Oakland Athletics

The Oakland A's are the next step in the evolution of the DH-dominated American League: a fast pitch softball team.  Every hitter either mashes the ball or takes the walk.  Defense is what you hit the ball over.  That's not to say they can't win with this philosophy.  It just won't be traditional baseball.  The icon of this A's team is OF/DH Matt Stairs, professional hitter.  He draws walks and swings from the heels in case he hits the ball.  The result is a lot of strikeouts and a mediocre batting average, but a good on base and slugging percentage.  Other adherents to the Stairs way are 1B/ DH Jason Giambi, 3B Eric Chavez, C Ramon Hernandez, OF Ben Grieve and DH John Jaha.  Shortstop Miguel Tejada is quickly developing similar skills.  With the exception of Stairs and Jaha, this team is very young and should continue to develop.  Second baseman Randy Velarde is the elder statesman of the infield and has adapted his game to the sabermetrically popular style of offense, although he still steals bases.  Ryan Christiansen and prospect Terrence Long provide the only other source of speed on this team.  The A's offensive philosophy is successful, because like Whitey Herzog said of speed, plate discipline never slumps.  Jeremy Giambi, Jason's younger brother and his offensive clone, will also see some playing time this year before taking over the fulltime DH role when  Jaha's contract runs out.   AAA Triple Crown winner Adam Piatt is also ready for the show, but hasn't shown enough in the defensive side to be anything more than a 1st baseman/DH, a position that's already overcrowded with the A's.   GRADE: 65

Defensively, the A's are a mixed bag.  Chavez has the makings of being a terrific defensive player at third.  Tejada is a very good defensive shortstop and Velarde is above average at second.  The outfield defense is pretty porous and none of the guys out there have what could even be considered above average arms.  Giambi is basically a DH playing first.  Hernandez has about average tools behind the plate, but his mechanics are poor enough to make him below average.  GRADE: 45

The A's are building a fairly impressive starting staff from their farm system.  In the meantime, they'll have ex-Royal Kevin Appier act as the staff ace, with journeymen Gil Heredia and Omar Olivares following him.  Appier doesn't have the stuff he once had.  Several shoulder operations have seen to that.  But he still knows how to pitch so he'll at least be a good innings eater for a couple more years.  Heredia and Olivares both have good sinking fastballs, which induce a lot of ground balls.  With the emerging quality defense on the left side of the infield, that's a good thing.  However, if any of these three start elevating their pitches, it gets ugly fast. Tim hudson came out of seemingly nowhere to emerge as the future, if not current, staff ace.  He has a change up that's been compared to that of Pedro Martinez and has good instincts on the mound.  His fastball isn't what Martinez' is, but it's good enough to keep hitters honest.  At only 24, he's a good bet to make a couple of All Star teams before his career finishes.  Not too far away from joining the rotation ar lefties Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.  Zito has been compared to a young Tom Glavine with his assortment of pitches and a willingness to throw any of them in any situation.  Mulder has a similar repertoire - neither guy is overpowering - and shows a good feel for pitching.  GRADE: 60

The bullpen could be a serious issue for the A's.  Ex-Met Jason Isringhausen is trying his hand as the closer but has not exactly set the world on fire.  He has good velocity on his fastball, a good slider and a nasty knuckle curve but has trouble with throwing his pitches over the middle of the plate.  Chad Harville is the leading edge of a new wave of very hard throwing relievers that is making it's way to the bigs.  But he is probably a year away from contributing in a significant role.  Until then, the bullpen will be comprised of journeyman relievers like Scott Service, Mike Magnante, TJ Mathews and the ultimate journeyman, Doug Jones.  Jones has been throwing the same stuff since the deadball era (actually, just since 1982): a change up (which he calls a fastball), a slow change up, and a slower change up.  They use a sundial to clock his pitches.  But as long as he keeps getting guys out, or rather, gets guys to get themselves out by hitting pop-ups, then the softball team image of the A's will continue.    GRADE: 45 

GM Billy Beane has been one of the more vocal proponents of the OPS philosophy in baseball.  He even asked the TV network that carries the local games to use on base and slugging stats rather than batting average and homers in their telecasts.  Several teams have been concentrating on these two stats to evaluate their players with some success.  But they have not ignored other aspects of the game, like team defense and speed,  the way Beane has in building their teams.  So the A's will have to win for this extreme version of the philosophy to be embraced by the rest of baseball.  However, the fact that people are reviewing their concepts of what makes a winning baseball team is a good thing, regardless of the success of this team.  In addition to implementing his bold philosophy, beane has done a very good job of rebuilding what was a barren farm system.  In the early-mid 90's, the A's weren't even developing utility players, much less everyday players.  By the middle of this decade, the A's could have home grown All Stars at 5 everyday positions and 4 pitchers.  Beane has also shown a pretty good eye for getting value in trade, especially from the Kansas City Royals, where he's shopped for Appier and Jeremy Giambi for the price of a few relievers.  Art Howe wasn't able to succeed with a veteran team in Houston but has done a remarkable job with this group of youngsters.  He's pretty good at monitoring pitch counts and stays true to the GMs philosophy on offense, rarely running, accumulating walks and waiting for the bomb.  GRADE: 60