Their lineup may change dramatically each year, but the same question persists for the Oakland Athletics: Can they find a way to score enough runs?
Since their last playoff season in 2006, the Athletics have finished no higher than ninth in the American League in runs scored while featuring some of the league’s best pitching.
But this season, with a pitching staff led by two injury-prone veteran starters – Brandon McCarthy and Bartolo Colon – and several unproven arms in the back of the rotation and bullpen, it’s vital that the Athletics’ bats generate more scoreboard activity.
Some observers doubt they can.
“I just don’t see where they’re going to get any power,” said one major league scout who follows the A’s regularly.
The A’s offensive fortunes rest largely with an exciting but unproven talent.
Center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who defected from Cuba last summer and signed a four-year, $36 million contract with the A’s in early March, has the tools to be the middle-of-the-order threat Oakland has lacked for several years.
That was evident in a season-opening two-game series in Tokyo last week, when Cespedes mashed a two-run homer against Seattle that nearly left a vapor trail.
“He’s got great hands, great wrists,” A’s hitting coach Chili Davis said. “You see guys that have power, but they don’t have that nice fluid, wristy kind of swing. He’s not a pull hitter, he’s not an inside-out hitter. He drives the ball to all fields.”
But it could be the hitters around Cespedes that determine what kind of success he has this season.
Cespedes showed vulnerability to sliders throughout the spring, and there’s general skepticism as to how quickly he’ll adapt to the majors, which represents a huge jump in competition from Cuba’s National Series.
The recent track record of Cuban defectors to play in the majors has been a mixed bag.
White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez was 26, the same age as Cespedes, when he signed and went straight to the majors in 2008. Ramirez hit .290 with 21 homers and 77 RBIs that season and won a Silver Slugger award in 2010.
But Cincinnati Reds left-hander Aroldis Chapman, 24, has yet to live up to the hype of his six-year, $30.25 million contract signed in January 2010. He is 6-3 with a 3.27 ERA and one save in 69 career appearances, all in relief.
Los Angeles Angels first baseman Kendrys Morales debuted in the majors in 2006 at age 23, but he needed considerable seasoning in the minors before his breakthrough season of 2009, when he hit .306 with 34 homers and 108 RBIs for the big club.
A’s general manager Billy Beane anticipates Cespedes will struggle at times but feels he has the mental toughness to pull through.
“He takes each at-bat as it is and seems to forget about the last one,” Beane said. “He’s going to go through the growing pains you get with a young player. (But) he doesn’t play afraid.”
The A’s sorely need a spark from someone – Cespedes or otherwise – in the heart of their lineup.
Since 2007, Oakland’s No. 3 hitters rank last in the A.L. in batting average (.246), homers (79) and RBIs (388). Their cleanup men rank 13th with a .253 average and 10th in homers (121), and their No. 5 hitters rank last in homers and 12th in both RBIs and batting average.
Perhaps the addition of Manny Ramirez – who isn’t eligible to play until May 30 because of a 50-game suspension – can provide a power boost. But Ramirez also will turn 40 on May 30, so how effective he might be remains to be seen.
The fact that manager Bob Melvin has speedster Coco Crisp hitting third speaks to the A’s current lack of firepower. And Seth Smith, who has never hit more than 17 homers in a season, is hardly an ideal cleanup man.
The A’s do have a nice group of table-setters with switch hitters Jemile Weeks, Cliff Pennington and Crisp hitting in the top three spots. But it’s worth pondering if their best lineup is Weeks and Crisp hitting 1-2, with a player such as Josh Reddick – who hit .333 during the spring and homered in Tokyo – getting a crack in the third spot and Cespedes batting cleanup.
Cespedes hit sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Tokyo series because the A’s wanted to keep the pressure off him, but that’s likely to change before long.
“We envision him as a middle-of-the-order guy, and at some point I have no doubt he’ll be there,” Melvin said.
A better offense would provide some breathing room for the A’s inexperienced starting rotation, which lost Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez to offseason trades and is without Dallas Braden, sidelined indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
The bullpen is no sure thing, either. Grant Balfour is serving as a full-time closer for the first time, and inexperienced relievers such as Ryan Cook and Fautino De Los Santos are holding down key roles.
The A’s also must aid their pitchers by playing tighter defense than in 2011, when they committed an A.L.-high 124 errors.
“Having a great offense gives you room for error. I’m not sure we have that right now,” Beane said. “The back end of our rotation is pretty young, so playing defense and (having good) base running is going to be real important.”
