Oakland A's - 2020 and Beyond!

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We had three players win a "great glove" award!

Catcher - Sean Murphy
First Baseman - Matt Olson
Third Baseman - Matt Chapman

Also, Sean Murphy and Matt Olson won the AL "platinum stick" award at their respective positions.

Jesus Luzardo won both the AL Rookie of the Year (Sean Murphy finished 3rd in voting) and AL Cy Young Award!!!

Also, Bob Melvin won the AL manager of the year award!

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We have made it up to free agent filings day and changes are ahead!

Roster Moves

Matt Chapman resigned for 1 year at $5.25 million

Justin Wilson resigned for 1 year at $1.2 million with a team option for year 2 at $1.4 million (150k buyout).

Seth Lugo resigned for 1 year at $2.25 million.

Matt Olson was the only player we ended up going to arbitration with and he ended up winning. His salary for 2021 is going to be $6.875 million.

Marcus Semien wanted a long term deal. I was hoping he would accept his qualifying offer, but he didn't.

Traded AA outfielder Chase Calabuig (soon to be 25, 27th round pick in 2018) for 25 year old lefty hitting Nick Gordon from the Twins (5th overall pick in 2014).

I didn't realize he was a soon to be MiLB free agent (probably why they offered him to us), so we added him to our 40 man roster (unfortunately he only has two option years left since IRL he was optioned prior to 2019, I think).

I like his defensive versatility in the infield or (corner) outfield.



Also, check out what a great personality he has.



Our trainer/team doctor retired, so here is our new hire.




Offseason Plan

A lot of times these things don't go as planned, but I'll try to layout what my "intentions" are.

1 - Find a trade to dump the final year of Khris Davis (somehow)

2 - Add some depth for our bullpen (likely through trade). Currently sitting with 6 relievers and 1 AAA starter in our bullpen. A few of the guys we acquired last year will likely need to be rule 5 protected.

3 - Might be the time to trade Stephen Piscotty (if he has any value). He is due to make $7.25 million for 2021 and $7.25 million for 2022 also.

Edit: He doesn't have enough value to warrant a trade.

4 - Figure out the backup OF plan. Dustin Fowler looks like an internal candidate (plus he is out of options). He has a career OPS of .858 in (hitter friendly) AAA.
Or maybe we can find a free agent to fill this void.

Edit: Since Piscotty isn't going anywhere, he might be more of a DH and we might add another corner outfielder.

5 - Our starters are all very inexperienced. I would like to add one (or two) veteran pitchers to help lead the way.

6 - Rule 5 Draft - We will need to figure out who we can't leave exposed, but also we will try to add either a backup batter or reliever (or both).

Edit: As you will see below, not only did we not add, but we lost one pitcher (for the time being)

7 - Keep an eye on the waiver wire for hidden gems.

[WarningTrakPower]

So... we have simmed to the "Winter Meetings" and we have decided to send Khris Davis to the Mets.



I am not a fan of paying someone to pay for another team, but so be it.
We will save over $8 million and it frees up the DH spot on our team.

Paul Sewald did really good in AAA in 2020, so we might hang on to him until after spring and see if he survives inevitable DFA (since he's out of options).

Our only other options would have been to take on another bad contract, and that isn't my style. So long Khris, good luck finding at bats in New York!

[WarningTrakPower]

Unfortunately there was no one available worth a roster spot this time around.

We did end up losing Brandon Waddell to SF, but I have a feeling they will return him to us (hopefully before the end of spring training).

I like Waddell, but he may walk too many and give up too many homers to be a good enough starter. Having another lefty in the bullpen is always nice though.

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We are adding Shun Yamaguchi to our bullpen at very little cost (160k for 2021). The pieces we gave up don't appear to amount to much.



Here is Shun's profile page. I like that his expectation is bullpen, but he could make a spot start if we need.
He is locally popular and has an excellent personality.
He has good "stuff" (10.5 K/9 in 2020) and throws a forkball!



We are at the start of spring training. I will post the updated team before game # 1.

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Here is the trade we are making with the White Sox! They are retaining 100%!!!



We are adding Ender Inciarte to play CF (which moves Ramon Laureano to RF). He is a "Fan Fav" and very popular locally. I hope Bob Melvin considers him for leadoff spot to balance the lineup.



We are also adding a bullpen option in Mychal Givens. He had a bad year in Baltimore last season, but a strong end of the season with Chicago.



