{"id":4316,"date":"2012-08-02T12:52:23","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T16:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4316"},"modified":"2013-08-29T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T17:50:10","slug":"a-look-at-oaklands-amazing-2012-season-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4316","title":{"rendered":"A look at Oakland’s amazing 2012 season so far"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tommy Milone has made Oakland’s 2012 rotation surprisingly good. Photo AP\/Ben Margot via dailyrepublic.com<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ll admit it; after watching Billy Beane<\/strong> wheel and deal this past off-season, trading away most of his starting rotation and letting most of his FA hitters walk, I was predicting a 55 win season for this team. \u00a0They were banking on a proposed move to San Jose and I saw these moves as a purposeful bottoming out while playing out the string in Oakland, ahead of a lucrative move to the South Bay. \u00a0Well, that move seems interminably stalled, and many pundits predicted a near record loss season for this team, especially considering the massive moves that the Angels had made, coupled with the 2-time defending AL champs Texas being in the same division.<\/p>\n

Instead, they sit at 56-48 and if the season ended today, right now on August 2nd, the Oakland A’s and their $55M payroll <\/a>(2nd lowest in the league by a couple hundred thousand dollars) would be the 2nd wild-card and would play the Los Angeles Angels, they of the $154M payroll<\/a> (and counting, considering this was their opening day payroll and they’ve taken on with the Zack Greinke<\/strong> deal at the trade deadline).<\/p>\n

How did this happen? \u00a0Lets look at the evolution of the Starting Rotation, because what this group is doing is nothing short of amazing.<\/p>\n

In 2011<\/a>, the Oakland had 10 different guys start games for them. \u00a0Here’s a quick summary (* indicates a left hander on baseball-reference.com pages):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/td>\nAge<\/td>\nW<\/td>\nL<\/td>\nW-L%<\/td>\nERA<\/td>\nG<\/td>\nGS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Trevor Cahill<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n0.462<\/td>\n4.16<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gio Gonzalez*<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n0.571<\/td>\n3.12<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brandon McCarthy<\/td>\n27<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n3.32<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Guillermo Moscoso<\/td>\n27<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n3.38<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rich Harden<\/td>\n29<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n5.12<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brett Anderson*<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Josh Outman*<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n0.375<\/td>\n3.7<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tyson Ross<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n2.75<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Graham Godfrey<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n3.96<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dallas Braden*<\/td>\n27<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here’s what happened to each of these guys (good link for trade details from baseball-reference.com<\/a> here; this link shows the latest trade between Oakland and all other teams but quickly shows all these 2011 deals listed here):<\/p>\n