Today, we take a look at the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics... Gotta love a team that really wanted to move all the way to the West Coast, but that just seemed to far to do at once. Who amongst us hasn't taken a breather in Kansas City?
Catcher: Mickey Cochrane
1. Highlights: MVP winner in 1928, where he put up .293/.395/.464 line. Though, to be fair, taking second that year was some dude called Heinie Manush. That name is just rough all over.
2. Career Best: three year stretch of batting better than .330 from 1929-31, hit 21 hrs and 112 RBI in 1932.
3. Summary: Hall of Famer, 5 times in the top 20 MVP voting, had an OPS+ over 100 in every year of his career but one (and that one was only a 98...).
First Base: Jimmie Foxx
1. Highlights: Hall of Famer who put up some ridiculous numbers in Philadelphia. 302 hrs as an Athletic, while sporting a .339/.440/.640 line in his time with the club. Career .640???? that's insane!
2. Career Best: Back-to-back MVP seasons in 1932 and 33, with a .364/.469/.749 line and 58 hrs, 169 RBI in 1932; .356/.449/.703 line and 48 hrs, 163 RBI in 1933.
3. Summary: Not much needs to be said... that 1932 seasons is one of the best seasons in baseball history, ranking up there with The Babe and Big-Head Bonds.
Second Base: Eddie Collins
1. Highlights: Hall of Famer who spent about half his career with the A's before becoming a member of what would be come the notorious 1919 Black Sox.
2. Career Best: MVP season in 1914, with a .344/.452/.452 line... weird to see an identical slugging and OBP number, eh.
3. Summary: Career .337 hitter for the A's, and really has no meaningful competition at this position.
Third Base: Eric Chavez
1. Highlights: He put up 4 straight 29+ HR seasons, with OPS+ over 125 each year in the early 2000s. In all, 7 straight 20HR seasons.
2. Career Best: 2001, where he had a sparkling .288/.338/.540 line with 32 HRs and 118 RBI, all while winning the Gold Glove for his defense at the hot corner.
3. Summary: This was a tough one, neck and neck between Chavez and Home Run Baker. It's just too hard to pick this one on offensive stats, as Chavez played in the steroids era and Baker in the deadball era. So I'll give a tip of the cap to defense here, as Chavez is a 6 time Gold Glove winner.
Shortstop: Miguel Tejada
1. Highlights: AL MVP in 2002, 3 straight 30+ HR seasons. Solid athlete
2. Career Best: 2002, Tejada amassed career highs with an impressive .308/.354/.508 line, 34 hrs and 131 RBI.
3. Summary: Solid player for his duration in Oakland, and like all good Oakland players, left when the A's decided they couldn't/wouldn't pay him anymore.
Outfield: Rickey Henderson
1. Highlights: Wow this guy was fast. Seriously. Played for Oakland in 4 separate stints over his career, finishing with over .400 OBP, almost 1300 runs, almost 1800 hits, and 867 stolen bases.
2. Career Best: 130 stolen bases in 1982 set a modern-day record for most in a season. Otherwise, one of his aberrent power seasons in 1990 was a career high, batting .325/.439/.577, 188 OPS+, 28 HRs and 65 SB. What a season.
3. Summary: Career leader in Runs and Stolen Bases, this man defined the leadoff position for the better part of 2 decades.
Outfield: Reggie Jackson
1. Highlights: Mr. October achieved a lot of his fame and fortune after leaving Oakland, but he cut his teeth in those wonderful Yellow and Green unis.
2. Career Best: As a 23 year old in 1969, he hit 47 hrs, 118 RBI and had an OPS+ of 189, all career highs. This coming one year after striking out 171 times in 553 AB.
3. Summary: 4 times in the top 5 for MVP voting while an A, winning in 1973. Generally, he was a quintessential power hitter - home run or strikeout, the occasional double off the wall. I'll take him for my outfield any day.
Outfield: Jose Canseco
1. Highlights: More well known as a Juicer... no wait, THE Juicer, Canseco put up some monster years early in his career, and like Rickey, couldn't stay away, playing for Oakland on 2 separate occasions.
2. Career Best: Baseball's first 40 hr - 40 SB man, he won the MVP in 1988 for his .307/.391/.569, 42 hr, 124 RBI, 40 SB season.
3. Summary: Rookie of the Year, 1988 MVP, 4 times in the top 20 MVP voting. Before his mouth and his ego got in the way, and before the steroids did their inevitable damage to him, he was a helluva ball player.