Dustin Fowler was out of options and we are going to keep Skye Bolt as our #4 outfielder, so we added him and picked up Blake Rutherford (18th overall in 2016).



I will make a follow-up post to show the opening day roster!

[WarningTrakPower]

Let's start with the preseason AL standings prediction! I think we can certainly surpass this expectation and our goal will be wildcard spot!




Here is the pitchers to start the season.



Here is the batters to start the season.



Austin Allen seems to have decent trade value (and we have a catcher ready in AAA), so he might be a piece we move to add more pitching.

Also, we are going to start with Nick Gordon at SS and see if anyone goes up on trading block to upgrade later on.

Does anyone else see holes in the team to address sooner than later?

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Here is a look at the standings/leaderboards on June 4th, 2021!



Here is how our pitchers have done so far. Shun Yamaguchi has been in the rotation and is doing quite well.



Bob Melvin moved James Kaprielian to the bullpen after 3 poor starts, so we optioned him to AAA and recalled Tyler Zuber (who is now out for the season).



Daulton Jefferies has been out since late April, so we recalled Justin Dunn to take his spot in the rotation.



Also, we lost another rotation option in Grant Holmes for the season.



Here is how our hitters have done so far this season.
We definitely need to fix the middle infield situation.

Sheldon Neuse and Kevin Padlo have both been dominant in AAA, but we have no role on our current roster for these two (at the moment).



Next up is the 2021 Draft!!!

[WarningTrakPower]

In general, I try to find a balance with HS/college pitchers/batters, but this time around we ended up with a lot of high end HS players and more pitchers than batters.

With our first selection (29th overall), we have chosen a HS starter named Christian Little. His bonus demand of $7 million almost scared us off, but at the end of the day we didn't see anyone else we wanted at this spot.



With our second selection (35th overall), we have chosen a HS middle infielder (who can also play OF) named Dorian Gonzalez. His bonus demand around $500k saves us a little bit of budget for other picks.

This pick was received as compensation for the loss of Marcus Semien.



With our second round pick (66th overall), we have chosen a HS two way player named Christian Moore. His bonus demand isn't much higher than the slot amount and he could potentially develop in to a star!



With our third round pick (92nd overall), we have chosen another HS pitcher in John Rizzo. His bonus demand is $1 million ($400k over slot).



With our fourth round pick (118th overall), we have chosen a HS reliever/catcher. I don't know if I have ever saw a combo player like this before and I didn't know who else to pick. His bonus demand lines up with the slot value.



We do not have any more draft budget space, so our fifth round pick was a high end catching prospect (Jayden Melendez) with an absurd bonus demand ($6 million). I just wanted to keep him away from possibly landing with a division rival.

[WarningTrakPower]

After 70 games, here are the batting lines for our middle infielders.

Franklin Barreto - 208 PA - .190/.236/.313/.548 ... OPS+ of 44

Vimael Machin - 75 PA - .221/.293/.353/.646 ... OPS+ of 71

Nick Gordon - 259 PA - .245/.305/.371/.676 ... OPS+ of 79
He had a really good May posting a .794 OPS in 100 PA.

For now, we are going to add a new starting second baseman in Eduardo Escobar. He hasn't played 2B since 2019.
Arizona is retaining 100% of Escobar's 2021 contract.



Mychal Givens had been ok, but he was only being used as a middle reliever for us. OSA was higher on him than our scout was.

Osvaldo Duarte was a MiLB signing by one of our minor league managers. He is 25 and has 1.5 star potential without hitting at any level so far.

Here is a look at Eduardo Escobar's profile page. He is having a bit of a down year with the bat, but I feel that might be affected by him being on the trading block all season so far.



Also, we pick up another pitching option in Corbin Martin. He is currently on a rehab assignment and has two option years remaining.
We will probably end up optioning him to AAA for the time being (that leave him with one option year remaining).

Although his MLB stats have not been good, it is over a very small sample size.

[WarningTrakPower]

I was going to sim ahead to just after the all star break and do a team update, but a few things have happened since we traded for Eduardo Escobar (June 13th).

June 15th - Seth Elledge - Elbow Ligament Reconstruction Surgery - Out for 10 months.
He is a 25 year old 4 star potential reliever we acquired from St. Louis. He pitched in 18 games for us prior to being injured and was having a very successful rookie season.
Recalled James Kaprielian to take his roster spot. In seven starts in AAA, his ERA was 2.63 and his WHIP was 0.93 (.225 BABIP against).

