Oakland A’s looking to repeat as AL West champions

The Oakland A’s won the AL West last year and managed to win a round in the postseason. Can they continue that success in 2021?

A debate between the optimistic me and the pessimistic me regarding the 2021 Oakland A’s

Opti-me: Top to bottom, the A’s’ rotation may be in the best position to tackle a 162-game season of any team in MLB. The front five stated 53 of the team’s 60 games in 2020, and not one of them missed a turn.

That means every fifth day Bob Melvin gives the ball to a proven starter, Chris Bassitt, Mike Fiers, Jesus Luzardo, Sean Manaea, or Frankie Montas. Name me any other team in baseball that can say that.

You want numbers? In 2020, the Oakland A’s had the fourth best ERA in the AL, 3.77. They were also fourth in fewest runs allowed per game, just 3.87. With the exception of Liam Hendriks – and you know how fungible closers are – that’s the crew that’s coming back in 2021.

Pessi-me: I don’t mind giving the ball to Bassitt. Coming off a 2.29 ERA and 5-2 record, I will grant you he looks like an ace. The rest of that rotation has never lived up to expectations for more than a few weeks at a time.

You guys have been touting Manaea for years now as a left-handed Gerrit Cole. But that 4.50 ERA doesn’t look very dominating. The same with Montas: From a 2.63 ERA in 2019 to a PED suspension and then to 5.60 last season.

Candidly, I don’t think the rest of the American League is all that intimidated by the prospect of standing in against your five guys all season.

Opti-me: Manaea and Luzardo are both healthy this spring, and that’s a big deal when you project performance. Montas is fighting off Covid, but he’s young and he’ll beat that back by the start of the season.

But we’re not just counting on pitching in Oakland. I know you’re going to take out after the offense, but this is also the season when that steps up. All we really need from Matt Chapman is a return to his usual form and the Athletics have one of the best third basemen in baseball.  You can write him down for 25 home runs,  a 125 OPS+, and the predictably solid third base play he gives no matter what he hits.

Oakland A’s fans feel the same way about Matt Olson at first. Just write off that .195 average last season; he still hit 14 home runs —  that’s a 38-homer pace – and he’s always been good for at least a .250 average.

Ramon Laureano, too. His career stats say he’s a reliable .270 stick with good on base, and that his 2020 numbers don’t mean anything. In fact, when you get right down to cases, it says all you need to know about Oakland that the Athletics won 36 games last season with those stars hitting as poorly as they did. This is a team that understands how to produce runs.

Pessi-me: It seems to me that the topic you haven’t raised is the most important of all, and that’s catching. You’re counting on Sean Murphy, who became the regular last season. You basically have no reliable backup for him.  But right now he’s not even in camp. That collapsed lung he suffered last month, that’s serious stuff…put him under the knife.

I know your reports are that he might be back by opening day, and I for one hope he is. But in what shape? Catching is the most physically demanding job on the field day in and day out, and we’re talking about a lung here. If Bob Melvin can’t write Murphy’s name in the lineup, or if Murphy can’t produce, you guys have no Plan B.

Your middle infield also looks problematic. You’re committed to Elvis Andrus at short to replace Semien. But Andrus has been a defensive liability the past two seasons and five of the past seven. For a team that prides itself on figuring out how to win, that seems like a strange addition.

For the moment you’re committed – if that isn’t too strong a word – to Chad Pinder at second. He’s another guy who doesn’t hit and whose defensive numbers at second are negative. I give that a month before you tell Mark Canha to break out his infield glove again.

Opti-me: Even if Pinder and Andrus don’t hit, we’ll be OK because Seth Brown is taking over in left and the guy can rake. He had 37 jacks at Vegas in 2019 and could have made the team last year except we didn’t need him. With Grossman gone, he gets the chance to blossom.

The last thing you have to keep in mind about the A’s is that Billy Beane and David Forst specialize in adaptability. If Pinder can’t handle second or Murphy isn’t able to get behind the plate full time, there isn’t an executive team in the game more capable of adjusting on the fly.

That’s how the Athletics have been to three straight post-seasons with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

Pessi-me: Beane and Forst are great, but you can’t pull rabbits out of hats year after year. The reality is that the Athletics’ situation entering 2021 is perilous. Laureano, Olson, and Chapman may not bounce back, Manaea, Montas, and Luzardo may not deliver more consistently, Murphy may not be 100 percent.

That’s a lot of question marks for a team with no money to repair on the fly. Oakland looks like a candidate to hit the skids in 2020, probably all the way out of the playoffs.

Opti-me: That’s your dumb opinion, and you’re entitled to it. Vegas, which specializes in smart guys, begs to differ. They’ve got the Oakland A’s battling Houston right to the finish for the division title. The Athletics have a three-game series with Houston the final weekend of the season in Oakland. Expect the division to come down to whoever wins two of those three games. Me, I like the A’s pitching in that one.