Designated Hitter: Mark McGwire
1. Highlights: Canseco's protege in Roids, this guy exploded onto the scene in 1987 with 49 HRs in his rookie season and rarely looked back.
2. Career Best: In 1996, he hit for power (52 hrs, 113 RBI), but actually kept his average above .300 for the first full season in his career, drawing 116 walks in teh process. Finished with an awesome .730 SLG.
3. Summary: Sure he was a roid monster, but he really didn't start looking too freakish til the end of his time in Oakland, and for 8 seasons, he consistently hit for power (30+ hr every season but one) and was generally a force to be reckoned with.
Pitchers: Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, Lefty Grove, Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart, Chief Bender, Tim Hudson, Closer: Dennis Eckersley
1. Highlights: Chief Bender put up a 23-5 record with a 1.58 ERA in 1910. Rube Waddell put up 349 K's in 1904, as he put up 39(?!) complete games.
2. Career Best: ERA: 1.30, Jack Coombs in 1910; WHIP: Catfish Hunter, 0.910 in 1972; K's: Waddell, 349 in 1904; Saves: 51, Dennis Eckersley in 1992.
3. Summary: It's a 107 year old franchise, for God's sake... I'll put up a 7 man rotation if i want. I mean, there are 4 hall of famers in there, Hunter dominated in the mid-70s, Stewart was in the top-5 Cy Young voting for 4 years straight, and Tim Hudson won over 70 percent of his decisions as an Athletic. Plus between Catfish and Eck, you got yourself two pretty sweet moustaches there...
Bench: Bob Johnson, Socks Seybold, Nap Lajoie (hit .420 one year... crazy!!), Terry Steinbach, Home Run Baker
Bullpen: Rollie Fingers, Eddie Americus Rommel, Rick Honeycutt, Bob Welch
Batting Order:
1. Henderson (R)
2. Collins (L)
3. Foxx (R)
4. McGwire (R)
1. Highlights: MVP winner in 1928, where he put up .293/.395/.464 line. Though, to be fair, taking second that year was some dude called Heinie Manush. That name is just rough all over.
2. Career Best: three year stretch of batting better than .330 from 1929-31, hit 21 hrs and 112 RBI in 1932.
3. Summary: Hall of Famer, 5 times in the top 20 MVP voting, had an OPS+ over 100 in every year of his career but one (and that one was only a 98...).
First Base: Jimmie Foxx
1. Highlights: Hall of Famer who put up some ridiculous numbers in Philadelphia. 302 hrs as an Athletic, while sporting a .339/.440/.640 line in his time with the club. Career .640???? that's insane!
2. Career Best: Back-to-back MVP seasons in 1932 and 33, with a .364/.469/.749 line and 58 hrs, 169 RBI in 1932; .356/.449/.703 line and 48 hrs, 163 RBI in 1933.
3. Summary: Not much needs to be said... that 1932 seasons is one of the best seasons in baseball history, ranking up there with The Babe and Big-Head Bonds.
Second Base: Eddie Collins
1. Highlights: Hall of Famer who spent about half his career with the A's before becoming a member of what would be come the notorious 1919 Black Sox.
2. Career Best: MVP season in 1914, with a .344/.452/.452 line... weird to see an identical slugging and OBP number, eh.
3. Summary: Career .337 hitter for the A's, and really has no meaningful competition at this position.
Third Base: Eric Chavez
1. Highlights: He put up 4 straight 29+ HR seasons, with OPS+ over 125 each year in the early 2000s. In all, 7 straight 20HR seasons.
2. Career Best: 2001, where he had a sparkling .288/.338/.540 line with 32 HRs and 118 RBI, all while winning the Gold Glove for his defense at the hot corner.
3. Summary: This was a tough one, neck and neck between Chavez and Home Run Baker. It's just too hard to pick this one on offensive stats, as Chavez played in the steroids era and Baker in the deadball era. So I'll give a tip of the cap to defense here, as Chavez is a 6 time Gold Glove winner.
Shortstop: Miguel Tejada
1. Highlights: AL MVP in 2002, 3 straight 30+ HR seasons. Solid athlete
2. Career Best: 2002, Tejada amassed career highs with an impressive .308/.354/.508 line, 34 hrs and 131 RBI.
3. Summary: Solid player for his duration in Oakland, and like all good Oakland players, left when the A's decided they couldn't/wouldn't pay him anymore.
