I don't know which will be worse this season? The McAfee Coliseum or the team playing their home games there.The Oakland Athletics will be competing with the Texas Rangers for third place in the AL West and it should be a disappointing season similar to a year ago. This team is far removed from the ones that were successful earlier in the decade.
They do have Joe Blanton and Rich Harden leading the pitching staff, but they no longer have Danny Haren, who will be spending the 2008 campaign with the Arizona Diamondbacks. This pitching staff is a far cry from the days of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder.
The offense isn't much to brag about either. I thought the team should have held on to Nick Swisher, but maybe the three prospects they got for him will help this team in the long run. The offense for this team look like it might be one of the worst in baseball. When Eric Chavez is one of your best hitters, you might be in for a long season. Maybe their pitching will keep them in the hunt for a little while, but I really could see this team finishing 15 games back. Jack Cust had a great rookie season, but was also named in the Mitchell Report. This might affect him and I wouldn't be suprised if he has a down year.
The team also signed former Red Sox closer Keith Foulke, which I haven't quite understood yet, but we'll see if it works out. Foulke has not been the same pitcher since he threw the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz to win the World Series. His career has gone downhill since then, but it looks like he's been given another chance with the Athletics.
Moneyball worked from 2000-2003, but it's not going to be the solution this season. Billy Beane has to go out and spend some money for this team to compete in the near future. Maybe the prospects from the Swisher trade will amount to something, but you can't really count on that. Baseball is in the era of not only steroids, but of free agency. Oakland has to start getting involved financially if they want to compete in the near future.
Back to my original thought. Which will be worse? The stadium or the team. I'm leaning towards the "beautiful" McAfee Stadium, which will only be around a few more years. Once the new stadium is completed, the team will be relocated to Fremont. Even though the team name would stay the same, maybe a new location will benefit in some way. Anything is better than what we'll see in 2008.
Shawn Marosek
1 comment:
Not putting your predicted record at the end of the posts?
But the A's tend to survive and do well no matter what happens to their team. However, I agree, I think they finish 3rd in the AL West with about 75 wins.
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