This was supposed to be our season! A bunch of off season pick-ups, a young and talented starting rotation, one of the best bullpens in the league, and the loss of stars from the division foes, were all supposed to add up to a contending A's squad. Thanks to the injury bug, which seems to live in the Athletics locker room, the A's struggled to win. Now they're in a huge hole in the AL West, 12.5 games behind the nearly unbeatable Rangers. Although the future looks dim and the hopes of being contenders down the stretch are quickly disappearing; heres 5 reasons why you shouldn't stop watching the A's until they've finished all 162 this year...
5. Gio Gonzalez:
The kid can straight up deal. Three years ago when Billy Beane decided to trade fan favorite He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (ok, it's Nick Swisher) to the White Sox, a lot of A's fans joined me in being depressed that our favorite player was gone. We'll Beane somehow did it again and it now seems that we got ourselves a stud for Swisher back in 2007. Gio Gonzalez now dawns the green and gold instead of the white and black, and he has slowly become a dominating south paw. The first time all-star has a record of 9-8 with a 2.84 E.R.A. after 21 starts. It will be interesting to see if Gio can stay focused and continue to pitch while knowing a playoff run is unlikely. With 11 more wins he'll be the first A's pitcher since Barry Zito in 2003 to get to 20 wins and will put him into serious contention to win a Cy Young award.
4. Trade Deadline
For what seems like a common trend these past few years the A's will be huge sellers at the deadline. Beane hates not getting value for upcoming free agents who might walk at the end of the year and A's free agents ALWAYS WALK. Closer Andrew Bailey might get moved if the right deal is on the table and Josh Willingham has been on craigslist for two weeks now. Other players such as David DeJesus and Coco Crisp might be sent to a contending team who could use a nice lefty bat in their lineup. Although it's never fun to see A's players go in the middle of the season, Billy Beane loves making trades and he's pretty darn good at it. He has a great track record for getting great young talent in his mid season trades and I doubt this year will be any different. Pay attention to who leaves Oakland and more importantly who will enter the A's farm system in return.
3. Struggling Veterans Trying to Make a Comeback
Once you hit rock bottom there's only one way to go and that's up. Right? I sure hope that's the case from veteran big leaguers Kevin Kouzmanoff and Daric Barton; who were both sent down to AAA Sacremento earlier in the year. You wouldv'e thought the Monstars payed these two a visit the way they lost all their talent. Kouzmanoff couldn't field a ground ball if he had velcro in his glove and Barton couldn't hit Rihanna if he was Chris Brown. It was a shame to see two solid young guys who were supposed to man the corners on the diamond get designated like that, but I'd really like to see them make it back to the bigs at some point.
2. Cliff Pennington
There's a new trending topic in Oakland that's sweeping the nation. #pennyball. In the short time since the all-star break Clifford as his parents like to call him, might be the hottest hitter in baseball. Hitting a remarkable .455 with 2 HR and 7 RBIs since the mid-summer classic, Pennington seems to be the first A's slugger to remember how to hit a baseball all year. The real thing to pay attention to is whether or not he can keep up these numbers for the rest of the year. In a season that has been full of backward K's with RISP and meaningless popups, it's great to finally have Athletic hitter who is productive at the dish
1. September Call-Ups
We'll there's always next year, right? Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the A's will have a snowballs chance of making the playoffs when it gets to September. That mean's only only one thing; time to turn the Oakland Athletics into the Oakland River Cats. When a team is no longer in contention September becomes a time to look forward to the future. Almost like a showcase of what the line-up of the next couple of years will look like. Expect the A's to bring up a bunch of their talented sluggers and hurlers this September. Utility man, Adrian Cardenas, will lead this years class. The guy plays more positions than there were in Paris Hilton's sex tape. While he may not have a set position in the field, he is tearing it up at the plate this season for the AAA Sacramento River Cats. The ex-Philly, who came over in the Blanton deal, is hitting .297 with a OPS of .781. Another shoe-in September call-up is Jai Miller. The guy can straight up mash the baseball proven by his 25 homers and 64 RBIs so far this year at AAA. He can also play all three outfield positions and can also hit for average as well. Other A's who might get the month-long promotion are highly touted outfielder Michael Taylor, slugging first baseman Sean Doolittle, and pitcher Graham Godfrey (who already has 3 career starts that he got earlier this year). This year might not have went to plan and a Rebecca Black Grammy seems more likely than an A's playoff birth, but the future is bright and a sneak preview of the Athletics stars of tomorrow is definitely worth paying attention too.
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