June 25th - Matt Olson - Fractured Foot - Out 3-4 weeks.
Through his first 81 games he is hitting .253/.341/.490/.831, OPS+ 117
Recalled Kevin Padlo to take his roster spot. In 54 games in AAA his OPS was 1.123!!! (.424 BABIP, career .383 in AAA though).

Edit: July 13th - Matt Olson suffered a setback and will now miss an additional 5 weeks.
This certainly changes the way we approach the deadline since he won't return until late August (at best).

July 1st - Andrew Benintendi - Strained Groin - Day to Day for 3-4 weeks (put on IL just in case).
Through 77 games he is hitting .243/.334/.408/.742, OPS+ 96.
Purchased the contract of Blake Rutherford from AAA. In his first 65 games in AAA (of his career) he is hitting .313/.366/.492/.858, OPS+ 113.
Our scout still rates him as only a 1.5 star overall (2.5 star potential), but he has hit at every level so far (and comes with a bit of a pedigree being a former 1st rounder).

Also, we have offered a $5 million signing bonus to Danny Villarreal.
He is older when it comes to international amateurs, and usually I don't even both since they take so long to develop and can be a waste of money, but this good looks legit.
The only negative on his profile is that he won't walk a lot, but he won't strike out either by the looks of it.

He has not signed with us, but we did not leave room for another to outbid us (the best they could do is match).

Edit: We got him!!!

[WarningTrakPower]

Couple of items I wanted to mention.

We had one surprising MLB All Star this season. He also picked up the win for the AL.



Blake Rutherford hit a homerun in his first MLB at bat off of Sean Poppen (MIN).
He was pinch hitting and this has been his only plate appearance so far.

I made an edit to a previous post, but in case you missed it, Matt Olson suffered a setback and will miss an additional 5 weeks.
We will be looking to add a first base option as we approach the deadline.

Eduardo Escobar has been quite good of late (8 game hit streak) after getting off to a poor start. His OPS (with us) is now up over .800.

I would really like to find an "ace" starter to bring in before the deadline, but the only starter we would move out of the rotation is James Kaprielian.
Two starts ago he did give up 4 homers (all solo shots). He has already been optioned this year, but he will be out of options next year.
I think it is more likely we add a middle rotation arm just to have insurance and stash him in AAA (or the bullpen).

Justin Wilson - His stats have been fine, but our scout has him now down to 1.5 star overall. The K/9 are down to below 7 (career just below 10) and the walks are up a bit (albeit small sample).
Generally we try to find bullpen adds around this time of the year, so his time with us may soon be over).

Nick Gordon - Here is his batting line so far after 330 AB's
.270/.317/.397/.714 for an OPS+ of 89
He has a tremendous June (25 games) - .341/.365/.473/.837
His "expectation" is still bench player, so if we can find a SS upgrade we will pull the trigger, but I am glad he has turned his season around.
The only SS we really like on the trading block (currently) is Miguel Rojas, and he's pretty bad since getting traded to Detroit (overall season stats are better, .731 OPS).

Stephen Piscotty - He is having a really poor season (.668 OPS). His role expectation has changed to bench player, so we will certainly be adding a new DH very soon.
We are unfortunately unable to dump him due to his contract ($7.25m next year).

Brady Feigl - His first season in the hitter friendly PCL is off to a great start. In 16 starts, his ERA is under 4 and his HR/9 is below 1. He doesn't have a "high end" profile, but he could be a serviceable 4/5 starter in the future by the looks of things.

There will be another team update once we sim to August 1. This will include a trade recap.

[WarningTrakPower]

Before we started the second half of the season, we decided to scoop a few players off their respective trading blocks.

Here is the first trade we made. If it appears lopsided, well it really is.
Korby Batesole was signed by our manager in high A ball back in April.
He has hit quite well in high A (.796 OPS this year), but he is 25 years old with 1.5 star potential.

Reminder - We are playing in "Challenge Mode", but we totally fleeced the Rays here.



Here is a look at the three prospects we added (who are all 2.5 star potential).

Garrett Whitley is currently the 167th best prospect. He profiles as a lower average, but high on base guy. He has a little speed, but not a great arm in the OF. He was 13th overall in 2015.

