A Minus

 

[Unrelated opening note: I keep mentally referring to Tyler Soderstrom as 'Tyler Sodeepop' every time I hear about him. That can't be good for his legitimacy.]

The way the Athletics have run out of steam this season has been frankly insulting. On June 19th they were a .500 team, mostly in second place, powering through some rough stretches but staying on target and keeping in the race. Then they go on a truly appalling losing stretch, they lose Nick Kurtz, get him back but not his power bat, and now they're so far under .500 that they're not even a competitor anymore. It's looking like some people might be dealt, and if it wasn't for the injury, Shea Langeliers would definitely be one of them. Just very, very sad, as if they'd kept their stuff together they might have had a shot.

Once again, Tyler Soderstrom, who's somehow only 24, has cemented himself as a very crucial lineup piece, with an .821 OPS, 17 homers and 50 RBIs. Not quite the power season he was having last year around this time, as his hot start got him to his first 25 homer year, but potentially evenly-displaced enough to get past that mark by October. Aside from Kurtz, Soderstrom might be the most accurate pure hitter on the A's this year, and with both Rooker and Langeliers out for a while, and Gelof and Kuroda-Grauer down for a little while [JKG had one of the single most unfortunate MLB injuries I've seen in a while, and in the midst of a stretch where he was hitting .400 no less], a lot more is riding on him. He might be one of the few people left on this team who hasn't gotten hurt or gone cold for a substantial percentage of the season. And it's weird that we're down to him. Jacob Wilson and Lawrence Butler were supposed to mean so much more to this team, but they're both having down years, with Wilson being much less accurate than his rookie campaign, and Butler only hitting .199 with 5 homers. We've seen him take off in the second half before, so I'm not terribly worried, but this still isn't great, especially for a very big piece of this team. 

I guess on the bright side I feel better about the long term development of this team's pitching than before. The Springs and Severino gambits did not work. Not inevitable but...yeah, I figured there was a chance. J.T. Ginn getting more starts was a very good thing, he could be the ace next year, he had a 3.50 ERA and 100 Ks in 22 appearances. Gage Jump is also very much MLB-ready, and has a 4 ERA and 68 Ks in 12 starts. Given a fuller season he should be on his way. Beyond that, I'm not sure though. Lopez and Morales just aren't getting it done this year. Logically Joey Estes should get another shot but who knows if he'll be any better. It's still two young, controllable arms more than I would have credited them for going into the season.

Not much else for the A's to do at this point but just ride it out and prep for 2027. Two more months of grueling play and missed opportunities, hopefully they're at least a slight upgrade from the last two.

Coming Tonight: One of the most effective power hitters in baseball. In case you were worried he'd have nothing to say this year. 

Power Also Works

 

The Athletics started the season with a pretty incredible run from their starting pitchers. Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, J.P. Sears and Osvaldo Bido all gave up 2 or fewer earned runs in their first starts. It was a statistic that woke people up, and with Springs, Sears and Severino making a very strong front of the rotation, it meant that the A's could, for the first time in a while, be a balanced, close game team.

Well...Severino, Springs and Sears now all have ERAs over 4. So, uh...so much for that.

Obviously these guys aren't counted out as great starters this year. Sevvy has 21 Ks and a 0.6 WAR. Sears has a 1.176 WHIP. Bido has a 3 ERA. But any thought that this would be the year that they bring in starters to silence the opposition and small-ball their way to the wins is gone.

So now, the A's have gone to Plan B. Which is 'just smack the hell out of the ball.' And that's been doing them a little better.

Let's give a hand to Tyler Soderstrom, a guy who missed a lot of 2024 with injuries but was always expected to do great things [like Zach Gelof, who he was brought up with]. Right now he leads the MLB in home runs with 8. Last night he hit two against the White Sox, an outcome so obvious that I started him in fantasy over Paul Goldschmidt. The power hitting was always a possibility with Soderstrom, and now he's delivering, with 17 RBs and a .328 average. With Brent Rooker off to a slower start this year, having Soderstrom as the all-firing power bat is a very good thing. 

The pieces have sort of come together with this lineup. Jacob Wilson is a very good contact bat, he's hitting .333 with 22 hits. Rooker and Langeliers have had great power numbers so far. Butler seems to have moved into the star position, which is awesome. Even the replacement guys like Andujar and Urias have been helping. There are admittedly some guys that haven't come into their own yet, like Max Muncy, who seems to be taking his sweet time. But there's more to this lineup than there's been since everybody left, and now it does seem feasible for this team to outhit a lot of people.

Now...this is still a very simple, uneducated strategy right now. We're not playing Cashball, we're not getting notes from opponents, we're just going with power, and that's enough to ensure the A's don't lose 100 games hopefully. I don't think the team has enough to truly compete, but the seeds are finally there, and Fisher finally seems to want to keep a lot of them around.

