
OAKLAND – The pain of a 94-loss season is over for the A’s, but the work in correcting things is just beginning.
Given how they spent 2015 tail-spinning to the American League’s worst record, there’s no doubt the A’s will undergo some roster changes.
“When you lose as many games as we did, you don’t want to just say it’s status quo moving forward,” manager Bob Melvin said Monday. “I think we’ll look to make some changes definitely.”
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The question is how many? And how impactful will those changes be for 2016?
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One thing was made clear by Billy Beane, who now carries the new title of executive vice president of baseball operations. After acquiring several prospects and boosting their farm system at the trade deadline, the A’s remain focused on the future. Beane reiterated, not for the first time, that Oakland won’t be dealing away any of its best prospects to upgrade for the present.
“We’ve got a ways to go before we sort of consider ourselves a contender,” Beane said. “How long that process is? You never make predictions on it, because in 2012 the assumption was we were going to be in a long rebuilding period and we won the division. … (But) we’ve got some work to do. How long it takes, that I can’t predict.”
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That won’t be music to the ears of A’s fans. The trick will be finding a way to re-tool for the short term even while the focus is on the long term.
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As usual, the A’s have a solid base of young starting pitching, led by ace Sonny Gray. But that depth depends greatly on the offseason recovery of injured starters such as Jesse Hahn (strained forearm) and Kendall Graveman (strained oblique), and the continued development of fellow rookies Chris Bassitt and Sean Nolin. Beane is even holding out hope that Jarrod Parker, coming off two Tommy John surgeries and an elbow fracture, might re-enter the picture as a starter, though doctors’ feedback will help determine whether Parker potentially could try relieving if it’s easier on his arm.
Beane sounded less certain of A.J. Griffin’s timetable for recovery from a shoulder injury.
Melvin wouldn’t mind seeing the A’s pursue a veteran starter as insurance.
“Maybe you can add another veteran guy in the rotation to Sonny, and take a little pressure off of the younger guys,” the manager said.
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One obvious area to undergo some change is the bullpen, which finished with the AL’s worst ERA (4.63) and contributed greatly to an Oakland-record 35 one-run losses. Aside from closer Sean Doolittle, rookie Ryan Dull and lefty Drew Pomeranz (who could be needed to start), no one else from this year’s relief corps figures to have a 2016 job sewn up.
“It’s certainly an area we need to address,” said David Forst, newly promoted to the role of general manager. “As soon as Sean went down (with an early-season elbow injury), it sort of set the tone for that group unfortunately.”
The defense is another issue. After committing the second-most errors in the majors in 2014, the A’s came back and got even worse this season, leading the majors in errors despite making personnel changes expected to improve the glove work.
But there were second-half signs of improvement from shortstop Marcus Semien, who got a vote of confidence from Beane and Melvin regarding his return as the starting shortstop. Melvin said he could also envision the rest of the infield returning– third baseman Danny Valencia, second baseman Brett Lawrie and first baseman Mark Canha, though Canha could also play the outfield.
Melvin qualified his comments on the infield with, “We’ll see where we move forward here,” – the sign of a manager who’s seen his roster stripped down by trades more than once.
Two veterans figure to be staying put given their contract status, and both are keys for next season. Designated hitter Billy Butler, entering the second year of a $30 million contract, struggled most of his first season with Oakland and needed a hot September to salvage somewhat decent stats (15 homers, 65 RBI) while hitting .251.
“I think he would admit it’s probably not the season he envisioned having,” Melvin said.
Left fielder Coco Crisp, on the books for $11 million next season, played in just 44 games and hit .175, with elbow and neck injuries sidelining him. Forst and Melvin each said the A’s need Crisp to be in the lineup regularly, but that seems a dicey proposition for a player who has an extensive injury history and will play next season at 36 years old.
“We’ve always been a different team when Coco’s out there and healthy,” Forst said. “We’ll certainly focus a lot on making sure … what it takes this offseason to stay that way. Hopefully he is motivated to put in the work and get back to where he’s out there every day. He just couldn’t physically do it over the last six weeks.”