A-mazing! a baseball story for the A-ges

I love stories, and what the A’s did this year is one of the most amazing stories in baseball history. I haven’t written about the Oakland Athletics at all this year because I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know anybody on their team, I couldn’t take them seriously, and I didn’t know how they were winning. They seem like a rag-tag crew of pickings off the scrap heap. There was a reason I picked the A’s to lose 96 games.

It has been fun to take a closer look at what this team is made of and when you do, you see that this isn’t just a random group of low-budget leftovers but a carefully crafted team. Here is the laundry list of moves General Manager Billy Beane has made. To cut payroll, yes, but also to construct a surprising contender.

- Before the season the A’s traded their ace (and NL Cy Young candidate) Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals. In return they got pitcher Tom Milone and catcher Derek Norris.

- Their next best pitcher, Trevor Cahill was traded to the Diamondbacks. In return they got pitcher Jarrod Parker and reliever Ryan Cook.

- They traded their All-Star closer Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney to the Red Sox for their fourth outfielder Josh Reddick. They handed closing duties to Grant Balfour (who they planned to use for trade bait midseason).

- They traded a couple unimportant pitchers to the Rockies for outfielder Seth Smith.

- They signed free agents Bartolo Colon, designated hitter Jonny Gomes, and re-signed outfielder Coco Crisp, the only A’s starter from the end of 2011 to still be a starter at the end of 2012.

- They won the bidding for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, with a deal that was widely considered excessive for such an unproven commodity.
They signed minor league free agent first baseman Brandon Moss and called him up in June.

- In August they traded a minor leaguer to the Diamondbacks for shortstop Stephen Drew.

- Also in early August they traded away starting catcher Kurt Suzuki to the Nationals for a minor leaguer.

- The end of July they traded a relief pitcher for backup catcher George Kottaras, who used 18 hits with the A’s to manufacture 19 RBI.

- In May they claimed Triple-A journeyman pitcher Travis Blackley off waivers. The 29-year old had been with the Mariners, Giants, Phillies, Diamondbacks , Melbourne Australia and the Korean League, but in 12 years only made 6 major league appearances.

- Pitcher Brandon McCarthy pitched very well for the A’s until he was struck in the head by a line-drive on September 5 and underwent brain surgery.

- They called up rookie pitchers A.J Green in June and Daniel Straily in August. That month they also activated pitcher Brett Anderson, who had recovered from Tommy John Surgery, but his season ended a month later.

- The only starting players unaccounted for are second baseman Cliff Pennington and third baseman Josh Donaldson, who have had unremarkable careers.

Their entire starting rotation for September (and the playoffs) was composed of rookies: Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, A.J. Griffin, Travis Blackley and Daniel Straily.

They have the lowest payroll in the major leagues, totaling under $50 million, including eight players making the league minimum. In a division with the high-spending Rangers and Angels, what chance did they have?

What happened:
-- Newly acquired rookie pitchers Milone and Parker made 60 starts, each winning 13 games. Griffin went 7-1 with an ERA of 3.08. In fact, all five of those rookies had ERA under 4.

-- Yoenis Cespedes emerged as the Oakland’s most feared hitter, hitting .311 with 14 homers after the All Star break.

-- Brandon Moss hit 21 home runs and was also hot in the second half, batting .309.

-- Josh Reddick struggled in September but still led the team with 32 home runs and 85 RBI (after only 7 home runs in 2011).

-- Jonny Gomes became a key contributor in the second half, hitting .295 with 10 home runs.

-- Derek Norris and George Kottaras became a serviceable catching platoon and got some key hits in the stretch run to end the season. Seth Smith served as a useful utility outfielder, and Stephen Drew provided veteran leadership in the infield.

-- Bartolo Colon didn’t finish the season, but provided some stability and veteran presence in the rotation for much of the season, winning 10 games with a good ERA.

-- Ryan Cook pitched brilliantly in the first half, representing the A’s in the All Star game, and was the most dependable reliever the whole season.

-- Grant Balfour (who was not traded) converted his final 17 save opportunities. Balfour pitched a perfect inning in each of the A’s final 5 games of the season, a remarkable feat.

I find it amazing that this group of players didn’t give up in the early summer or later. On June 10 they sat in last place at 26-35. On June 30 they were 13 games behind the high-powered Texas Rangers. Dallas Braden, one of their best pitchers, missed his second straight season recovering from shoulder surgery. Remember they had also lost All-Stars Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill to trades before the season. One of their starting pitchers to begin the year, Graham Godfrey, was terrible and quickly demoted. In August they lost their veteran and team leader Bartolo Colon to a season-ending suspension. And then in September they lost their next two best pitchers Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson to injuries. Balfour lost the closer job in early May, but Ryan Cook slumped in the role later that summer. Meanwhile, division-rival Rangers (back-to-back AL champions) held onto baseball’s best record for much of the season. As to hitting, at the All-Star break they were dead last in the AL in runs and batting average, next-to-last in slugging percentage, and third-to-last in strikeouts.

But ya know, this group didn’t know any better. With an entire roster of young players looking for a chance, how could they just sit back and wait until next year? This team that couldn’t hit a lick turned it on at the break and actually scored the most runs in all of baseball in the second half; and depending on rookie starting pitchers went 51-25 in the second half of the season, the best record in all of baseball, overcame that huge division deficit and took sole possession of first place on the last day of the season, winning 95 games. It is truly remarkable.

Billy Beane is the same GM from the Moneyball movie. But no offense to Brad Pitt, 2012 was Beane’s finest performance. And this sure sounds like material for a sequel.