A's less discontent about winter deals, '15 season
OAKLAND – Mindful of the overhaul their ranks had undergone in the offseason, the Oakland Athletics considered issuing name tags to the players appearing at today's FanFest. They settled instead for having them wear their uniform jerseys, which made recognition possible but not as easy.
Asked during an interview session whether he could identify the players in the room, manager Bob Melvin said, "When they turn around.''
The A's made nine trades involving 27 players in a whirlwind of an offseason that set a new standard even for a club used to frequent turnover. And that doesn't include the three new coaches and the return of Dan Kantrovitz, the replacement for departed assistant general manager Farhan Zaidi.
After making the playoffs three years in a row, winning AL West titles in 2012 and '13, Oakland was stripped of most of its seven All-Stars as it traded away Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, Derek Norris and Jeff Samardzija. In addition, key performers Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie left as free agents.
The late-November deal that sent Donaldson to Toronto was especially stunning because he was twice a top-10 finisher in the MVP race and would be under team control for four more years.
"It's tough to see somebody like that go who was such a big piece of your team and did so much,'' said right fielder Josh Reddick, who was initially critical of the swap, but came around after a conversation with general manager Billy Beane.
"(Beane) works in a lot of mysterious ways, but he always knows what he's doing and he knows what's right for the club.''
Not only was the flurry of trades jarring, but the initial return for all that departing talent was a group of mostly unrecognizable youngsters, giving distraught fans the impression the A's had embarked on a rebuilding project.
That notion was scuttled when Oakland sent two prospects and catcher John Jaso to the Tampa Bay Rays in January for super utilityman Ben Zobrist and shortstop Yunel Escobar, who was then flipped to the Washington Nationals for reliever Tyler Clippard, a two-time All-Star.
Zobrist and Clippard are both eligible for free agency after this season, helping dispel the notion the A's weren't planning on seriously contending in 2015.
"You look at it early on and you're thinking, 'What are we doing here?''' Melvin said. "And then you see the last few moves, bringing in Zobrist, that whole trade and how that all went down, it ended up being terrific for us. So it all came together in the end.''
The A's will have an entirely new infield with Ike Davis at first, Zobrist at second, Brett Lawrie taking over for Donaldson at third and Marcus Semien getting first crack at becoming the everyday shortstop.
The outfield has more familiar faces, with a platoon of Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld in left, Coco Crisp in center and Reddick in right. Stephen Vogt and newcomer Josh Phegley will split catching duties.
The rotation returns Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir, who combined to win 29 games last season, and possibly 26-year-old lefty Drew Pomeranz, who had a 2.58 ERA in 10 starts. The other spots will be up for grabs among a group that includes Jesse Chavez and newly acquired youngsters Jesse Hahn, Chris Bassitt, Sean Nolin and Kendall Graveman – at least until Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin return from Tommy John elbow surgery, possibly in June.
"This was as busy as we've been, and for a reason,'' assistant general manager David Forst said. "We felt like at the end of last season we had a team that probably wasn't going to go in the right direction in 2015. We needed to get younger and healthier and change the direction.''
The one area that remains fairly intact is the bullpen, where Clippard will replace departed setup man Luke Gregerson, joining an outstanding relief corps that includes closer Sean Doolittle, Ryan Cook, Dan Otero and lefties Eric O'Flaherty and Fernando Abad.
The A's bullpen had the second-lowest ERA in the AL last season at 2.91 and could be just as strong if it finds a way to make up for Doolittle's expected absence in the initial weeks. He has been rehabbing after receiving an injection of platelet-rich plasma to address inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Doolittle also has a slight rotator cuff tear but is not expected to require surgery.
"There's plenty of depth (in the bullpen),'' Doolittle said. "As much as it hurts to say it, I might not be missed as much as I thought I was going to be.''
After the offseason shakeup, the A's hope they won't miss all those departed stars as much as their fans do.
GALLERY: MLB offseason trades