Our offense is overrated. It has no speed (or atleast, a manager who fails to use it), no left handed power and it cant hit in the clutch to save its life. Colon had a great year last year and should logically be expected to fall a little this year. Garland is not a true major leaguer. He cant handle the pressure consistently. Stewart/Wright/whoever is number five cannot be counted on. Loaiza always starts off hot. Hell do well but not that well. 13 wins, 4.50 ERA, you can book that from him. Our bullpen is weak. But most importantly, Jerry Manuel doesnt use small ball, such as bunts, steals, hit and runs etc. to his advantage.

 

This team is not World Series caliber...

Our offense is overrated. It has no speed (or atleast, a manager who fails to use it), no left handed power and it cant hit in the clutch to save its life. Colon had a great year last year and should logically be expected to fall a little this year. Garland is not a true major leaguer. He cant handle the pressure consistently. Stewart/Wright/whoever is number five cannot be counted on. Loaiza always starts off hot. Hell do well but not that well. 13 wins, 4.50 ERA, you can book that from him. Our bullpen is weak. But most importantly, Jerry Manuel doesnt use small ball, such as bunts, steals, hit and runs etc. to his advantage.

 

This team is not World Series caliber...

The Oakland A's last year had little speed...and they could have easily made it to the World Series. They had one real lefty power hitter in the entire lineup(as do we....Jose anyone?). Who says Colon won't have a solid year? I don't expect him to go 20-8 with a 2.93 ERA....18-12 with a 3.75 ERA would be great by my standards....that's all we'll need to get to the postseason. Garland is better than you think....he has just been the exact opposite of Loaiza. His ERA in April last year was 8.00...or around there. He then had an ERA under 4.00 for every month after that with the exception of July. If I can get an ERA under 4.00 for every month but two from my #3 pitcher....I'm gonna be happy. Wright won 9 games in the second half last year. Stewart is in the minor leagues...and if we get 13-13 4.50 out of Loaiza....I'll be happy as a clam. Our bullpen is one of the strongest in the league and we have probably the best depth out of any team in that category...that statement was stupid....sorry, but it's the truth. The White Sox, with Jm as manager and KW as the GM, did not use small ball. The White Sox, with JM as manager and Ron Schueler as GM, did use small ball. Whether or not it has to do with the hitting coach(Joshua under Schu, Ward under KW) is a different matter. We will see.

 

The A's of last year are comparable to this year's White Sox.

 

Then again...the A's had and still do have a GM with a clue. We haven't. He doesn't realize the joy of being able to play golf on a beautiful sunny day in the middle of summer. Instead....he wants to manage the team through JM.

 

He'll be playing a little more golf now that he is not the GM.

Our offense is overrated. It has no speed (or atleast, a manager who fails to use it), no left handed power and it cant hit in the clutch to save its life. Colon had a great year last year and should logically be expected to fall a little this year. Garland is not a true major leaguer. He cant handle the pressure consistently. Stewart/Wright/whoever is number five cannot be counted on. Loaiza always starts off hot. Hell do well but not that well. 13 wins, 4.50 ERA, you can book that from him. Our bullpen is weak. But most importantly, Jerry Manuel doesnt use small ball, such as bunts, steals, hit and runs etc. to his advantage.

 

This team is not World Series caliber...

The Oakland A's last year had little speed...and they could have easily made it to the World Series. They had one real lefty power hitter in the entire lineup(as do we....Jose anyone?). Who says Colon won't have a solid year? I don't expect him to go 20-8 with a 2.93 ERA....18-12 with a 3.75 ERA would be great by my standards....that's all we'll need to get to the postseason. Garland is better than you think....he has just been the exact opposite of Loaiza. His ERA in April last year was 8.00...or around there. He then had an ERA under 4.00 for every month after that with the exception of July. If I can get an ERA under 4.00 for every month but two from my #3 pitcher....I'm gonna be happy. Wright won 9 games in the second half last year. Stewart is in the minor leagues...and if we get 13-13 4.50 out of Loaiza....I'll be happy as a clam. Our bullpen is one of the strongest in the league and we have probably the best depth out of any team in that category...that statement was stupid....sorry, but it's the truth. The White Sox, with Jm as manager and KW as the GM, did not use small ball. The White Sox, with JM as manager and Ron Schueler as GM, did use small ball. Whether or not it has to do with the hitting coach(Joshua under Schu, Ward under KW) is a different matter. We will see.

