Oakland Athletics to Target Starting Pitching This Offseason

The Oakland Athletics had their second consecutive stinker of a season following three trips to the postseason with a 69-93 record in 2016, a one win improvement over the year before.

The Oakland Athletics have returned to being a punchline rather than a success story with their play over the last two seasons, and as a fan it’s a bit rough at times. Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area recently talked with A’s GM Doug Forst and the team’s decision maker said that he has a stack of letters from fans that have been voicing their displeasure in regards to recent moves that the club has made, many of which could not be repeated.

The frustration is real, but can also lead to some thrilling memories like in 2012 when the team swept the Rangers to end the season and take over the division lead. Then, after the Tigers (Justin Verlander) eliminated the green and gold in the ALDS, the fans chanted “Let’s Go Oakland!” while the Tigers celebrated on the field. It wasn’t to take away from Detroit’s moment, but rather to show their appreciation for this new batch of “scrubs” that had made that summer one of the best in Oakland history.

With those memories firmly in the rearview, the A’s will have to make some moves to show these loyal and sometimes rabid fans that their time invested in this club is worth it. I could list all of the players that have been traded away before reaching free agency, but it would be easier to list the players that have stuck with the team–Sonny Gray and Sean Doolittle–and there is still time for that to change. Doolittle is signed to a team friendly deal, which would make him a potential target for other clubs while Gray is the team’s most prized player that would fetch quite a haul, even after a down year.

By the sound of things, however, the Oakland Athletics plan to continue to build up the club this winter, not continue to strip the team for parts. Forst also told Stiglich that “the A’s will definitely target starting pitching this offseason despite the fact that 1) he’s very optimistic about the crop of young pitching Oakland has developed, and 2) he believes Sonny Gray will bounce back from a poor 2016 season.”

Those young arms include Sean Manaea, Kendall Graveman and Jharel Cotton, who, coupled with Gray in the rotation could form an impressive bunch if they all continue to develop. Andrew Triggs is another intriguing option and should be in contention for the fifth spot in the rotation.

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The free agent market isn’t terribly exciting this year, and with few options that could potentially make a difference to a club, they will likely be fielding offers for more money than the A’s can afford. Given the A’s recent struggles, it’s also not likely that many free agents will be lining up to sign with the team either.

That leaves the old wheelin’ and dealin’ approach, and one option that could be intriguing would be Clay Buchholz. He has a team option with the Boston Red Sox for $13.5M, but there is no guarantee that the Sox pick that up given his struggles in 2016. He held a 4.78 ERA and a 5.06 FIP this past season, and his home run rate nearly reached 1.5 per nine. Playing in the spacious Oakland Coliseum could help lower that rate, and the amount of foul territory would help get Buchholz some easier outs. He has shown in the past that he can perform as a top level starter, and is the kind of buy-low target that Oakland tends to go after, but the price tag that is currently attached to him is a bit more than Oakland is willing to consider.

Jorge De La Rosa is by no means a sexy free agent, as he will be entering his age 36 season in 2017, but he has been a solid piece of the Colorado Rockies rotation for a number of years and could be an innings eater in the fifth spot in the rotation, good for roughly 150 or so. Moving from the hitter friendly Coors Field to the pitcher friendly Coliseum would be a welcome change, but De La Rosa has had success in a Rockies uniform in the past, which could mean that he would be another nice buy-low candidate for the A’s to consider. His ceiling isn’t terribly high, but he’s not going to break the bank and would add a veteran arm to the A’s rotation.

Behind the starting five of Gray, Manaea, Graveman, Triggs, Cotton and potentially a free agent addition, other options would include Daniel Mengden, who made a handful of starts with the club in 2016, but was hurt by their defense. His 4.34 FIP would be serviceable for a young player in the fifth spot in the rotation, but his 6.50 ERA makes this a bit harder because of the defenders around him.

Frankie Montas will need some time to build up his arm strength after missing much of the 2016 season, but he is already in the process of doing so in the Arizona Fall League. In his one start he went six innings, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone. It’s still unclear if he’ll be a starter or reliever long-term, but he should be an option for the A’s to consider in either role at some point in 2017 if he can stay healthy.

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The A’s appear to have some depth in the starting rotation moving forward, but a lot of that depth is young and still improving. If the team hopes to return to respectability in 2017, adding a veteran arm or two to the rotation makes sense, while also providing them with depth to compensate for injuries. A veteran would help eat innings in the early part of the season at the very least, while giving some of the young guns the needed time to develop. A vet could also impart some of their wisdom on an impressionable young staff. We’ve seen depth make a big difference for playoff teams this postseason, and while the A’s aren’t quite of the caliber of the Cubs and Indians, building up a wealth of arms to either use at their disposal, or trade away in a rebuilding effort, is a very Oakland state of mind.

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