The Oakland Athletics are in the heart of the playoff hunt, but are they legitimate contenders?That question’s answer would easily be yes if they could work out a trade for Hanley Ramirez. Just yesterday, I explained why Oakland shouldn’t trade for Chase Headley, but acquiring Ramirez would be a completely different story. The A’s lack production from both positions on the left side of the field. They rank last in the AL in terms of WAR from shortstop, according to FanGraphs. They are fourth-worst from third base. Luckily for the A’s, Hanley can play either position. Ramirez had been the ...
The Oakland Raiders begin camp on July 29th, when both rookies and veterans report for duty. Anticipation is high for Raiders fans who hope that having a functioning general manager in Reggie McKenzie will help turn the team into a playoff contender. The Raiders also have a new head coach in Dennis Allen, who comes to Oakland from the Denver Broncos. Many are writing off the Oakland Raiders, for example NBC Pro Football Talk recently ranked the Raiders No. 23 in their Preseason Power Rankings. Raider faithful are hoping that their squad will come out and prove everyone wrong by ...
The Oakland Athletics are one of the hottest teams in baseball, but just because they’ve had some success doesn’t mean that they should go all-in and acquire Chase Headley. The A’s are winners of nine of their last ten games and most recently swept a four-game set from the New York Yankees. They are currently in the mix for a spot in the playoffs, sitting in a tie for first place in the wild card standings. There is urgency to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006, but a big deadline deal would be the opposite of what ...
As the Oakland Raiders await the start of training camp in six days, their depth at running back will help decide if they have what it takes to make the postseason for the first time since 2003.Darren McFadden is the unprecedented No. 1 running back for the Silver and Black, but with no Michael Bush to rely on this season, the Raiders must provide solid backups at running back if DMC should go down.If history repeats itself (as it has ever since McFadden broke into the league in 2008), then Oakland must be prepared to put a replacement in once ...
Despite missing most of their offseason practice time last year due to the lockout, the Raiders rookies of 2011 showed promise for the future.Whether it was a flashy catch by Denarius Moore or a mauling block by Stefen Wisniewski, the 2011 draft class looks ready to enter their sophomore seasons.Typically, the Raiders youngsters emerge into stars in their third year (Darren McFadden and Darrius Heyward-Bey, to name a couple), but that doesn't mean we should overlook a very important second season in the NFL for the 2011 draft class.Begin Slideshow
WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season. To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times—50 at home and 50 at the opposing ballpark so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location. (Note: This means that if a pitcher who was in the rotation was recently put on the DL, he will ...
Chase Headley has been one of the most popular names in the rumor mill, and according to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Oakland Athletics have joined the hunt for the San Diego Padres third baseman. The Oakland Athletics are in the middle of a miraculous July, and they are definitely in the race for a playoff spot. They are currently a half-game behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for one of the wild-card positions. However, even with all of this incredible success so far, the Oakland Athletics simply need more offense if they are going to be a legitimate ...
You saw the movie, and you probably read the book, so you would think that Major League Baseball would know the history by now of the Oakland Athletics and how they are run by a mad-scientist genius general manager.But instead, the league is once again being taught the value of Moneyball 101.Billy Beane, the brilliant general manager behind the Oakland A's and the subject of Michael Lewis' book, entered the 2012 season with the second-lowest payroll in the league at just over $55 million. In the offseason, Beane dealt away a pair of starting pitchers in Trevor Cahill to Arizona, Gio Gonzalez to Washington and two-time All-Star closer ...
Coming off a four-game sweep of the Yankees and losing only once so far in the second half of the season, the Athletics' confidence is currently at an all-time high. Finding themselves in a position few thought they would be in at this point in the year (the playoff hunt), the A's have now surely become buyers come the July 31st trade deadline.Oakland shouldn't need much help, just one or two guys max at key positions, mainly on the left side of the infield. With no answer at all right now at short, and Brandon Inge in a year long ...
The potential exists for a breakout season for the Oakland Raiders offense in 2012. However, this doesn’t mean the Silver and Black don’t have areas that are questions marks, and the main one that jumps out is the tight-end position. The Silver and Black Report lists the top three TEs on the Raiders depth chart as Brandon Myers, David Ausberry and Richard Gordon. While I have already voiced a vote of confidence for the rookie TE David Ausberry, he could of course use a veteran presence to help tutor him and show him the ropes of life as an NFL ...