I was about to start a thread specifically to talk about one player, but figured this would be a better way to go. The A's might be baseball's best team, and they're doing it in an intriguing way. Their offensive success is driven by Derek Norris, Brandon Moss, Jed Lowrie, Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes, Coco Crisp and John Jaso. The closest thing they have to a star in that group is Cespedes.
The rotation isn't much different. Sonny Gray was drafted right before the Sox took Barnes in 2011. Solid prospect, but not expected to be a stud. Scott Kazmir was cooked. We all agreed he was cooked. Now he's dominating again. Then add Jesse Chavez, Dan Straily and Tommy Milone. Drew Pomeranz is also looking good. The have three starters with a 2.53 ERA or better and ERA+'s of 147 or higher. Pomeranz is at 0.99 and 399, though only has 3 starts.
The bullpen is fluid, but filled with excellent options like Sean Doolittle, Dan Otero, Luke Gregerson, Fernando Abad and Ryan Cook.
This is a really solid team. The A's seem to exist in cycles, and when the pieces fall together, they get good in a hurry. The tend to have small windows for making title runs, but this seems to be as good a start as they've had in a while.
And on a Red Sox related note... this is what I was going to start a thread about:
For all the hand wringing over players like Jed Lowrie and Josh Reddick being shipped out for fairly benign or even failed returns, no one seems to talk about the Oakland A's player with Red Sox roots that is clearly the best hitter of the bunch. Brandon Moss currently has a 171 wRC+. Last year he posted a 137 and the year before that a 160. He's a monster at the plate. Now, he typically does most of his damage against right handed pitching, but so far this year has been crushing pitching from both. Granted, his overall value is hampered by defense. However, we're looking at a guy who has genuine 30 home run power and a solid amount of patience at the plate. His strikeouts are down this year, which will probably normalize, but he's been a bigger offensive force than any first baseman the Red Sox have had in the last 2 and 1/3 seasons.
So why no sour grapes there?
The rotation isn't much different. Sonny Gray was drafted right before the Sox took Barnes in 2011. Solid prospect, but not expected to be a stud. Scott Kazmir was cooked. We all agreed he was cooked. Now he's dominating again. Then add Jesse Chavez, Dan Straily and Tommy Milone. Drew Pomeranz is also looking good. The have three starters with a 2.53 ERA or better and ERA+'s of 147 or higher. Pomeranz is at 0.99 and 399, though only has 3 starts.
The bullpen is fluid, but filled with excellent options like Sean Doolittle, Dan Otero, Luke Gregerson, Fernando Abad and Ryan Cook.
This is a really solid team. The A's seem to exist in cycles, and when the pieces fall together, they get good in a hurry. The tend to have small windows for making title runs, but this seems to be as good a start as they've had in a while.
And on a Red Sox related note... this is what I was going to start a thread about:
For all the hand wringing over players like Jed Lowrie and Josh Reddick being shipped out for fairly benign or even failed returns, no one seems to talk about the Oakland A's player with Red Sox roots that is clearly the best hitter of the bunch. Brandon Moss currently has a 171 wRC+. Last year he posted a 137 and the year before that a 160. He's a monster at the plate. Now, he typically does most of his damage against right handed pitching, but so far this year has been crushing pitching from both. Granted, his overall value is hampered by defense. However, we're looking at a guy who has genuine 30 home run power and a solid amount of patience at the plate. His strikeouts are down this year, which will probably normalize, but he's been a bigger offensive force than any first baseman the Red Sox have had in the last 2 and 1/3 seasons.
So why no sour grapes there?