The
Oakland Athletics are on a pace to win 102 games and their
third consecutive AL West title. But they need only 17 more wins to extend another streak that might be even more remarkable: The number of consecutive seasons in which they have
won at least 74 games.
The last year they posted fewer than that,
Jose Canseco was their designated hitter,
Scott Brosius was their third baseman and they had just started to install a young infielder named
Miguel Tejada into their everyday lineup. It was 1997, and Oakland finished that season with 65 wins and 97 losses.
Year after year since, the Athletics have ranked near the bottom of the majors in payroll, given the constraints of their market, and yet year after year, they have tried to win. There is something to be said for that.
They’ve tried to win, and are trying to win again this year, having swapped one of the best prospects in baseball in Addison Russell for starter
Jeff Samardzija, who could help them this year and next, and
Jason Hammel, who is a free agent after this season.
The
Houston Astros recently were pronounced the champions of baseball in 2017 on the cover of Sports Illustrated, given that they had the first pick in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 MLB drafts. They have been collecting talent, for sure, and maybe those players will translate into something good.
But what if they don’t? What if it turns out that all of these last-place finishes -- designed failure, in the eyes of almost the entire industry -- don’t actually pay off? What if Mark Appel’s disastrous performance at the outset of this season -- he has an
8.91 ERA in nine starts in the lowest levels of the minors -- is just the first sign that he’s this generation’s Brien Taylor? What if Carlos Correa’s recent leg injury limits him in the future? What happens if Brady Aiken’s elbow issue, whatever its true nature,
slows his development?
George Springer looks great, yes, but the Astros are flirting with their fourth consecutive season of 100 losses. What if it turns out that there is no major payoff in 2017 or 2018?
There’s only one sure thing in the Astros’ strategy -- Houston has willfully squandered the opportunity to win games for about half a decade.
Playing possum is the easy way out. Fielding a noncompetitive team is the easy way out. Doing what Oakland continues to do, trying to win with relative pennies and nickels year after year, that’s where the art is, and that’s what should be admired and treated as a model.
The Athletics haven’t picked at the top of the draft in almost two decades. Oakland is not hoarding guys ranked at the top of scouting lists, because the Athletics figured out a long time ago that there is nothing certain in simply waiting for young players. Sometimes they get hurt, sometimes their production is lumpy, and sometimes they fail to meet expectations.
Russell wasn't the highest-rated prospect on the board in 2012 when the Athletics picked him 11th overall. Some evaluators believe now that he'll be a star. "He's like a young
Barry Larkin," an executive said the other day, after Russell was traded to the Cubs.
But not every prospect reaches his potential, as
Tim Beckham and
Matt Bush can testify. Being chosen near the top of the draft guarantees nothing, other than a larger signing bonus.
What is a sure thing is that Oakland has a chance to win this year, right now, and Samardzija and Hammel give the Athletics a better chance to win this year -- and Samaradzija likely will help them next year, too.
There have been times when the Athletics could've fully retreated from their effort to win, and veered to position themselves to lose and pick at the top of the draft. But always, they have tried to win. They were trying when they signed
Ben Sheets, hoping he would give them one good year. They tried last winter, when they traded for
Jim Johnson, and when they signed
Scott Kazmir and landed an All-Star on a two-year deal. Sometimes the moves haven’t worked out, mostly they have, but always they tried.
They picked
Josh Donaldson in a trade of
Rich Harden and
Chad Gaudin. They landed
Derek Norris in a deal for
Gio Gonzalez. They got Josh Reddikk for
Andrew Bailey. They signed
Brandon Moss as a free agent. They have waited for draft classes to blossom; they’ve tried to
win now. They have selected the right players at the right time, and tried to maximize the return on the money available in their budget each year.
Oakland might not be as good as Houston will be in 2017; the Astros might be great in 2017.
But then again, the Athletics aren't worried about that. They're working to win
today.
where they at now?