Outfield: Rickey Henderson
1. Highlights: Wow this guy was fast. Seriously. Played for Oakland in 4 separate stints over his career, finishing with over .400 OBP, almost 1300 runs, almost 1800 hits, and 867 stolen bases.
2. Career Best: 130 stolen bases in 1982 set a modern-day record for most in a season. Otherwise, one of his aberrent power seasons in 1990 was a career high, batting .325/.439/.577, 188 OPS+, 28 HRs and 65 SB. What a season.
3. Summary: Career leader in Runs and Stolen Bases, this man defined the leadoff position for the better part of 2 decades.
Outfield: Reggie Jackson
1. Highlights: Mr. October achieved a lot of his fame and fortune after leaving Oakland, but he cut his teeth in those wonderful Yellow and Green unis.
2. Career Best: As a 23 year old in 1969, he hit 47 hrs, 118 RBI and had an OPS+ of 189, all career highs. This coming one year after striking out 171 times in 553 AB.
3. Summary: 4 times in the top 5 for MVP voting while an A, winning in 1973. Generally, he was a quintessential power hitter - home run or strikeout, the occasional double off the wall. I'll take him for my outfield any day.
Outfield: Jose Canseco
1. Highlights: More well known as a Juicer... no wait, THE Juicer, Canseco put up some monster years early in his career, and like Rickey, couldn't stay away, playing for Oakland on 2 separate occasions.
2. Career Best: Baseball's first 40 hr - 40 SB man, he won the MVP in 1988 for his .307/.391/.569, 42 hr, 124 RBI, 40 SB season.
3. Summary: Rookie of the Year, 1988 MVP, 4 times in the top 20 MVP voting. Before his mouth and his ego got in the way, and before the steroids did their inevitable damage to him, he was a helluva ball player.
Designated Hitter: Mark McGwire
1. Highlights: Canseco's protege in Roids, this guy exploded onto the scene in 1987 with 49 HRs in his rookie season and rarely looked back.
2. Career Best: In 1996, he hit for power (52 hrs, 113 RBI), but actually kept his average above .300 for the first full season in his career, drawing 116 walks in teh process. Finished with an awesome .730 SLG.
3. Summary: Sure he was a roid monster, but he really didn't start looking too freakish til the end of his time in Oakland, and for 8 seasons, he consistently hit for power (30+ hr every season but one) and was generally a force to be reckoned with.
Pitchers: Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, Lefty Grove, Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart, Chief Bender, Tim Hudson, Closer: Dennis Eckersley
1. Highlights: Chief Bender put up a 23-5 record with a 1.58 ERA in 1910. Rube Waddell put up 349 K's in 1904, as he put up 39(?!) complete games.
2. Career Best: ERA: 1.30, Jack Coombs in 1910; WHIP: Catfish Hunter, 0.910 in 1972; K's: Waddell, 349 in 1904; Saves: 51, Dennis Eckersley in 1992.
3. Summary: It's a 107 year old franchise, for God's sake... I'll put up a 7 man rotation if i want. I mean, there are 4 hall of famers in there, Hunter dominated in the mid-70s, Stewart was in the top-5 Cy Young voting for 4 years straight, and Tim Hudson won over 70 percent of his decisions as an Athletic. Plus between Catfish and Eck, you got yourself two pretty sweet moustaches there...
Bench: Bob Johnson, Socks Seybold, Nap Lajoie (hit .420 one year... crazy!!), Terry Steinbach, Home Run Baker
Bullpen: Rollie Fingers, Eddie Americus Rommel, Rick Honeycutt, Bob Welch
Batting Order:
1. Henderson (R)
2. Collins (L)
3. Foxx (R)
4. McGwire (R)
5. Jackson (L)
6. Canseco (R)
7. Chavez (L)
8. Tejada (R)
9. Cochrane (L)
Conclusion: The A's are not much for depth at a few positions (C, 2b, SS), but they boast among the fastest and strongest lineups that I can think of. Not a weak link in there. And that pitching staff is pretty ridiculous too...
6. Canseco (R)
7. Chavez (L)
8. Tejada (R)
9. Cochrane (L)
Conclusion: The A's are not much for depth at a few positions (C, 2b, SS), but they boast among the fastest and strongest lineups that I can think of. Not a weak link in there. And that pitching staff is pretty ridiculous too...
No comments:
Post a Comment