I'm as surprised as you are.
Jed Lowrie, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea and Marcus Semien are all off to incredible starts. Not, like 'incredible for Oakland'. They're all got high WAR, and are all playing super well. Hell, Manaea already has a no-hitter under his belt on the year. There is ACTUAL progress going on with this A's team.
I mean, it hasn't spread all over. The back half of the rotation needs a little work, Blake Treinen has forgotten how to save games, there are still a few lineup pieces that aren't proving their worth, and after a really nice week they're beginning to lose steam and head back towards the back half of the division. They're in fourth right now, but they're close behind the Mariners, who have a similar case of lineup inconsistency.
Still, the A's have the makings of a great lineup going on. Jonathan Lucroy, while quieter than usual, is off to a nice enough start, as are Matt Olsen and Daniel Mengden. The progress this team is working with requires the youth movement to keep at it, and while a few too many youngsters are on the DL right now, there's enough power in the lineup (yes, including Khris Davis) to make people a little calmer about the prospect of competing in a division with the Angels and Astros.
I'm not sure if this A's team will catch up to the top two teams, but...they're gonna be fun, and I feel like they're gonna land somewhere around .500 with some stories to tell.
Coming Tomorrow- Another catcher, this one from a similarly-middling team...that, given where they were last year, shouldn't be anywhere close to middling.
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