10&5 Official Team Preview: Journey To The End Of The East Bay - The Oakland A's

The cupboard is bare. The Oakland A's baseball club headed into the 2010 season has already had all salable parts removed and sold. What's left is a scrappy squad of not-exactly-the-best-at-their-trade millionaires that the other MLB franchises didn't think could help their respective teams.

No one worth lifting is left. The Athletics' roster has been picked clean by Those-That-Have in recent years. Rookie Of The Year-winning CP Andrew Bailey, if he continues to convert saves, could be a bullpen cog somewhere else. (Was that a depressing sentence to read? It was a depressing sentence to write.)

Now that most MLB teams are using the savvy "Moneyball" player-selecting techniques pioneered by OAK's celebrated GM/part-owner Billy Beane but backing their analysis up with spending power well past what Oakland has, the A's aren't able to compete with everyone else working the same angles that once only they saw.

"What you gonna do when everybody goes on without you?" -- Rancid, "Journey To The End Of The East Bay"

So, what now? Can Beane adapt? Will owner & managing partner Lew Wolff continue trying to move the team to a new location? In the midst of all this falling rubble, the Athletics seem evermore to belong in Oakland: the team, such as they are on the field, represent the dogged upstartness of the East Bay. The A's are underdogs and are trying to make their own way as best they can despite the odds stacked against them. "They just need to stay where they are!" said an exasperated Flora Rogers, official 10&5 grandmother and A's correspondent. Will they? Can they? What does the future hold for this baseball club?

Photo of GM Billy Beane and SP Ben Sheets via hawkfantasysports.wordpress.com.

* Biggest Strength:

Pitching (on paper.) Both the number-one and number-two pitchers for Oakland are former All-Star starters with great stuff. On paper. Both Ben Sheets (no pitches thrown in 2009 with a torn elbow flexor tendon) and Justin Duchscerer (pronounced "DUKE-shur;" no pitches thrown in 2009 with back, shoulder and depression issues) are followed by horrific histories of injury. This pair have been seeing the inside of doctors' offices more than the tops of pitching mounds in recent years. Not everyone can have a Frank Gore story of excelling post-injury. These two gents could be great once more, but what is unknowable is how much milage is left in each of their arms. Classify their Beane-blessed signings and installations as high-risk, high-reward.

* Biggest Weakness:

Bat-on-ball offense. As said, the cupboard is bare.

"No one is worried about the A's batting order," said 10&5 A's correspondent and Oakland über-fan Tony Bernacchi. "There's a serious power void besides [DH Jack] Cust. [New 3B] Kevin Kouzmanoff can't protect Cust." Indeed. He couldn't protect the Padres' single excellent slugger 1B Adrian Gonzalez in San Diego either. It's a show-me year for Kouz.

The one and two hitters are speedsters; the wily LF Rajai Davis as leadoff and the fragile-shouldered CF Coco Crisp behind him. The A's have no bats that an opposing team feel they have to account especially for, short of the free-swinging Cust.

* Players to Watch Out For:

SP Ben Sheets. The former four-time All-Star 98/MPH fireballer has signed on the dotted line for a $10M one-year contract. He didn't throw a pitch in 2009, yet he is slated to be Oakland's Opening Day starter.

But mayday, witness this: today in a spring game, Sheets allowed 10 runs, nine of them earned, without getting a single out. Against the Reds. For a pitcher, even in a practice game, this result of maximum failure is reason for maximum consternation.

* Best Case Scenario:

Despite the whirl of negatives, 10&5 A's correspondent DJ Burrito is convinced that if things matriculate correctly, Oakland can make the post-season.

"They could sneak in as a wild card. Nothing special," said the DJ, "I just think that if they are able to win 10 more games this year, they will be competitive in the AL West. If not, they will be third."

Bernacchi agreed that the A's could surprise, but "They're not a playoff team," he said. "They've got a shot only because of the AL West."

Getting a shot of any sort is contingent on the healthiness of gentlemen who have spent a lot of time recovering from being hurt.

* Worst Case Scenario:

Worst case? The A's are already there. This is it. There is no worse situation in baseball than the one that the A's are in. No stars, no budget, arguably the worst stadium in baseball (despite its unvarnished charm), and an inept ownership that tried to move the team but couldn't. There is no farther to fall professionally excepting of the ultimate fear of obliviating contraction. Can the A's franchise push off of this figurative bottom-of-the-pool? Because they're there. This is the bottom. This is the end.

Photo of the Oakland Coliseum via baseballpilgrimages.com.