closing by committee: 2014 Oakland A's

Steven Goldman:

Teams are usually reluctant to trade out of the major league deck at this time of year for fear of giving up a key part; they almost never deal a productive middle-of-the-lineup bat in the middle of a playoff race.

Yoenis Cespedes is that, but he's also Yoenis Cespedes. Though he hit .292/.356/.505 as a rookie, teams soon figured out that Cespedes would give away at-bats even if up in the count, and that he was not selective in the traditional Beane-A's style. Last year he hit 26 home runs but couldn't quite get to a .300 on-base percentage; this year his .256/.303/.464 rates are a bit better than they look given that offensive levels have down-spiraled, and he augments those numbers with strong defense. Still, despite the occasional spectacular, long-distance home run, Cespedes is not quite a star, but somewhere in the next tier down.

That may change at Fenway Park, though Cespedes has played just six (homer-less) games there. The Red Sox will get to see if he can put up big numbers for an outfield that simply died this year, but they'll also have to keep him on the field. Cespedes has been on the disabled list twice in not quite three seasons, and his medical history in that time is a long litany of day-to-days and a looping repetitive mantra of "sprain" and "strain."

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/7/31/5955249/yoenis-cespedes-jon-lester-trade-jonny-gomes-cash-trading-deadline

@pgammo · Peter Gammons
Normally Billy Beane fly-fishes on deadline day. Right now doing forum on charter schools with Grant Hill

https://twitter.com/whatwouldDOOdo/status/494936944992718850

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=7721&ex_cid=insider_share_buster-olney_7721

love the "BB percentage" explanation

Can we call this a slump?

yes.

i didn't think they were a .600 team, certainly not in April.

on a 6-11 slide

if you want to be optimistic, 10 of their last 13 are against Texas and the Phillies.

Dunn deal: White Sox trade slugger to A's

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-adam-dunn-trade-talks-20140831-story.html

Are the A's that desperate for bullpen help?

They've lost 16 of their last 23 and still have the best MLB DIFF by 43.

The 5 mistakes the A's made over the last 2 months

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/9/9/6127331/oakland-athletics-slump-tailspin-yoenis-cespedes

They've gone 8-19 over the last month but with just a -15 run differential in those games.

Pried that win from Rodney's wild hand

not the greatest start to a must win game.

I'd say more muster-wins are yet to come.

they really can't beg off beating the Phillies this weekend, esp w/ no Hamels to face.

On Aug. 10, the A's were 8 up on Detroit, 9.5 up on KC, and 11 up on Seattle.

comment from the fangraphs article re: their slide

There were several days as recently as August where Baseball Prospectus simulation model rated the A’s as “100%” to make the playoffs– since they round by the hundredths, that means the A’s, in the model’s view, were at least 99.95% to make the playoffs– meaning they were a 2000 to 1 shot– or HIGHER– to miss the playoffs. 1964 Phillies can smile– this will be the worst collapse in MLB history if they miss out entirely.

That fangraph article is pretty great, and I still like the odds of them getting in the postseason.

i kinda lost track -- i remember when the angels finally caught them, and then suddenly they were 4 1/2 back, and then suddenly they were 11 1/2 back

yesterday on their broadcast the announcers said something about how sam fuld had basically been their offense lately. and god bless sam fuld but

they really can't beg off beating the Phillies

pvmic amirite

offense doing ok so far tonight, albeit w/ some bleeders

now its the phillies, what a tragedy

it was the unstoppable Jerome Williams

they'll be fine if they win series, keep your pants on.

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2014/9/25/6845151/as-offense-hitting-worse-than-9-bj-uptons

Well this has ended up being a lot more interesting than I would have though in July.

It would be fitting if this becomes the year that Beane's A's finally break through in the playoffs.

That would be really hilarious, but I'm not banking on it. Hitters would need to go on fire.

i'm rooting for complete failure cause i'd find it hilarious that he actually went for it and failed and he'll spend the entire offseason with a big sad frown on his face

also i know i shouldn't value the end of the season over the rest of the season but they've just sucked so much it's hard to support them

Their offense was horrible but the pitching was so good that their run differential was around zero even when they were going 9-20. They didn't really suck, but the way they kept blowing games in the late innings made them look worse than they are.

Every time I see highlights of Jeff Samardzija pitching with that mullet and his windup in an A's uniform, it totally reminds me of Eck.

Beane: the trades were NOT made for the postseason. "The Angels were going to catch us."

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/A-s-GM-Beane-stands-by-trade-for-Lester-5795508.php

Zito reassigned to Nashville (someone start the annual thread)

i can't think of a clever title

Went to the coliseum for the bay bridge series finale yesterday. Nobody got hurt, thankfully. Zito had a 1-2-3 inning.

brett lawrie 4k's on 12 pitches

2nd -
1 89 Fastball (Four-seam) Called Strike
2 84 Slider Called Strike
3 83 Slider Swinging Strike

5th -
1 82 Slider Called Strike
2 80 Slider Foul
3 83 Slider Swinging Strike

7th -
1 81 Curveball Called Strike
2 83 Curveball Swinging Strike (Blocked)
3 81 Curveball Swinging Strike

9th -
1 82 Slider Called Strike
2 82 Slider Called Strike
3 81 Slider Swinging Strike