Time to Look Forward to April 2009
So the A's have thrown in the towel. No sooner had Billy Beane shipped off Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin and Joe Blanton, the team has taken a nosedive straight out of playoff competition and even in danger of falling behind Texas in the division standings. While it was always expected, it still heart-wrenching when your team stumbles and management decides the season isn't worth salvaging. Maybe more intriguing will be if they decide to keep closer Huston Street, and deal him too for more future major leaguers and low rent options. Street has been Okay this year, nothing remarkable, and his trade value may be a little down now from what it was at the beginning of the season. He's just 2-3 with a 4.09 ERA and 17 saves - hardly the stuff competitive teams would look for in a stopper, but could be a serviceable set-up guy for the right situation. That unfortunately, would not command the deal Beane is looking for, so my prediction now is that he will retain Street, allowing him one less hole to fill in next year's staff. Possibly Mark Ellis may be moved more likely.
The reality is, the A's have no real shot at keeping up with the Angels. They've already fallen 4.5 games back, have been playing WAY above their heads, and still don't have any real offensive threats. Yet here we are, June 27, and they sit at 43-35, with a decent .551 winning pct. If they just keep playing at this level, they could very well manage 90 wins this season. All from a team that was supposed to be merely a AAA team playing for future experience. And hey, who knows? Should the Rays falter, the A's will be right in the thick of the Wild Card race. Surely, I'm just an A's fan getting my hopes up and finding reasons to keep watching baseball this season. (Ugh, you would be right if you asserted that) But it is not out of the realm of possibilities that it could happen. As such, this season has at least so far been a rousing success. Even if they go .500 the rest of the year, the A's would finish with 85 wins. Nice.
Well here we are at the end of May. The A's sit just 2.5 games behind the Angels. Certainly nothing to be ashamed of, and a damn bit nicer season than we thought it was going to be. But of course, being the fans that we are (and I know how many A's fans there are out there in FN, just waiting for my next A's blog), give us a little bit of winning and we want more. Its obvious even at this early juncture in the season, for the A's to make the playoffs (now that would have been a crazy statement a couple of months ago, but now mmm, not soooo crazy. Just a little crazy.) they will need to win the AL West, as with the logjam in the East, the Wildcard will surely not be up for grabs. The A's are just 7-12 in their last 19 games, and have only stayed in this race because the Angels have stumbled and fallen and just can't seem to put some wins together. But we all know how talented LAA is, and its only a matter of time before they get rolling. The A's will need to be rolling too when that happens, or we're going to get left in the dust.
Dreams Come True
