Reality check: A's had to become sellers at deadline
OAKLAND – The start of the Oakland Athletics’ series with the Toronto Blue Jays this week marked the return of Josh Donaldson, the All-Star third baseman whose offseason trade signaled the overhauling of a club that had reached the playoffs the previous three seasons.
Before Wednesday’s series finale, the A’s tacitly acknowledged the roster remaking has not worked out, at least not for this season.
The trade of lefty starter Scott Kazmir to the Houston Astros for two Class A prospects figures to be just the first in a series of deals as the A’s try to extract some value from their pending free agents, likely including Ben Zobrist and Tyler Clippard. There’s no sense in holding on to them when trailing by 11 games in a disappointing season.
“We had to be realistic with where we were as a club,” general manager Billy Beane told reporters. “With the deadline looming and the market probably soon to be ripe with a lot of opportunities, we thought this was the proper time.”
It took a while for realism to set in, even though Oakland (44-52) has not seen the sunny side of .500 since mid-April and spent 68 of the last 72 days in sole possession of last place. Eventually, trumpeting a positive run differential and hoping it would translate into a turnaround became futile.
The question now is which direction the A’s go next. Beane has never been afraid to shake things up, reasoning that if some moves don’t work, he can try something else. The low-key Oakland market offers him that luxury. He’s not about to get fired or hung in effigy by the restless locals.
But as the A’s plot their course of action, it might be instructive to look back at where they were and what got them into their current status, flip-flopping with the Seattle Mariners for the bottom two spots in the American League West.
Less than a year ago, the A’s were not only the two-time defending division champions but also owners of the majors’ best record every day for more than a month. Then came the Yoenis Cespedes trade and the subsequent collapse that forced Oakland to scramble to secure a spot in the wild-card game, where it lost in an epic 12-inning affair to the Kansas City Royals.
The much-debated Cespedes swap could be justified in that it netted ace pitcher Jon Lester and was meant to make a strong push for a World Series championship. What followed after the season was harder to stomach for A’s fans.
Besides the fiery, popular Donaldson – who would be under team control for four more years – the club dealt away fellow All-Stars Brandon Moss, Jeff Samardzija and Derek Norris. None fetched a headliner in return.
“When they added Billy Butler you thought, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep going for this,’’’ Donaldson said. “We felt like, hey, you get a comparable shortstop (to the departing Jed Lowrie), you’re going to be right in the thick of things. … Once I was traded, other guys started to get traded and you saw the change in dynamic of where the team was going.’’
Butler, a rare free agent splurge at three years and $30 million, has failed to address the A’s need for right-handed power, batting just .244 with nine homers and 44 RBI while grounding into 16 double plays, the second-highest total in the league.
The fully revamped infield of first baseman Ike Davis, Zobrist at second, Brett Lawrie at third and Marcus Semien at shortstop has fallen short of expectations. Only Zobrist (.759) has an on-base plus slugging percentage above .750, and Semien leads the majors with 28 errors. Lawrie’s 17 are two spots back.
Of the five young pitchers Oakland acquired in its offseason haul, part of Beane’s plan to replenish while remaining competitive, starters Jesse Hahn and Kendall Graveman have had the biggest impact, combining for a 12-12 record with a 3.56 ERA.
The A’s actually haven’t lacked for starting pitching, leading the league with a 3.08 ERA. But bullpen and defensive woes have been significant contributors in their 10-22 record in one-run games, the majors’ worst.
So after three years of playoff appearances, Oakland fans are left to hope the likes of catcher Jacob Nottingham and right-hander Daniel Mengden – the return for Kazmir – and subsequent fellow prospects can help form the core of another such run. Or perhaps hope that Kazmir’s departure will open the door for Barry Zito, currently pitching well at Class AAA Nashville, to return and recapture old glory.
Like Donaldson, Zito made his initial imprint wearing green and yellow, then moved on. That’s the A’s standard operating procedure.
“It’s never easy to deal with, losing a good teammate and a great guy like that, especially a guy who's been one of our better pitchers for the year,’’ outfielder Josh Reddick said of Kazmir. “But we also know how this business works over here.’’
Or, in this year’s case, how it hasn’t worked.
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