Joe Ryan is currently the 169th best prospect. He is an "extreme flyball" pitcher (which doesn't fit my style), but his numbers at every level have been good.
His K/9 for him MiLB career is over 12, so if he doesn't work as a starter, he could be a bullpen option.
Also, he has great control (2.3 BB/9 MiLB career) and features 5 pitches (albeit two are average at best).

They are now our 4th and 5th best prospects.

Austin Franklin has not started since A ball, but since his numbers as a reliever have been quite good, we are going to try him as a starter in AA for the rest of the season.

Here is a look at Ji-Man Choi. He is going to be our first baseman until Matt Olson returns.



Here is a look at Jose Martinez. He is our new DH, replacing Stephen Piscotty.



Also, we made a trade with the Brewers to add a starter.



Here is a look at Brent Suter. He has given up a few too many homers this year, but I could justify paying the asking prices for some of the high end starters (yet).
Also, he has two arb years left, if we chose to keep him beyond 2021.



Anthony Churlin is a former 16th round pick in 2016. He doesn't really have any tools that make me feel like we should hold on to him.
He is only 24, but he has barely made it above high A so far (MiLB career OPS of .691).

[progen]

Hopefully a change of scenery will help Martinez. Really tailed off this year. A .212 BA, ouch!

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Here is the trade we are making with the Giants.



We tried to resign Collin McHugh in the offseason, but didn't want to overpay. We had targeted a different starter, but the ask was too high.
Also, he had a shutout in his last start and only gave up one hit.



Also, we picked up a lefty reliever Sam Selman. He was have a tremendous season with San Francisco. He is on a league minimum contract and won't be eligible for arbitration this offseason.



They were willing take Justin Wilson off our hands and all we had to give otherwise was JJ Schwarz.
He is a former 8th rounder in 2018 who has a good personality, but an unappealing player profile otherwise.

Brent Honeywell Jr. has been optioned to AAA to make room in the rotation. After 21 starts his ERA has gone up over 5, but the underlying numbers look fine.
His problem is giving up too many homers (35 movement, with only 40 potential). He has had 9 starts without giving up a single homer, but he has given up 19 in the other 12 games.

We really wanted to keep him up because this will use his final option year. We will need to make a decision on him next offseason.

We are going to go with this team the rest of the way!

I will make another quick post with player stats at August 1st!

[WarningTrakPower]

Here are the MLB standings/leaderboards on August 1, 2021!

Check out the postseason races in the AL East & Central!!!



Here is how our pitchers are doing. The highlighted row shows how Brent Honeywell Jr. had done in MLB before his demotion.

Daulton Jefferies has been on rehab assignment for an extended period since he got hurt during his first rehab. We will need to call him up in about two weeks (should he stay healthy until then).



Here is how our batters are doing. Andrew Benintendi is on rehab assignment (probably be back up in a week or so). We are using him at DH in AAA to (hopefully) reduce the chances he gets injured.

After a poor April, Nick Gordon has had a really good three months. OPS's of .794 in May, .837 in June and .759 in July.
He's being helped by maybe a higher BABIP, but it's nice to see him putting together a nice rookie season.

Also, progen had a reply in the thread about Jose Martinez. He has not yet found his stroke in Oakland. Only 8 hits in his first 55 plate appearances (with 7 walks).
Bob Melvin wants to use him at 1B vs leftys (to have a righty heavy lineup). He is terrible defensively, but he's the manager. We will see how that goes in August.



Edit - On August 3rd we lost Ji-Man Choi for 4 weeks with a PCL strain. Andrew Benintendi has been recalled from his rehab assignment.

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Jesus Luzardo has torn his rotator cuff and will miss the remainder of 2021 (plus most, if not all, of 2022).

In 2020, he won the AL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young.

It will be interesting to see what his first arbitration contract will be after 2022.



James Kaprielian has been recalled from AAA.

Edit - When it rains, it pours. About two weeks after being recalled, James Kaprielian now has shoulder inflammation and will miss 6-7 months.
Brent Honeywell Jr. has been recalled from AAA. Joe Ryan was also promoted from AAA and got one start when Miguel Romero got injured.

[WarningTrakPower]

We finished with a record of 102-60 for top seed in the American League!!!
No other team in the AL won more than 89 games!



Here are the final regular season pitching stats.
Liam Hendriks led MLB in saves in 2021!
A.J. Puk led the AL in ERA!



Brent Suter tore his rotator cuff in the middle of September and will miss the rest of the season.
He was amazing for us in the 12 starts he did make.



