Oakland Athletics: Why the A’s can win the AL West
By Bill Felber
Oakland Athletics: Why the A’s can win the AL West
Second base
More than at any other position, the Astros are clearly superior at second base. They begin the season with a healthy Jose Altuve, a former MVP who batted .298 in 2019 with 31 home runs, a 3.7 WAR and a 131 OPS+.
The Oakland Athletics open 2020 with question marks at second base. The 2019 incumbent, Jurickson Profar, has been traded to San Diego. Plan A is to replace him with Franklin Barreto, who across parts of three seasons shuttling between Oakland, Nashville and Las Vegas has not demonstrated an ability to actually hit the ball.
In 209 major league plate appearances, Barreto is batting .189 with a 60 OPS+ and a -0.7 WAR. Those numbers raise the question: What’s Plan B?
For the moment, it’s even more obscure rookies. Jorge Mateo is a 24-year-old rookie with zero major league experience who hit .289 for Las Vegas last season. Sheldon Neuse does have big-league experience – the A’s gave him 61 plate appearances last season during which he batted .250. But he is viewed as more of a third base candidate and no more than a backup middle infielder.
No matter what the Athletics do, they’re unlikely to put anybody at second this year who threatens Altuve’s positional superiority. Under those circumstances, the best thing to do is concede Houston’s superiority and move along.