Coming Tomorrow- It's weird that a team that's been in rebuild mode for a couple years has multiple veterans from the 2016 season, and they're integral. Here's one of them.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2024: Athletics

 

I think it's a better outcome that the last Athletics season in Oakland wasn't a complete failure. Because you think about recent exoduses, and the last Expos season in Montreal was that terrible, the last Astros season in the NL was that terrible, and the last Marlins season before the rebrand was regrettable. But this A's season had more dignity than you might have expected. An honest-to-God MVP candidate with nearly 40 home runs, a Rookie of the Year candidate with some unhittable 100mph stuff, 11 wins out of J.P. Sears and a genuine breakout season from Lawrence Butler. There is genuine promise as this team moves inland to Sacramento, and with a 4th place finish this year, something could conceivably happen going forward.

While Zach Gelof got a ton of playing time this year, Tyler Soderstrom, who came up right when Gelof did last year, struggled with injuries and being blocked at his position. In 61 games he hit .233 with 9 homers and 26 RBIs. I think he just needs a full season with no distractions and something will develop, as it has for people like Butler, Gelof and Bleday.

2024 Prediction: 30 homers and the reins of 1B.

When the A's came to Philly last year I attended a game, and I like that they still commemorate the rivalry from when both teams played in the same city, despite that being like 3 locations ago for the A's. Anyway the A's started Hogan Harris that night, which is funny, cause 'haaa, you're in Philly and you're starting a guy whose name sounds like 'hoagie'', and he did...alright. I mean Harris was a swing guy all season, started some games, longman in others. He walked away with a relatively competent season, a 2.86 ERA in 72 innings, 9 starts. Definitely a handy guy to have around, though I'm not sure how many starts he'll get next year.

2025 Prediction: Whatever role, he'll be a reliable innings-eater for these guys even if the team isn't great.

In the category of 'whatever happened to', Miguel Andujar had an incredible rookie season for the Yankees in 2018, nearly winning a Rookie of the Year. He never really matched up to that for the Yanks after that, due to both injuries and seasons that really just weren't as good. In 2022 the Yanks dumped him in Pittsburgh, and he's bopped around without much notice since then. But this year, the A's gave him a chance for an OF position and he was a decent replacement option. In 75 games, ultimately cut short by an injury, Andujar hit .285 with 86 hits, 30 RBIs and 4 homers. Proof that the man can still produce.

2025 Prediction: I don't even know, man, he's too inconsistent. Uhh...less of a lineup presence but with his occasional moments off the bench?

And very late in the season, the A's brought up their 2023 first rounder, the 6th overall pick Jacob Wilson, to improve the middle infield. Wilson had been hitting .450 in AA and .400 in AAA, and so he was basically ready. In 28 MLB games, the 22-year old hit .250 with 23 hits and 3 RBIs. He's young, he's new to the majors, he's coming into his own. As evident by Butler, Gelof and Miller, he'll get there.

2025 Prediction: ROY candidate.

Coming Tomorrow- Surprisingly a lot of Blue Jays I didn't get to this year.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2023: Athletics

 

We knew it was going to be bad. By definition, a completely gutted A's team, without even the people like Frankie Montas, Sean Murphy or even Cole Irvin, would be a disappointment, and while nothing in-game hurt as much as the confirmation that the A's would be headed to Vegas in a year or so, it still wasn't great. The A's lost 112 games this year, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since an 117-loss season in 1916. Connie Mack was still managing the team then. IN PHILADELPHIA. That's two locations ago for the A's, going on three.

The closest thing this A's team has to a trusted veteran is Tony Kemp, who had one excellent season for the A's in 2021, the year they came just short of the postseason, and had his worst season to date this year. Kemp hit .209, with 75 hits in 124 games, and if you can believe it he was worse defensively. The A's have kept him around because of what he does in the clubhouse, but as the team begins to develop more and more great young players, it's clear how little use he has left there.

2024 Prediction: A minor league deal somewhere. Not sure if he'll be starting at all though.

With Kemp gone, the longest-contracted player on the A's might be Aledmys Diaz. And for your biggest contract to go to a middle infielder owed 14 million over the next season or so, that's not terrible. The Yankees have hundreds of millions pinned down. 14.5 million for Aledmys Diaz is manageable. And it's a contract the A's may not even see to the end, considering that Diaz has been mediocre since leaving Houston. This season, the first of the new contract, Diaz hit .229 with 72 hits in 109 games, and was phased into a utility role as the season went on.

2024 Prediction: Zach Gelof is gonna ensure he never starts consistently in Oakland again. So he might be a backup elsewhere next fall. Houston reunion?

Jordan Diaz hit .444 against the New York Yankees, with 4 hits, 4 RBIs and 3 home runs. Forget for a moment that he hit .221 against the whole league; Jordan Diaz, of all people, has become one of the 'pissants' for the Yankees, like Ellis Burks and Carlos Pena before him. Not really one I would have called. Diaz is a decent depth piece, and did hit 10 homers this year, but he hasn't shown consistent staying power yet, even with 3rd base relatively open.