Here are the final regular season batting stats.
Skye Bolt had a great season, but those numbers are inflated by a very high BABIP.

Also, Eduardo Escobar was unbelievable since we picked him up mid June. His OPS in Arizona was .740 after 300ish PA's, but with us his OPS was .919 over 300ish PA's.



We will be facing the Angels in the ALDS after they beat the Astros in the wildcard game!

[WarningTrakPower]

Forgot to include an update on these two players in my last post, so here is the scoop.

Jose Martinez - He was kind of a throw in when we traded for Ji-Man Choi. We needed someone to be the DH since Stephen Piscotty was having a down season.
After the trade, he only had 81 plate appearances in 19 games (18 starts) and was awful, hitting for a .450 OPS (not a typo) with only two extra base hits.
When Matt Olson was ready after his rehab assignment, Martinez was DFA'd and eventually released in early September. He has since resigned to MiLB deal with Tampa.

Stephen Piscotty - I mentioned earlier he was having a "down season", so here is his final stat line. He only played 26 innings in the outfield.
100 games (91 starts), 377 PA's, 16 2B, 9 HR, 39 RBI, .250/.319/.376/.696 OPS, OPS+ of 85, WAR -0.2
April - .723 OPS (23 games) , May - .704 OPS (28 games) , June - .657 OPS (23 games). Removed from DH early in July.
He is being left off our postseason roster. He can't really play anywhere defensively and we have better options at DH (Choi/Padlo).
He is owed $7.25 million for 2020. We almost certainly will have to eat the remainder of that contract and release him in the offseason.

[WarningTrakPower]

We managed to get by the Angels in the ALDS!
Sean Murphy was ALDS MVP!



And we got by Toronto in the ALCS which went the full seven games!
Matt Chapman was ALCS MVP!



Now we are off to the World Series vs a very strong team in Atlanta!

I really like the team they have built, especially their (almost) entirely homegrown starting rotation.

Max Fried was drafted by the Padres, but he only spent 2.5 seasons in the minors after being drafted out of HS.
He won 20 games and had an ERA of 3.62 for a WAR of 3.3.
He is still on 27 and they signed him to a 5 year extension for $37.72 million.

Ian Anderson, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright are all homegrown and on league minimum contracts.
Also, none of them are even arbitration eligible this offseason.

Anderson had 2.90 ERA, 0.7 HR/9, 10.2 K/9 and a WAR of 3.3.
Wilson had a 3.68 ERA, 1.3 BB/9 (best in the NL) and a WAR of 3.6.
Wright had a 4.43 ERA, with good peripheral stats and a WAR of 3.8.

Mike Soroka tore his rotator cuff in April, but then suffered a 15 month setback in June.
In 2020, he had a 1.96 ERA in 15 starts, but then had a partially torn UCL and missed the rest of the season. He still had a 3.4 WAR!

Taylor Guilbeau (who they traded for during offseason prior to 2021) put up a 1.7 WAR season out of the bullpen, without recording a single save.
The guy they traded looks great as far as "ratings" go, but the stats in the upper minors don't reflect them.
In 51 games in MLB this season, his ERA was over 6 (12 K/9 though).

Their batters are the familiar cast of proven MLB players like"

Ozzie Albies led NL in batting average at .349, 27 HR with 29 SB (7.1 WAR)
Ronald Acuna Jr. had an OPS of .856 (career .872) with 29 HR and 35 SB (5.2 WAR).
Freddie Freeman had an OPS of .855 (career .883) with 41 2B and 30 HR (3.9 WAR).
Austin Riley had a breakout season of sorts with a OPS of .923 with 24 HR in only 360 PA's (2.6 WAR).
Marcell Ozuna had an OPS of .880 (career .798) with 27 HR in only 430 PA's (2.5 WAR).

Shea Langeliers went from AA (16 games) to AAA (40 games) and up to MLB (just after super two cutoff I believe, June 25th).
He put up a .871 OPS in 150 PA's (1.3 WAR).
He wasn't even invited to spring training and never was optioned back to minors (so he still has three options remaining).

Also, they signed Marcus Semien this offseason too!
Our old friend had a good season with an OPS of .766 (2.5 WAR).
The contract won't age well though. 6 years for about $60 million, but he's already 31.

For comparisons sake, Nick Gordon (the SS replacement for Semien) had an OPS of .714 (3.2 WAR). Also, he is a much better defender at SS.

Wish us luck as we go for the 2021 World Series title!