Beane ruined a championship contender.

[RaiderZar]

You obviously didn't read the ARTICLE I posted (and linked).

RaiderZar, I wasn't around the ESPN board long enough before they shut it down to get a good feel for him, but is this similar to what dump would do at all?

I don't think it's even close. Dump was a true troll & one-way thinker. Donyell is a true fan, but may have let his frustration get the best of him in this case. This organization still comes down to playing in a cesspool of a stadium, attracting low revenues & having to deal with a low payroll. If BB had unlimited funds or even reasonable funds (like in SF), it would be a different story. Seriously, now that LAA actually has pitching, how can we compete when we roll out the likes of Sogard, Moss, Freiman, Fuld, etc.

 

[oaktown]

It's not everyday that you see a team go from the mountain top to playing consistent, cellar like ball. A's are in quite the funk after the trade that in my opinion altered team chemistry. They wouldn't have won the west regardless but they would have made the playoffs. Billy rolled the dice and it doesn't look good for the team. It would be ridiculous for him to lose his job over this though. Go A's!

 

[DonyellFreak]

What a pathetic showing showing against Seattle and we deal with Felix tomorrow, at least our LH batting lineup platoon is a bit better than the RH one.

People can excuse Beane all they want but this team has spent $28 million on Chris Young, Jim Johnson and Hiroyuki Nakajima the past two seasons. They won the west the past two seasons and are able to compete, I know we aren't going to sign top tier free agents but not to address the middle of the infield all season was bull crap. Even a shortstop that can play good defense and hit .250 would have been a huge upgrade as it would have moved Lowrie to second base.

Fucking Gomes shouldn't play anymore out of shape and cost us a run in left field tonight, that Cespedes trade hurt the defense a lot. Melvin seems to be doing a poor job of late too probably doesn't know what to do anymore.

Beane should resign if this was a large market team all you'd hear about on ESPN and the other sports outlets would be the collapse and what the front office did at the deadline, Billy is protected somewhat that it's football season now and the A's don't have that large of a national following.

I expect tomorrow we fall out of our playoff spot and won't see it again the rest of the season, I hope I'm wrong I really do because even a bad team can win it all if they get lucky enough to get into the post season ( 2010 Giants ).

 

[DonyellFreak]

It's not everyday that you see a team go from the mountain top to playing consistent, cellar like ball. A's are in quite the funk after the trade that in my opinion altered team chemistry. They wouldn't have won the west regardless but they would have made the playoffs. Billy rolled the dice and it doesn't look good for the team. It would be ridiculous for him to lose his job over this though. Go A's!

Not sure I buy into that, they got swept by an Angels team that lost two starting pitchers one pitching at a Cy Young award winner level. Had the A's not traded a heart of the order hitter maybe guys like Moss don't slump so hard he benefited being sandwiched between JD and Cespy, role players like Norris never would have been in the middle of the lineup and likely pressed less too.

The Angels are now very hot but what ignited them was that four game sweep after are team had already started losing their edge, it would have been a race to the wire in my opinion and even had LAA won out the A's would have been shoe in for a wild card spot that looks so doubtful now.

 

[oaktown]

The A’s are trying to avoid becoming the first team in the wild-card era (1995 on) to have baseball’s best record at the All-Star break and not make the postseason. This is pretty bad. At least they are making history..

 

[DonyellFreak]

Glad dumb ass Rodney walked in the run to give the A's the win, cannot stand him or Felix with their sideways hat crap. A's will have at least one wild card spot leaving Seattle that's big for their psyche.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Back-to-back wins against Seattle. That's a really good sign, but I'm not going to declare us out of the woods just yet. Off day today followed by a 9 game homestand.

If we can sweep the cellar dwelling Rangers and Phillies then that will go a long way toward repairing the psyche of this team in preparation for our last three games against the Angels. Follow that with four more games against Texas (in Texas) and we could close out the season REALLY strong.

The Angels have been playing on their heads the past couple weeks and they play the Mariners 7 times in their next 13 games. You know they are going to be facing some tough pitching there and the Mariners aren't going down without a fight.

With the Angels magic number set at 4, retaking the division lead is pretty much out of the question (we would have to win out the season and the Angels go 3-10 over their last 13 games), but we can definitely make it look like a much closer race before all is said and done.

