Oakland Athletics: Looking ahead to 2018
By Jason Burke
The bullpen
I figured we had to address one on-the-field aspect of the Oakland Athletics in this piece, and while there are a number of areas that could use some improvements, I’m thinking the bullpen needs the most help. The offense can hit homers (fourth-most in baseball) and most of the players on that side of the ball are pretty set, at least to begin the season.
The rotation may not have been pretty in 2017, but they have some arms that missed time this year that could come in and contribute like Daniel Mengden, who would add a Rollie Fingers-esque mustache and a two-pump windup to the starting staff. He made one start in May and one in June, then started four in September and the last game of the season on Sunday. In total he finished up with a 3.14 ERA this season and allowed just six earned across 35 frames in his last five starts for a 1.54 ERA.
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The bullpen, however, could see many changes coming. The A’s had seven relievers that pitched ten or more innings come in with a positive WAR at the end of the season, and two of them (Doolittle and Madson) are no longer with the team and two more (Josh Smith and Santiago Casilla) came in at just 0.1.
On the positive side, Oakland may have landed their closer to begin the season in Blake Treinen (stop me if you’ve heard that one before) after the hard-throwing righty put up a 2.19 ERA in 37 innings after coming over from Washington. Liam Hendriks presents another solid option when he’s on, but his consistency has been what has kept him from really standing out. It would be nice to pencil him in to the seventh, but having a solid backup would also be nice.
Chris Hatcher, acquired from the Dodgers for International slot money, put up a 3.52 ERA over the final month and a half with the green and gold and looks primed to start the season as the team’s eighth inning option.
From there, spots are open. I would love to see Frankie Montas come back with a vengeance in 2018, but there is no way that the A’s can bank on that happening. He’s also out of options, so he’ll either be traded this winter or get one last shot with the A’s to begin the 2018 season.
Instead, they’ll be looking to the free agent market, or potentially the trade market. Why would a trade make sense for a reliever while the A’s are rebuilding? Well, they have a lot of middle infield depth at the moment, from Franklin Barreto, Marcus Semien, Jed Lowrie and Chad Pinder–and that’s just from the 25-man roster. They also have Jorge Mateo, Nick Allen, Yairo Munoz, Kevin Merrell, Max Schrock, Joey Wendle, Richie Martin and Yerdel Vargas all on their top 30 prospects list over at MLB Pipeline. There is enough depth there to move a guy or two if there is an arm that really calls to the A’s front office.
Next: Angels: Looking towards 2018
No matter how the players get added, the bullpen will be a focal point this offseason, and if the right moves are made and some of the young guys take a big step forward, the A’s could be a sneaky contender as early as 2018.