Kemp Town Races

 

The A's, after shipping away most of the talent that made them wild card contenders for several years...have started the season with a .500 record in the first week. I don't understand it either.

This is a much smaller team, in so many ways. The only trusted returning starter is Frankie Montas. The only All-Star hitters made ASG squads either with other teams or with earlier iterations of these A's teams. The only true star from the competitive days, Ramon Laureano, is still serving some suspension time. All that's left to lead the team are people like Stephen Piscotty, Seth Brown, Sean Murphy and Chad Pinder, who all felt like supplemental pieces to the earlier teams. 

Really, the only piece of these teams that's stepped up to something of a central position is, surprisingly, Tony Kemp, who's been a contact machine ever since the season began. While he had a slow day yesterday, he's still hitting .280 with 7 hits and 2 RBIs, in addition to some great defense now that 2nd base is fully his. Though following in his lead are some of the youngsters, like Sheldon Neuse and Cristian Pache. It is very relieving to see Pache finally delivering at a major league level. I knew he could make great plays in the outfield, but he's also hitting well, and he seems to finally have some staying power. Most notably, Elvis Andrus is finally hitting in an A's uniform. I was worried he'd have played his last great season in Arlington, but he's on the right track as of now. 

And in the absence of Manaea, Fiers, Bassitt and Luzardo, the A's at least have Cole Irvin, who picked up a nice win yesterday, Daulton Jeffries who's off to a decent start, and Paul Blackburn, who's showing his surest signs of MLB dominance yet with a 7-K win in his first start. Yes, Adam Oller was a bit of a disappointment in comparison, but it's early, and even if this is a mostly untested rotation, they're doing pretty well.

Now, you also have to remember that this is a small team in a division of loud voices, so of course this calm, auspicious start isn't going to last. The Astros have the division, the Angels are right behind, and the Mariners aren't going to bottom-feed forever. Unless I'm wrong, the A's are going to sink a bit under its inexperience and inefficiency, and hopefully they'll be happy with whatever strides the new guys make. 

Coming Tomorrow- Ironically, one of the arms this team traded away.