At this point I'm thinking we are likely to be the #1 WC team and have to win that 1 game play-in. Then we get to take on either Anaheim or Baltimore in the ALDS.

 

[oaktown]

A's losing in amazing fashion

The Amazing A's. Well, you guys had an incredible first half. Enough said.

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[RaiderZar]

The Amazing A's. Well, you guys had an incredible first half. Enough said.

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The Amazingly Bad A's! With the way the Raiders season is going, it would be fantastic if a giant sink hole would swallow-up that cesspool of a stadium & both teams get a fresh start. Not blaming the stadium at all, we just need something positive to start fresh.

 

[DonyellFreak]

Athletics looked over matched by the Rangers in their home park which is pretty sad considering how bad the Ranger's have been this season.

Philadelphia in town next another team with a poor record, things aren't over and many teams would envy our position still having a piece of the wild card puzzle but the A's have to pull their heads out of their collective asses for these last ten games.

The heat should be very much on Beane if this team misses the playoffs all together but I doubt it will be. The worst part of the trades for me personally is I'm not looking forward to the next couple of seasons, if we were going into this off season with Cespedes in tow and Russell waiting in the wings I'd be much more optimistic at contending in 2015 and beyond.

 

[DonyellFreak]

I didn't want to be right but I was, Beane ruined this club I guess the club house problems started with Milone getting sent out from what I've read Cespedes was a straw that broke the back of the club's spirit.

Beane traded the now and future for Lester who sucked in the wildcard game, Hammel who lost the game in the end, Gomes who looked like a clown the whole way but the play in the outfield to give up a triple to Hosmer really pissed me off.

Lester is gone, Hammel is gone, A's will be lucky to play .500 ball and stay out of the AL west basement next season. Really crappy season to be a fan even though making the playoffs is something this team had a chance to make a deep run instead they backed into the wildcard and found a way to choke a four run lead.

At least it's football season and the Warriors are just around the corner, not looking forward to the A's being good for three or four years really sucks well it was a fun window but another one that Beane let pass without getting to let alone winning the World Series.

 

[Isaiah4110]

That was a very disheartening loss and a horrible way to end the season. Let's pump the brakes a bit though and take a look at some numbers:

First off, Tommy Milone with the Twins this year went 0.1 with a 7.06 ERA in 6 games (5 starts). His WHIP was over 2.2. I do not miss him one bit. Milone is a career 15-8 pitcher with a 2.96 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 35 games (34 starts) at O.Co but just a career 17-15 pitcher with a 4.77 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP in 51 games (49 starts) everywhere else. If you could run a Home-Away platoon with a starting pitcher then he'd be great for the A's, unfortunately starting pitchers need to pitch on regular rest and there isn't the roster space to carry another pitcher to take Milone's away starts. Again, I don't miss him.

Now, on to the "meat" of this thread. Here are the stats of our starting pitchers after the trade deadline:

Kazmir 3-6 with a 6.05 ERA
Gray 2-7 with a 3.83 ERA (take out his last start and that becomes 1-7 with a 4.31 ERA)
Samardzija 3-5 with a 3.12 ERA
Hammel 2-2 with a 2.49 ERA
Lester 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA

So without the three pitchers acquired at or right before the deadline, do you really think we even sniff the WC game? Who would have replaced them? Pomeranz, Milone and Chavez?

Chavez after the break was 0-1 with a 3.54 ERA in in 20 innings spanning 11 relief appearances. He would have been extremely likely to experience the same drop-off Kazmir had if we left him in the rotation. As it was he threw 146 innings on the season and had never before even topped 70 IP in the majors (though he threw ~120 split between the majors and minors in 2012).

Pomeranz may have been a good option, but we can't know that for sure and he had only made it into the 7th inning twice this year.

Milone, as I already mentioned, is not a very good option. I would not have expected a 7+ ERA from him if we had kept him, but I wouldn't have expected an ERA under 4 either.

Straily would have been the only other potential option, and his ERA with the Cubs was over 11.

