Athletics Record This Season? - CBSSports.com Message Boards

Athletics Record This Season? -
BarlowBrad Reputation:99 Level:Superstar Since:Mar 27, 2007
	February 20, 2008 4:25 am Score: 90
	So I've read more than a few columns over the past couple months that say the Athletics are a 100 loss team this season. What is your honest opinion of the A's chances this year? Personally, I don't think they are all that bad. As sad as I was to see guys like Nick Swisher and Dan Haren go, I'm kinda excited to see how well the prospects we got will actually perform. If everyone were to reach their potential this season and we had no injuries this season, I think the A's could challenge in the West. Unfortunately, we live in a real world and the chances of that happening are about the same as me winning the lottery. I think a realistic prediction for the A's would be to fall in the 70 win category, just under .500. Obviously, not everyone is going to max their potential and there will be injuries and such, but there's definitely talent there. I'm stoked to see Daric Barton get a full season at 1B, and hope that at least two or three of the prospects we picked up this offseason make it to the majors. Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Sweeney and Dana Eveland could all conceivably end up in the Majors. I'm also excited to see if Chris Denorfia can come back from Tommy John surgery, if he can, I expect big things from him. Of course... if everyone does flop and we see yet another year that Rich Harden is out, another freak accident that sidelines Bobby Crosby or the injury curse hits the entire team again... it could be a long, 100 loss season... but that seems almost as unlikely to me as a 100 win season. Perhaps this year sees the return of their former slogan, "They're young, but they can play." Side note: Anyone else think Beane and Co. are targeting 2011 to be their "breakout" season where they challenge for the World Series? When they (hopefully) have moved to Cisco Field? Obviously with all young talent they have now they could bloom even sooner, but certainly by 2011 we'll be back in it... right?
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Athletics Record This Season? -
Isaiah4110 Reputation:99 Level:Superstar Since:Aug 18, 2006
	February 20, 2008 6:50 pm Score: 90
	What were people predicting we would do back in 2000? I mean, come on. Rich Becker was our lead off hitter and starting CF on opening day? Seriously. Take a look at the opening day lineups from 2000-2004. You would not have picked those teams to do anything. Yet where did our records end up? From 2000-2004 progressively: 91-70, 102-60, 103-59, 96-66, 91-71. Check out this lineup: <table width="201" height="210" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" class="primaryBg"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="9"> </td> <td width="186"> <table width="212" height="206" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#999999" style="padding: 2px;"> <td class="white" colspan="3"> 2000</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> </td> <td> Name</td> <td> Pos.</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 1.</td> <td> Rich Becker</td> <td> CF</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 2.</td> <td> Miguel Tejada</td> <td> SS</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 3.</td> <td> Jason Giambi</td> <td> 1B</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 4.</td> <td> John Jaha</td> <td> DH</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 5.</td> <td> Matt Stairs</td> <td> RF</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 6.</td> <td> Ben Grieve</td> <td> LF</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 7.</td> <td> Ramon Hernandez</td> <td> C</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 8.</td> <td> Eric Chavez</td> <td> 3B</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> 9.</td> <td> Frank Menechino</td> <td> 2B</td> </tr> <tr style="padding: 2px;" class="textHistory2"> <td> </td> <td> Kevin Appier</td> <td> P</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Now look at that, remember where the players were in their careers, and tell me you would expect 91 wins from that team at that time. Come on, these are the pitchers who made starts for us over the course of the season with how many starts they made in parenthesis: Gil Heredia (32), Tim Hudson (32), Kevin Appier (31), Mark Mulder (27), Omar Olivares (16), Barry Zito (14), Ariel Prieto (6), Ron Mahay (2), and Marcus Jones (1). Of those pitchers, only the first 6 were full time starters for at least half the season it would seem. The only one of those pitchers who had an ERA under 4.12 was Zito with his 2.72. We WON the AL West that year. Tejada had put up a .251 average with 21 HRs in the previous season, his best at that point. Chavez had a .247 average with 13 HRs in 356 ABs the previous year. We had 2 hitters with averages over .279 that season, Jason Giambi at .333, and Terrance Long at .288. Jeff Tam was our best reliever with a 2.63 ERA over 85.2 IP. Jason Isringhausen was our closer with a 3.78 ERA and 33 saves in 40 chances. That was his first good year and first year as a full time closer. Ramon Hernandez was catching full time for his first season. Basically no one would have expected anything out of us that year before the season started. How is that any different from this season? Honestly, I think that we have better pitching this season. Yes, competition is probably a little stiffer in the AL West this season than it was in 2000. I'm not saying we are going to win 91 games and finish on top in the AL West this year. But I do think we have a better team this season than we did then. Offense I would call very close to even, it could go either way, but pitching we win hands down this year. If you look at the other teams on paper at the start of 2000 though I don't think you would have predicted us coming close to winning. People probably would have said "in a year or two" that year. We had a lot of youth. If half of the "if's" go our way this year (young potential, injury worries, etc.) I'd say we'll be over .500 easy. If health goes the way it is looking right now (Eric Chavez fully recovered, Rich Harden 100%, Bobby Crosby 100%, etc.) then we can compete. We are DEFINITELY a long shot when it comes to winning the division or WC spot this year. Weren't the 2000 Oakland A's the same? I think ~85 wins is most likely for us this year if we don't get eaten alive by the injury monster again. I would say, taking into account the if's going either way, we are most likely to fall in the 75-95 win range this year. That would be the center lump of our bell curve graph in my estimation.
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Athletics Record This Season? -
panther3321 Reputation:99 Level:Superstar Since:Aug 28, 2006
	February 23, 2008 2:13 am Score: 96
	In a season of 162 games per year it is near impossible to guess a teams record. Instead, I will say that I think we will be lucky to stay out of the AL-West cellar this year. And in response to the post about previous lineups and our records, you are forgetting the pitching. We have always had an excellent pitching staff to anchor our team. This year we have Blanton (a guy who will max out as a 2nd pitcher on a decent staff), Harden (the ever-injured), and a bunch of newcomers. Overall, I will root for this team like I have in past years, but I am not confident at all that we will finish outside of 4th place in our own division.
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