Inside Baseball

Reality Check  

A shakeup aims to give the lumbering A's a jump start

By Stephen Cannella

What's happened to the A's? The easy answer: Jason Giambi bolted Oakland for the Yankees, and without its spiritual leader last year's American League wild card, a scrappy, maturing team, fell apart. That makes for a simple Goliath-over-David story, but while the struggling offense certainly misses Giambi's bat, there's more to the tale than that. Even after sweeping the Devil Rays over the weekend, the A's were 23-26 and in third place, nine games behind the West-leading Mariners. They have underachieved thanks to a rotation that hasn't performed up to its reputation, a rash of injuries and a lack of speed. 

Oakland's problems haven't all been at the plate, as Hudson, among others, has struggled. Brad Mangin

Last week general manager Billy Beane addressed the last issue with a roster shakeup. First he demoted .218-hitting rookie first baseman Carlos Peña and two fading veterans, second baseman Frank Menechino and setup man Jeff Tam, to Triple A Sacramento. Then Beane traded leftfielder and leadoff hitter Jeremy Giambi to the Phillies for John Mabry, a utilityman and pinch hitter. "We're not going through a radical change," Beane says. "The core of this team is still very good."

But Beane was sending a shape-up-or-else message to the remaining A's. "They said they were going to do this, and they weren't bluffing," said third baseman Eric Chavez. "Everyone comes into the clubhouse and kind of looks around now."

With Oakland batting .254 and ranked eighth in the league in scoring (4.6 runs per game) at week's end, the moves were also an attempt at altering the club's offensive style, which has consisted of getting on first base and waiting to be driven in by a homer. Hence the departure of Jeremy Giambi, who this spring was installed at leadoff and in leftfield despite having the speed and mobility of the Bay Bridge. Giambi did have a strong .390 on-base percentage, but in Beane's eyes Giambi's limited defensive ability far outweighed his contribution at the plate.

The new leadoff hitter and second baseman is 24-year-old Esteban German, who last season stole 48 bases in the minors. "German is a work in progress, but he gives us speed," says Beane. (German stole a base in his fourth game, his only steal at week's end.) Adam Piatt, a topflight prospect and a far more athletic player than Giambi, now patrols leftfield.

A slew of stolen bases and running catches won't matter, however, if the rotation, the team's supposed strength, doesn't sort itself out. At week's end Oakland had the league's third-highest starters' ERA (4.96). Ace lefthander Mark Mulder (6.96 ERA) and the fourth starter, righthander Cory Lidle (5.24), have spent time on the DL. The No. 2 starter, righthander Tim Hudson (3-6, 4.60), has struggled with his command at times. "He has an Atlas mentality," says Beane of Hudson. "If we lose three in a row, he feels like he has to win all three in one start."

Issue date: June 3, 2002

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, May 29. Click here to subscribe to SI.hey

 

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