OAK offense

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I suggest people look at the DiamondMind projections, which show very little decline (or improvement) in the A's offense this year. yes, they lost Tejada and Hernandez. But, it's not like Long gave them any offense. A nicely platooned combination of Kotsay, Kielty, McMillon, and Byrnes along with even a modest recovery from Jermaine Dye should allow a signifcant rebound in offense from the OF (where the A's were horrible last year; even if they improved to below league average levels, it would be a HUGE improvment)

Crosby is an outstanding replacement; it's not that huge of a loss.

The A's offense will not be great. But, it won't be nearly as bad as some think.

[thetongueofire]

anyone who think the A's offense is gonna be Dodger-esquely pathetic is probably overreacting to the loss of Tejada IMHO. on the other hand its only reasonable to expect them to be "offensively challenged"...

Crosby is nowhere as good as Tejada but hes definitely a decent replacement. they also added OF's Kotsay and Kielty who at least know how to hit (Terrence Long reference here !), i.e. even though they lost Tejada they now have guys who can at least get on base before Chaves comesup to bat. offensively, the A's ahould be around or even slightly better than where they were last year (depending on how well Dye's supposed comeback season goes)

[AcidRock23]

Did any of you guys read Moneyball? That pretty much spells out their whole plan. It points out that a team of Scott Hattenbergs would be good for 950 runs/ year if they all played together....

And Jeremy Brown is still out there....

[thetongueofire]

Did any of you guys read Moneyball? That pretty much spells out their whole plan. It points out that a team of Scott Hattenbergs would be good for 950 runs/ year if they all played together....

And Jeremy Brown is still out there....

LoL...

nothing's changed with the A's (or Billy Beane) this year... expect the same 'in-need-of-some-viagra' offense and awesome SP.

[Swinger]

Actually, I think the reason that the A's reached playoffs in '03 was because their pitching improved from 2002: Mulder and Hudson had career years. Their batters last year were so bad overall that they couldn't have consistent OBP despite Beane's emphasis on it. This year, I actually anticipate a good improvement of their offense, and a little step back for their pitching.

[AcidRock23]

I'd say that, as we fantasy freaks are ACUTELY aware, the players failed to live up to the expectations grown out of the statistical analysis! You certainly need to hit the ball to get some OBP and they were weak last year, w/ Tejada starting so poorly and all that. I think Chavez started slowly too...

Actually, I think the reason that the A's reached playoffs in '03 was because their pitching improved from 2002: Mulder and Hudson had career years. Their batters last year were so bad overall that they couldn't have consistent OBP despite Beane's emphasis on it. This year, I actually anticipate a good improvement of their offense, and a little step back for their pitching.