let's all laugh at the A's this morning

[podsox]

it was nice to see billy lose to a team that does everything he is against

 

[mrwallace2ku]

It was definitely a great game.

I think people are just laughing because at one point it seemed like the A's looked like a championship team but then they sold their future to solidify themselves only to lose in the Wild Card game.

Agreed...Divisions are won in Sept. MLB's inclusion of the "wild card games" has been awesome for the game no doubt. A's played well enough last nite to move on, could have gone either way.

One stat I heard last nite, excluding last nights game of course, is that ALL the roadie wild card teams had won except for Pitt last year...and of course the Royals last night.

MANY teams have leveraged the farm to make a run at the post season, the A's are not the first nor the last to do so and then lose in the end.

 

[StanMarsh51]

Maybe Brad Pitt can star in the sequel to money ball....

One Trade to many!

The A's had a decent staff but Beane just could not let it ride. He had to give away some great young talent and a proven big league power hitter in Cespedes.

I hope A's fans like being a .500 team for the next few years.

Who hasn't had anything resembling a good year offensively since his rookie year in 2012...let's not act like they gave up Miguel Cabrera or something.

 

[WhiteMamba]

I root for 2 other teams behind the Royals. The A's are one of them. Thanks for a great game last night.

Absolutely. I left a message wishing your Royals fanbase a great playoffs on the twitter webz.

Enjoy it man. 29 years..... Y'all deserve it!

 

[jdwills126]

Who hasn't had anything resembling a good year offensively since his rookie year in 2012...let's not act like they gave up Miguel Cabrera or something.

22 HRs and 100 RBIs for not a great year is pretty good. Especially when you now have nothing in return for a guy that had another year under contract. While the A's had zero guys end with 100RBIs. Nope couldn't use a proven hitter in that lineup.

Stop shitting on the guy he was a helluva lot better than Moss the second most productive hitter behind Donaldson. Look at the A's record before and after they traded him.

Yes it was a great game but this was the team to beat after the All Star break! They should not even been playing in the wild card game.

 

[Cyder]

22 HRs and 100 RBIs for not a great year is pretty good. Especially when you now have nothing in return for a guy that had another year under contract. While the A's had zero guys end with 100RBIs. Nope couldn't use a proven hitter in that lineup.

Stop shitting on the guy he was a helluva lot better than Moss the second most productive hitter behind Donaldson. Look at the A's record before and after they traded him.

Yes it was a great game but this was the team to beat after the All Star break! They should not even been playing in the wild card game.

No team has ever had a 2nd half this bad and still make the playoffs. I remember the Yankees bombing at the end of 1999 but they had a huge lead in the division and lost 1 game in the playoffs so few remember how bad they were down the stretch.

 

[HammerDown]

It was a fun Ride for a few months. Winning a lot of games with a minute budget.

Beane rolled the dice to counter the mighty Tigers from the off season to trade deadline moves. Johnson blew up in his face (no pun) and the starting pitching moves didn't work. I was optimistic. But, the collapse was ultimately finished last night.

Deserve all the lols they get if that's your thing.

Go Royals, beat LAA

This. Precisely.

As I said in the other thread, it hurts my feelings not at all to see Lester get rocked. He couldn't have acted any less interested in being a good teammate.

 

[StanMarsh51]

22 HRs and 100 RBIs for not a great year is pretty good. Especially when you now have nothing in return for a guy that had another year under contract. While the A's had zero guys end with 100RBIs. Nope couldn't use a proven hitter in that lineup.

Stop shitting on the guy he was a helluva lot better than Moss the second most productive hitter behind Donaldson. Look at the A's record before and after they traded him.

Yes it was a great game but this was the team to beat after the All Star break! They should not even been playing in the wild card game.

Give me a break....

Here are the numbers at the time Cespedes was traded:

Cespedes - .256 AVG, .767 OPS

Crisp - .274 AVG, .789 OPS
Donaldson - .247 AVG, .797 OPS
Moss - .259 AVG, .842 OPS
Norris - .300 AVG, .877 OPS

Like I said, Cespedes was their 5th best hitter when he was traded. You're too hung up on a stat that Adrian Gonzalez (years removed from his prime) led the majors in...