2024 Prediction: I'd say he breaks out and takes third, but I'm not sure how confident the A's will be that he'll keep the position.

The most unsung of this bunch of A's unsung heroes is Austin Pruitt, who was a former Rays farmhand who bopped around for a while, found Oakland last year and played a relief role, and was a multi-faceted guy for this A's team this year. He started 6 games, mostly as an opener for a few innings, and closed out 8, mostly mopping up a loss. In 38 games he ran a 2.98 ERA and was one of the most reliable A's pitchers prior to going down with an injury late in the year. He was one of the many players needlessly non-tendered this year to create cap space for an A's move that probably won't happen.

2024 Prediction: Somebody picks him up, but I'm not sure if he'll deliver anything as good as this year.

As it should be, the takeaway heading into 2024 should be the number of strong rookies the A's are working with. If it weren't for injuries, there'd be a ton more eyes on Mason Miller this year, as he was excellent when healthy. The West Virginian posted a 3.78 ERA this year, striking out 38 in 10 games. Even with the number of suitable starting options higher in the depth chart, Miller is a rare homegrown weapon that could be a big piece going forward.

2024 Prediction: Along with one other person on this post, Miller will have a breakout year next year [Logan Gilbert style], and rise above the mediocre A's play.

Tyler Soderstrom was the bigger name of the two called-up A's prospects midyear, but Zach Gelof had the better season. Soderstrom was no slouch, but he was way more one-dimensional this year, hitting .160 with 7 RBIs and 3 home runs in 45 games.

2024 Prediction: If there is room for him, he'll come into his own. If not, expect decent bench numbers.

The eyebrow-raiser for me going forward is Joe Boyle, a pitching prospect I saw good things from in the minors who took to the majors easily. In 3 starts he went 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 15 Ks, very impressive numbers. This may only be the beginning of his career, but Boyle could lead to a lot of growth for this A's team.

2024 Prediction: Will be the last WAR leader the A's will have in Oakland. I am seeing big things next year from Joe Boyle.

Coming Tomorrow- Once again the first round was their enemy, but they had plenty to celebrate this year.

The A's Go for Plan B

 

I will say there is something both ballsy and admirable about the Oakland Athletics, after winning 25 games in the first half, providing a 40-steal guy that can't hit, not getting production out of any of their starters, having two contracted stars that worked in bigger markets hit .209, and alienating the fanbase even more than they did before, going 'well...that didn't work, let's try something else.'

And that's the only way I can explain the A's starting the second half by immediately calling up the team's two biggest prospects, Tyler Soderstrom and Zach Gelof, who look to fit into this team either in the infield or, in Soderstrom's case, behind the plate. It's not like the A's haven't peppered organization favorites into this team: Esteury Ruiz, Shea Langeliers, J.J. Bleday, Nick Allen, Kevin Smith and Jordan Diaz all have played nice roles in this team. Of this bunch, only Smith and Allen were actual A's farm products, everything else came from trades. 

And the one thing that has doomed this team so far is that the prospects they've been handed in return for their major assets just haven't been working as promised. This team has an entire rotation full of ex-Yankee pitching prospects, and only J.P. Sears has had a halfway-decent go of things. Langeliers and Bleday were pitched as organizational cornerstones, and neither are hitting over .215. Meanwhile, both teams that gave them up are doing well with the guys they got in return for them, including the frigging Marlins, who the A's still regret handing Jesus Luzardo to all those years ago. 

So the A's, if anything, need their own farm system to produce something that at least makes things somewhat tolerable for the next stretch of time. And if the answers at corner infield spots aren't to the team's liking, or catching, then sure, bring in the new guys. I'm writing this before the game against Minnesota, I don't know how Soderstrom or Gelof did, I'm guessing they adequately demonstrated proper baseball technique.

With the team progressing further, I don't know what it means for the guys that have been there for a bit. Paul Blackburn's still on the A's, I bet you forgot about that. He was injured, missed a whole season including last year's trade deadline, which is...suspicious. But he's still here, and he's still doing pretty well, 4.86 and 41 Ks in 8 games, not terrible considering the usual quality of this rotation. But...look, he's a competent pitcher in Oakland, I don't know if he's gonna last much longer. Maybe they flip him for something that'll help them out when Soderstrom's got a team built around him. I just don't expect them to keep Blackburn, even if, realistically, they still may.

The A's are at the very least interesting. As a bad team, they still have a lot of good things going for them, and a lot of interesting details that make them anything but a boring team. These two rookies make them even more interesting, and you never know what wild things will happen as they fight to stave off 100 losses.

Coming Tonight: The Guardians didn't have a place for him, but the Rockies, of all people, seem to.