Bit of a somber post today. Oakland was a major stop on The Collector's 2018 Sports Card Tour back when three teams called the city home. Since then the Raiders and Warriors have left, and the Athletics are all but certain to follow. If we did an All-Time Teams 3.0, we'd most likely see this nomadic club in Las Vegas.
The Coliseum (I'm not listing all of its names) has been home to the Swingin' A's of the 1970s, the Bash Brothers of the late 1980s-early '90s, and the Moneyball era in the early aughts. Six World Series have been played here: three straight years from 1972-'74 and three straight years from 1988-'90.
No man has ever managed in the major leagues as long as Connie Mack, who served as a player-manager in the 1890s and kept going long enough for Vin Scully to call one of his team's games in 1950.
Mack doesn't have to dig through 50 feet of crap for his starting lineup.
That's Al Simmons batting third and playing center field - even though Rickey makes more sense to me.
Can Connie possibly improve this lineup?
If Tejada's on-base percentage were higher (or if the A's weren't already overpowered) Miggy might start.
"Home Run" had the least amount of long balls in this group, but he still gets the start.
Chavez won six Gold Gloves but his dWAR as an Athletic is equal to Bando's. His offensive totals were superior to the seventies star, but Sal gets a big era-adjusted boost in WAR. This is a tough one.
Mack managed four of the All-Time Athletics five starting pitchers.
The only exception is Vida Blue (R.I.P.), who holds off Hall of Famer Hunter and Cy Young winner Zito.
The relief pitching isn't nearly as deep as the rotation. Oakland's All-Time bullpen has two legendary closers, one other relief ace who barely qualifies, and two very replaceable pitchers.
Paul Lindblad pitched 11 years with the franchise and ranks fifth among A's in appearances. Yusmeiro Petit pitched the minimum four seasons with the club - and that includes the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Rick Honeycutt struck out just 247 batters in eight Oakland seasons. I'm not seeing an upgrade here.
Looking ahead... in order for any new player to qualify for the A's All-Time roster, they would have to stay in Oakland with the Athletics for at least four years. The way this franchise has been run lately, any player who stays that long isn't valuable enough to be traded -- with all due respect to Ramon Laureano, who is an above-average player when healthy and the last link to Oakland's last playoff teams.
The only Oakland prospect on MLB's top 100 list entering 2023 is catcher Tyler Soderstrom, who is currently playing in Triple-A Las Vegas and could be a big leaguer in the same city soon.
TL; DR: No changes from the original roster. The next change here might be their address. I hope it isn't.
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Sad to see the mass exodus of sports out of Oakland.
ReplyDeleteNot only did Blue just pass away, but we lost Sal Bando earlier this year. Sad.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd that there's not a deep bullpen, but that's about the only thing this roster lacks.
That's a steep drop from Catfish and Eck!
ReplyDeleteGood point that they might have a new address last time. Surprised Giambi didn't do more to warrant consideration, but I guess he wasn't there long enough.
ReplyDelete*next time
DeleteAs excited as I was to read this post... I knew it'd also mention their likely move which has been heavy on my heart the past month. Anyways... great job. Loved seeing a mix of players from all the different eras.
ReplyDeleteLas Vegas A's, wow.
ReplyDeleteRickey was never much of a center fielder, he usually played in left. If I remember correctly, he had a below-average arm and less range than you would expect for someone with his speed.
It's going to be weird not having a team in Oakland. My only hope is that whatever place they call home in the future is also a Coliseum (We've got plenty of stadiums and parks, not enough majestic sounding coliseums though...)
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else, can't believe how quickly Oakland went to zero teams
ReplyDelete