Anonymous A is ready for Bronx – "We are actually a damn good team"

2 related

Ask Oakland players, coaches or front-office members to choose a portion of this season and they will reflect on a potentially discouraging road trip in May. After splitting six games with the Yankees and the Red Sox, the A swept a four-game series at Rogers Center against a Toronto team playing competitive baseball at the time. A cross-country move that could have made them lose their morale resulted in a 7-3 gain in their self-esteem.

"On the return flight, I remember being seated:" We are actually a very good team. We can play a little. We could have a chance to do something, "said catcher Jonathan Lucroy." He started to snowball from there, and we improved and improved. "

The A's surpassed Seattle for fifth place in the playoffs in early August, and the only thing that allowed them to suspend their suspense in the final stretch was their bid to break the New York record and get the right to play the wild card at the Oakland Coliseum.

Although it would have been nice, the A have never felt the desperation to host this card game because they are at the heart of the road warriors. Their 47-34 road record is a tic-tac below their mark of 50-31 at Oakland, and they are leading the majors in races, circuits, OPS and total bases on the road. They went 39-22 on the road from an early 8-12.

"Usually, one of the last things a young team does to become good is to learn how to win on the road, and this team was completely at the opposite," said the vice president. Oakland Executive, Billy Beane. "In fact, we played better on the road than at home." For a relatively young group, calm reigns.

"I'm sure our guys would like to play the wild card in front of the Oakland fans, but I do not think they really care about where they play the game." I almost feel like they're thinking, "We could play in New York as well – so we're getting closer to Boston." & # 39; They did not say that, but that is the feeling of confidence that they have. "

The A make their first appearance in the playoffs since 2014, when they dug a 7-3 lead and suffered a 9-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals in the wild card game. Jed Lowrie is the only remaining player on this team, and even he took a one – year break in Houston as a free agent before the A did pick him up in an exchange in November 2015. Josh Donaldson Josh Reddick, Jon Lester and Sonny Gray are members of the Oakland 2014 team and will be competing for the other clubs this month.

Beane, in his 25th year at the Oakland office, bet on a different composition than the one that defined athletics when they were annual visitors in the post-season in the early 2000s. While Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez , Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito were the backbone of an essentially local team for Oakland's Moneyball teams, Beane and Managing Director David Forst subscribed to what Beane calls a "more the transactions". constitute the team this year.

Khris Davis, Stephen Piscotty, Marcus Semien, Lowrie, Mark Canha, Ramon Laureano, Daniel Mengden, Sean Manaea, and Blake Treinen, superintendent, are all commercial acquisitions. Lucroy signed an independent agent contract in the amount of $ 6.5 million in March, and the pitching team was assembled on the fly after the A had suffered an impressive number injury during the scheduled rotation for the opening day. Edwin Jackson, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Mike Fiers, Jeurys Familia, Shawn Kelley and Fernando Rodney were on other lists or were unemployed when the A arrived for spring training in Mesa, Arizona .

A's have long been proud of their free approach to player evaluation and alignment building. But many things have changed since "Moneyball" was nominated for an Oscar in 2012. The Astros are leading the majors in defense, Tampa Bay is the pioneer of the concept of "first match", and Gabe Kapler and the Phillies are organizing every day baseball conventions in one form. When players starting at 200 are rare, multi-position players are the norm and established veterans are eliminated from the game for children coming from the farm, baseball executives have had to deal with the changing composition of the game. ;alignment.

"We have to do things a little differently," Beane said. "If not, we'll end up where our payroll says we should, if we end up doing things exactly like the Red Sox, we'll have problems." The niche has changed over time, and we've had it now. act more to make many small moves and finally make them do something big.

"As a team of small markets, developing a team only by writing and developing would take too much time.You will not be able to afford it soon.With the pressure on small markets to overcome the bump, you are will have to do a lot of trades. "

"I want to go as far as possible in the playoffs to show people," Who are the A's? Who are these guys who hit people? "I do not know anyone in baseball who likes to play with us."

The recipient of Jonathan Lucroy

Nevertheless, some of the old mantras still apply in Oakland. Because of their limited resources, their lack of national exposure and their basic stadium for plumbing, the A continue to maintain a certain American mentality against the world.

"We have a chip on our shoulder," Lucroy said. "I remember coming to Oakland as a visiting player and I did not know who the guys were on the team.You do not see Oakland's A on TV as a MLB is not selling us, we're getting a lot of attention, partly because of the market we're in. We're competing with the Giants, and our situation at the stadium is brutal. [baseball] for a visiting player – worse than Wrigley, and that says a lot. But these are the cards we have distributed and we need to make the most of them. "

No matter the place, the A have an undeniable accessibility and charm. In a recent series at Camden Yards in Baltimore, several Oakland players sat on a large couch in the middle of the visitors' pavilion and quarreled while they were playing with their mobile phones. and watched sports events on several TVs suspended from the ceiling. The atmosphere was more reminiscent of a lazy college dorm than a lazy Sunday morning than at a major league clubhouse during a division title chase in September.

A small but important core of the team is united at the development level. Chad Pinder, Matt Olson, Ryan Dull, Manaea and Mengden played together for first place or minor league championship teams. Matt Chapman briefly joined them with Triple-A Nashville in 2016. The lessons they've learned and the links they've woven have stuck with them in the majors.

"There is a comfort factor," said Pinder. "When you mix the veterans here who took us under their wings, it creates a really good and positive environment.This team is not clique.We all go out together for dinner and hang out together. a very close-knit group, and I think that translates into the field. "

Director Bob Melvin has done a remarkable job of managing the changes to the list due to injuries, especially the launch staff. But he also did his share of hacking with the daily range. In the first game of the season against the Angels in Oakland, Matt Joyce played on the left field and opened the scoring, and Boog Powell was ninth in the central field. Melvin was particularly adept at juggling the assemblage of Canha, Laureano, Nick Martini, Pinder, Joyce and Dustin Fowler left and center.

"It's pretty much the best clubhouse I've ever had," said Melvin. "I've had situations where I was pinching for someone, and the guy for whom the brush is very talented is the pinch rapper while he goes to the plate." I said Once at Mark Canha: "Look, I just need a shot here." I need someone to go on base, I do not need any. A circuit so it's Martini who leads the round. "He says," I'm here with you "and he starts screaming for Martini. You do not see it very often. "

The best players in Oakland largely produce in the shelter of the dark. Davis is leading the majors with 133 home runs since 2016, and he enjoys his anonymity. Chapman elevates the defensive parameters of the new age to a point of absurdity, with a fraction of the attention given to his third-base compatriots Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, his former teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California.