Irvin Money

 

The 2022 Oakland Athletics. A team where three people have a WAR of 1.0 or higher, and they're all starting pitchers. And while it's nice that Paul Blackburn, Frankie Montas and Cole Irvin are all pitching somewhat decently....ooooof, that doesn't bode well for the offense. 

In case you were wondering who the A's highest-rated position player is, it is the twerpy-looking middle infielder Nick Allen, who is an excellent defensive second baseman with great upsides that just doesn't seem to be that intent on hitting for average. Not that he's doing terribly, he's hitting .238, but I don't think he's really focusing too much on hitting right now anyway. And honestly, the emphasis on defense can be seen all around, with people like Elvis Andrus, Ramon Laureano, Tony Kemp and, ultimately the since-demoted Cristian Pache. But, of course, nobody's hitting. Seth Brown has 10 home runs and 36 RBIs, but that's their leader in both. The best average is tied between Christian Bethancourt and Sheldon Neuse, with .245. Nobody on this team has an OPS over .700. Nobody has over 60 hits. 

It's easy to forget that this team had Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Starling Marte and Khris Davis just A YEAR AGO. There's your power offense. The only power hitter left in the A's organization is Eric Thames, and the A's are just...taking their sweet time on offering him a major league contract. And the A's had to decide whether they wanted to compete in 2022 or whether they wanted to save money to make a new bid for a stadium, and now we know what they prioritize. 

The sucky part about this team is there aren't even that many future pieces you can point to and say 'that's what the A's are gonna be in 5 years'. What, is Nick Allen gonna be the guy? Are Kevin Smith and Cristian Pache gonna eventually learn to hit at the MLB level? Are Jared Koenig and and Adam Oller gonna actually inherit the rotation or are they gonna sit around pretending like it? Yes, Shea Langeliers is looking good in the minors, but is there any room for him with Sean Murphy playing well?

It'll be interesting to see what comes to the surface in August, when a bit of air lets out. Sucks that it has to be like that, but...this is how it's working this year.

Coming Tomorrow- Currently the longest-tenured Colorado Rockie.