Will Santa deliver gifts to the Oakland A’s?
A look at where the A’s might get a lift.
It’s that time of year again where Santa and his elves are preparing to deliver gifts to those who are nice. Apparently he didn’t check that list twice though, as the naughty Angels and the bratty Yankees received gifts they assuredly didn’t deserve from Santa and his newest elf who is having some growing pains as he adjusts to life in the North Pole.
The allure of Santa is the ability to bring whatever gift one could possibly desire, and this year he did it to our nemesis from down south. The Angels desperately needed an ace for cheap, something that just doesn’t happen in the Big Leagues. Until it did, with Shohei Ohtani deciding to play his baseball in Los Angeles of Anaheim and giving the Angels a possible silver bullet, solving their rotation issues with a miraculous, once in a generation free agent.
If there’s a team that could use such a lift, it’s the Oakland A’s. Can any of the A’s woes be fixed in such a quick and easy way? Let’s check in on the team’s wish list.
A strong starting rotation
When Billy wakes up on Monday and looks under his tree, there won’t be a Shohei Ohtani ready to take the A’s from bad to good on his back alone.
In fact, it’s possible the A’s won’t find any outside pitching help at all, not even a measly Bartolo Colon like stocking stuffer. The starting pitching market is thin and reports make it seem as though the A’s haven’t even sniffed the available options.
It seemed like an impossibility that the A’s would go the offseason without addressing the rotation, but as the weeks go on and the A’s continue to stand pat, it’s looking more and more likely. The free agent list was slim from the start and has been whittled down to a fun game of overpriced or terrible.
That means the A’s are hoping their internal options, those same options that anchored a solidly below average rotation last season There’s ample depth that will likely turn out a decent season or two, but in order for the A’s to really improve, their existing options will have to live up to their potential.
Santa says? The A’s will very likely have an improved staff, but don’t expect any pitchers below the tree.
A new stadium that checks all the boxes in order to give the A’s a competitive payroll
The A’s of years past deserved to be on the naughty list during their stadium search. Time and time again, Lew Wolffe and company acted passively in their quest to find the A’s a new spot, doing little and accomplishing less in the A’s long quest to find a new home.
Along came Dave Kaval. The man is a doer, and do he did, proclaiming Peralta as the spot for the A’s new park. There is no FanGraphs page to analyze an executives efforts at leading the new stadium charge, but there’s little doubt Kaval did a better job than any A before him at leading the search. The fanbase was energized and full of hope, and a new privately funded state of the art stadium seemed like a real possibility.
And it failed.
Again, there’s no definitive blame to go into that failure but it does appear for the first time that the A’s did their part and for not the first time, they came up well short. It’s an unfair game, and the A’s disadvantage is only going to grow until they’re physically in a new stadium that puts butts in seats for reasons other than a competitive team.
Santa says? Won’t fit down the chimney, sorry folks.
A good defensive team
For two years in a row, the A’s have had the worst defense in baseball and it hasn’t been close. Like, at all.
If there’s one learning from the past two years that all A’s fans should remember, it’s just how fast a team can go from terrible to good. The Cubs, the Twins, the Astros, the Yankees. All those teams turned their rebuild around in a heartbeat and while I dare not compare the A’s to any of those teams, it happens.
Moving from the bottom of the standings to the top takes improvements in all aspects of the game, and we’re already starting to see it with that A’s defense. In the first half last year, they were hovering around that historic level of bad we’ve become so accustomed to oh so quickly. In the second half, they were still pretty bad. But not bang your head against your keyboard bad! Just....bad.
You might think that change came from just Matt Chapman, and that’s largely because that change came from Matt Chapman. He was so, so good and you should definitely rewatch all these incredible gifs.
And while we can’t expect generational talents in other positions, the A’s are inching closer to a legitimately good defense. Piscotty in right and Olson at first are two more pieces that should move the A’s to around league average right away, with guys like Sean Murphy and Jorge Mateo on their way to round out the defensive lineup. The A’s are one or two guys away from being legitimately good on defense which should show you just how close this team is to being competitive, and how quickly things can turnaround with the right personnel.
Santa says? It’s coming!
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Happy Holidays all! Please enjoy time with those you love, and please ask Santa for a new stadium ASAP.