Sheets and the A’s
Oh how the tide has turned so ever quickly in the AL West. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Mariners have surely had the best offseason among these teams, but I have to admit, the A’s are becoming a very dangerous team right now. With an improved defense (Kouz and Crisp), the acquisition of Sheets to a very young and potent pitching staff, and the potential signing of Damon, the A’s have quickly opened the race in the AL West wide open at this point. To further illustrate this point, lets take a look at some of my expert projections (ha ha) and see how the A’s really stack up at this point:
| Lineup: | Rotation: | ||
| C- Suzuki | 3 | Sheets | 2.5 |
| 1B- Barton | 1 | Anderson | 4.5 |
| 2B- Ellis | 2 | Cahill | 2 |
| SS- Pennington | 1 | Duchscherer | 2 |
| 3B- Kouzmanoff | 2.5 | Braden | 2.5 |
| LF- Davis | 2 | ||
| CF- Crisp | 1.5 | Bullpen: | |
| RF- Sweeney | 2.5 | Bailey | 2 |
| DH- Cust | 1.5 | Wuertz | 2 |
| Ziegler | 1 | ||
| Bench: | Eveland | 0.5 | |
| Fox | 0.5 | Breslow | 0.5 |
| Powell | 1 | Devine | 0.5 |
| Chavez/Miles | 0.5 | Blevins | 0.5 |
| Buck | 0.5 | ||
| TOTAL: | 40 |
Assuming the basis for a replacement level team is approximately 45 wins, by my projections, the A’s check in at about 85 wins. An 85 win season would mark a 10 win improvement upon the A’s 2009 season in which they won 75 games. However, the reason I think the A’s can be a real wild card in the West is because of the volatility they have on their roster (especially in the starting rotation). Brett Anderson is an ace in the making, and if you think he’ll improve on his 2009 season, he could be worth even more than the 4.5 wins I have him projected at. Next, you have to factor in Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer into this equation. Both guys did not pitch in 2009, but when healthy, could be worth well more than the 2.5 and 2 wins I have each projected at, respectively. Trevor Cahill is another youngster who could really improve on his 2009 season, and Dallas Braden has been consistently worth about 2.5 wins each of the past two seasons. The lineup is a bit less interesting but the A’s have surely improved their defense. Sweeney, Davis, and Crisp are all very good defenders in the outfield and make up an above average group as a whole. Kouzmanoff, Ellis, and Pennington are also above average in the infield, and Suzuki is known as an excellent backstop. One other thing to keep in mind, there’s a lot of rumors going around regarding the possibility of the A’s bringing in Johnny Damon on a 1 year $4-5 million deal. If so, this would be a very nice move by the A’s, and all of a sudden you would be looking at a 86-88 win team, on paper.
Boy, talk about one hell of an interesting division. Jack, the ball is officially back in your court…
