Oakland A's - Why is everybody so high on them?

[thomasps3]

Okay guys, I need just a little help here. People seem to have fallen head over heels for what seems to be a very pedestrian Oakland A's ballclub. Yes, they traded Mulder, who is pitching like he belongs in the minors, and Hudson, who is pitching lights out. My question is though, what the heck is so special about this team? California and the Rangers should finish ahead of them this year, and I have a hard time seeing why they will finish with a .500 record. Next 2 years should be a bit different, but this year, I would be very surprised with 75+ wins. Am I off base here?

[bleach168]

The A's stink. They are 4-5 against TB, TOR and BAL. It's going to get ugly when they face the real teams which happen to be in their own division.

[jbones733]

1 - people love Billy beane & his "money ball" strategy . & he is a damn good GM.

2 - they can pitch , Harden is the ace of the staff & if Zito can come anywhere near what he was they have a great 1-2 . the young kids Haren, Blanton round out a sweet rotation & their bullpen is deep, Calero, Cruz, Street, Dotel those are ingredients to winning

3 - offense got better. adding Kendall was probably most underated move of offseason. also got Chaves a big bopper, kids like Swisher, Crosby, Byrnes

now I have always loved the A's but i thought they would stink this year, but people have got me thinking twice now, so who knows

I still think Halos are defintley better. toss up w texas cause texas has no pitching to speak of

[Carey Saders]

Their pen is bad to the bone. Their SP should be serviceable. Their offense is what scares me. They're better than you think, but their worse than most people say think too.

[bobby]

What are you talking about? Everybody outside message board homers are picking the A's the finish last.

[Pedantic]

Chavez and Durazo are mired in slumps. Once they get going, it can only mean better things for the A's.

[DominicanLou]

I have a $10 bet going that they finish under .500
What do you guys think are my chances?

[BritSox]

I have a $10 bet going that they finish under .500
What do you guys think are my chances?

Well, it hasn't happened for nearly a decade. I think this season is your shot, although I reckon they'll be 2-3 games over.

[INKcogKNEEdough]

I think people have fallen into the "atlanta braves sydrome" with the A's.

By that i mean ANY pitcher that goes to the braves is expected(not without reason) to revive his career

People see Mulder,Hudson,Zito and now Harden they start to assume that any warm body the A's throw on the mound MUST be good. Add to that lets face it , ,,,,, the A's HAVE done a HELL of a LOT with a hell of a little in the last several years. To borrow a phrase from boxing 'pound for pound the best team in baseball' quite likely.

INK

[LBJackal]

Well I don't think there's a lot of excess love going around for the A's. Maybe I just havn't noticed it. They're OK, they'll score their runs, although it won't be pretty the way they do it. They have A great closer, and two pretty good setup men with a third out due to back surgyer, and then there's the rotation... Well Harden is good, Zito not so much, Haren has been keeping it together pretty well, and Blanton as I expected is off to a very solid yet unsspectacular start. They just need Meyer to get it together and get Saarloos as far from the rotation as possible.

So if all goes according to plan... they should finish in 2nd or 3rd place