So, if we hadn't traded for Samardzija, Hammel and Lester, our starting rotation's cumulative ERA would have likely been around 4.5, and that's assuming no one got injured. Even IF you think we would have been able to maintain the offensive production with Cespedes still in the lineup, bringing 4 runs across the plate per game doesn't mean a lot if you are also giving up 4+ runs per game. We still would have struggled greatly in the second half, limped into the playoffs, and then we wouldn't have even had a Jon Lester to start the WC game.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Keep in mind, Cespedes only hit a .269/.296/.423 slash line with 5 HRs and 33 RBIs for the Red Sox in 201 ABs.

 

[DonyellFreak]

Keep in mind, Cespedes only hit a .269/.296/.423 slash line with 5 HRs and 33 RBIs for the Red Sox in 201 ABs.

What follows is a tl;dr rant you've been warned. Cliffs Beane only focuses on numbers and doesn't account for the fact the game is played by human being's that have emotions.

We also gave up Russell, Mckinney, next year's draft pick. you are grasping at straws to harp on Cespedes's offense but not acknowledge the shit defense we had in left field after the trade. Did you see the clown shit Gomes did last night?

We mortgaged the 2015 contention window for Shark, Hammel and Lester as well as the next few seasons. Lester gave up six earned runs and gives zero shits about the A's now that he's done here. Hammel was a disaster and it's fitting he allowed in the run to end the season.

Shark and Donaldson are already rumored to be dealt but Ken Rosenthal this coming off season, Beane at least could have kept Yoenis, got a second baseman and had a club that could compete in 2014 and 15 instead he put all his eggs in one basket and it backfired.

Fans that won't admit Beane fucked up are the worst, when the Seahawks sucked I wanted Holmgren and Hasselbeck gone because their time had past but loyal fans gave me endless shit over it for a few seasons on ESPN. I recall the year Locker was in the draft Seahawks fans wanted him the local boy, wanted Hasselbeck to stay on and mentor him and wanted Holmgren to come back as President of football.

Hass and Locker ended up together in Tennessee they fucking sucked, fat Mike ended up with the Browns and it was a damn disaster as well. Yeah the Seahakws sucked on Mora for a season then got Pete Carroll it took a while but damn if it's not an amazing feeling to win a championship. It never would have happened if the fans had their way and the Seahawks stayed the course with the old guard. There is a time for change no matter how awesome Beane has been he doesn't have what it takes to put a World Series winning team together.

Why recount my experience from another team in another sport? Because the A's are in a rut as well Beane's been GM since the late 90's his methods don't work and now he's getting panicky when he has a team that could compete. He went all in and it backfired like a bitch 22 - 33 after the deadline. I don't give a shit what any of the players did after the trades Milone pitched well in Oakland his traded started the problems in the club house Cespedes's trade blew the doors off. I am not making it up here is a great piece about it.


Steward: Oakland A's disconnect started before Cespedes departed - San Jose Mercury News

That's not from shitty blogger writing for SB nation or Bleacher report either, Beane wants to metic the shit out of the game but it's played by players you need guys with a certain mental make up. Lester was a prick he reminds me so much of Matt Holiday I admire him for beating cancer but that's the only good thing I can say about the guy. He was talking about leaving his first week here, who the fuck does that. He needed to shut his mouth pitch his ass off and then go get paid he didn't need to tell everyone he has a foot out the door.

Beane just looks at numbers he doesn't account for the fact these are human's on the field some guys are clutch, some guys get a long, some guys are out of shape and not worth getting ( Gomes ). Contrast that with a Pete Carroll and John Snyder up in Seattle, they look for guys that have a chip on their shoulder, players that want it more because they felt shunned being undrafted players with something to prove.

Shark's done the same thing when we played the White Sox he said he would enjoy being in Chicago again, these guys aren't the guys you bring into a club that is loose and having fun while knocking the shit out of the rest of major leagues.

Beane put together a club of mental midgets the club house soured then spoiled after the two trades but Beane won't reflect on that it will be onto the next new Sabermetic that will solve everything.

Beane won't be fired but maybe the media will at least ask him some hard questions now and stop treating him like some other worldly intelligent life form.

I don't think A's are ever winning a championship under Beane, I hope he gets bored / frustrated and moves into another position with the club and somehow they don't hire another Sabermetic based G.M. to run the show.

 

[DonyellFreak]