 

The A's of last year are comparable to this year's White Sox.

 

Then again...the A's had and still do have a GM with a clue. We haven't. He doesn't realize the joy of being able to play golf on a beautiful sunny day in the middle of summer. Instead....he wants to manage the team through JM.

 

He'll be playing a little more golf now that he is not the GM.

Look up the bullpens ERA. It aint gonna be pretty...

Roman....look at Koch's ERA. That's your determining factor right there.

 

One guy does not make a bullpen. In fact....one guy can't make a bullpen bad. Gordon, after early struggles, is back down to around 4.00. Marte has been solid....White has been solid....Wunsch has been nearly perfect....and Glover has been great.

 

You take out Koch's ERA....and I bet the bullpen's ERA is right around the 2.75-3.25 mark.

The fact remains guys, is that we are under .500 and playing so all around poorly. We struggled to play .500 against the soft part of the schedule, and are now in the process of getting our annual hammering from the west coast teams. Some thing or some one may spark this team yet. But, I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Roman....look at Koch's ERA.  That's your determining factor right there.

 

One guy does not make a bullpen.  In fact....one guy can't make a bullpen bad.  Gordon, after early struggles, is back down to around 4.00.  Marte has been solid....White has been solid....Wunsch has been nearly perfect....and Glover has been great. 

 

You take out Koch's ERA....and I bet the bullpen's ERA is right around the 2.75-3.25 mark.

Koch kinda does mess it up but still. Hes the closer and the most important guy in the pen, without him you cant give the pen much credit. And White has been below average, over 4.00 for a bullpen guy is not good. I think hell pull together if given the chance, but a of now, hes not getting any credit from me. Gordon surprised pretty much everyone here and got his ERA down to 3.94 so congrats. Hes been quite dependable. Marte, Glover and Wunsch have all been great. Has Wunsch even allowed a run yet?

Roman....look at Koch's ERA.  That's your determining factor right there.

 

One guy does not make a bullpen.  In fact....one guy can't make a bullpen bad.  Gordon, after early struggles, is back down to around 4.00.  Marte has been solid....White has been solid....Wunsch has been nearly perfect....and Glover has been great. 

 

You take out Koch's ERA....and I bet the bullpen's ERA is right around the 2.75-3.25 mark.

Koch kinda does mess it up but still. Hes the closer and the most important guy in the pen, without him you cant give the pen much credit. And White has been below average, over 4.00 for a bullpen guy is not good. I think hell pull together if given the chance, but a of now, hes not getting any credit from me. Gordon surprised pretty much everyone here and got his ERA down to 3.94 so congrats. Hes been quite dependable. Marte, Glover and Wunsch have all been great. Has Wunsch even allowed a run yet?

Nope. Just one hit. And I believe that was on an error.

Roman....look at Koch's ERA.  That's your determining factor right there.

 

One guy does not make a bullpen.  In fact....one guy can't make a bullpen bad.  Gordon, after early struggles, is back down to around 4.00.  Marte has been solid....White has been solid....Wunsch has been nearly perfect....and Glover has been great. 

 

You take out Koch's ERA....and I bet the bullpen's ERA is right around the 2.75-3.25 mark.

Koch kinda does mess it up but still. Hes the closer and the most important guy in the pen, without him you cant give the pen much credit. And White has been below average, over 4.00 for a bullpen guy is not good. I think hell pull together if given the chance, but a of now, hes not getting any credit from me. Gordon surprised pretty much everyone here and got his ERA down to 3.94 so congrats. Hes been quite dependable. Marte, Glover and Wunsch have all been great. Has Wunsch even allowed a run yet?

Nope. Just one hit. And I believe that was on an error.

And don't forget Kelly didn't give up a run in spring training either!