The A's are going to lose 100 games this year. This was clear from, like, April. The trick will be making sure that this team isn't headed for a historic losing year.
The A's have had a turbulent decade. They've gone from worst to competitive so frequently that it should be studied. Their great teams in the early and late 2010s were both followed by high sells and pure tanking, and this 2023 iteration of the tanking mentality is even more flagrant, with barely any good performances coming from this team, barely any stars, a few decent rookies, and the news of an impending move. The highlight of the season was chasing the Rays in front of a somewhat full crowd, but they never really matched that energy.
Right now they're at 88 losses. There's a chance they hit 100 losses before September even starts. I mean, it's UNLIKELY they could lose 12 straight games, but...it's also something the A's could do, especially if the starting pitching is responsible for 13 wins in total. Not only could the A's pass 100 losses, but they're in danger of setting a new loss record for the franchise. The high bar at the moment, at least for a 162-game season, is held by the 1979 Oakland Athletics, who lost 108 games. Yes, they lost 117 games back in 1916 back when Connie Mack was managing, but that was a 154-game season, and even if that is a worse mark, that's a much different MLB. So we'll just stick with the 1979 team.
It is very interesting that the A's were able to lose 108 games just a few years removed from their monster early 70s achievements, but Charlie Finley sold everybody away and gutted the team in the name of his cockeyed business tactics. By 1979, their best hitter was Dave Revering, who hit .288, their best home run hitter was catcher Jeff Newman, who had 22 [though Tony Armas would eventually learn to hit more than 11], and their best pitcher, Rick Langford, went 12-16. It was a season full of glum also-rans and veterans who didn't have much to add, yet the seeds of the next decade, including rookie pitcher Mike Norris and a speedy young outfielder named Rickey Henderson, were beginning to form.
2023 is...similar. While the 1979 A's had four guys hit over .250, the A's currently have two. Three if you count the recently-called-up Lawrence Butler, who's hitting .280 with a homer and 2 RBIs in 7 games. And, again, the two starters doing well are both rookies- Esteury Ruiz, even with his foibles, is hitting .251, while Zach Gelof is hitting .292. Meanwhile Seth Brown, who was supposed to be a veteran presence on this team, is hitting .223 with 11 homers and 42 RBIs, while Tony Kemp, who USED to be able to do some things well, is hitting .213.
And while the 1979 team did have someone win 12 games, mostly thanks to how long most starters stayed in the game, the highest number of wins a 2023 A's player has is 5, and it is from someone who is no longer on the team. J.P. Sears, the team's best starter, and the team's best player in general, is 2-9. Rick Langford at least had a less steep W/L percentage. One thing this team has going for it is that its closer, Trevor May, has 3 more saves than anyone on the 1979 team had, but is that mostly due to the difference in save designations, or is that actually a win for the A's?
The A's at least have Butler, Gelof and Soderstrom to make things a little more easier going forward. But I don't see them winning their way out of narrowly missing 108 losses. And I think this is exactly what the ownership wants as well.
Coming Tomorrow- A former Cardinals depth rotation option who's only doing marginally better now.
No comments:
Post a Comment