and he has had remarkable success. The A’s have made the playoffs eight times since 2000 which is a record that any other general manager would be hard pressed to equal, considering Beane’s circumstances.
Much like hockey, baseball has a rather insular culture that is resistant to change and new ideas. This has made Beane an outcast that is often resented for the credit that he gets. Beane continually has to make lemons out of lemonade and yet does with remarkable consistency.
While the A’s graded a lot of F’s with the media and fans for their offseason moves, Beane is likely to end up with an A grade and with the last laugh, as always.