 

[broncosmitty]

it was nice to see billy lose to a team that does everything he is against

Fuckin A right it was!

 

[963BUSC]

Why laugh at a team that spent money and rewarded the fans with a decent team.

They did exactly the right things.


But, baseball is a tough sport. Even the best teams lose 62-69 games.


I applaud them for "going for it".


They were not going to resign some of the assets they traded regardless.


GREAT SEASON OAKLAND.


That was an epic game that all baseball fans should thank you for giving us.

Good post.

 

[3peet]

As a diehard A's fan, I challenge any Cubs fan to find a comparable historic losses to ours last night. this one makes it tough to work today. I need a drink.

 

[3peet]

One thing that A's fans will always have is pride in not being all over the map bandwagon front running fans.

Pride in your team even after a collapse >>>>>>>>
frontrunning teams all over the continental US map

Thanks for the season A's and thanks for trying at magic Beane.

A's aren't going anywhere. Parker and Griffin are coming back.

G'damn right! We'll leave that to the Angels fans.

 

[jdwills126]

Give me a break....

Here are the numbers at the time Cespedes was traded:

Cespedes - .256 AVG, .767 OPS

Crisp - .274 AVG, .789 OPS
Donaldson - .247 AVG, .797 OPS
Moss - .259 AVG, .842 OPS
Norris - .300 AVG, .877 OPS

Like I said, Cespedes was their 5th best hitter when he was traded. You're too hung up on a stat that Adrian Gonzalez (years removed from his prime) led the majors in...

How about a simpler stat wins before the trade and wins after.

Donaldson lost his protection in the order. Although his BA was low he had power. The bottom line is it was a trade the A's should not have made.

 

[overtone22]

This was championship or bust for them and that poor franchise couldn't even get to the ALDS lol

You rented samardzija & Lester for this?

LMAO!!

 

[StanMarsh51]

How about a simpler stat wins before the trade and wins after.

Donaldson lost his protection in the order. Although his BA was low he had power. The bottom line is it was a trade the A's should not have made.

There are so many factors that go into the game that you can't simply pin wins and losses based on one player in the lineup to draw a causation effect. For example, the gave up more runs in August than any other month prior. ...how much of that do we attribute to losing Cespedes?

If you're going to claim Donaldson lost his protection, explain this:
-Donaldson before Aug 1 - .247 AVG, .797 OPS
-Donaldson Aug/Sept - .271 AVG, .800 OPS

So you could make the case he hit better the last two months of the season without Cespedes...not to mention, his worst month of the season was May, when Cespedes was still with the team. That doesn't jive with what your claiming about the benefit of Cespedes' protection.

 

[gvsulaker82]

The Lester move was unnecessary imo. They had enough pitching already.

It's always funny to see teams make these championship or bust moves in the middle of the season only to lay a big fat egg in the playoffs

As a yankees fan do you even read what you write?

 

[gvsulaker82]

Oh I see yankeses, saints and heat huh? Bet you arent a heat fan too much longer.

 

[BSUSeahawk]

The Cespedes thing is just a media narrative. The guy was, at best, their third best hitter. They got a top tier pitcher for him. It didn't work out, but that doesn't mean the process was wrong. And to be fair to Lester, I thought it was obvious Melvin left him in too long.

Cespedes is not that great of a player (poor OBP, marginal defender), and he would have been in Oakland one more year at most.

 

[BSUSeahawk]

How about a simpler stat wins before the trade and wins after.

Seriously?

 

[BSUSeahawk]

There are so many factors that go into the game that you can't simply pin wins and losses based on one player in the lineup to draw a causation effect. For example, the gave up more runs in August than any other month prior. ...how much of that do we attribute to losing Cespedes?

If you're going to claim Donaldson lost his protection, explain this:
-Donaldson before Aug 1 - .247 AVG, .797 OPS
-Donaldson Aug/Sept - .271 AVG, .800 OPS

So you could make the case he hit better the last two months of the season without Cespedes...not to mention, his worst month of the season was May, when Cespedes was still with the team. That doesn't jive with what your claiming about the benefit of Cespedes' protection.

Case closed. Good post.