The A’s turned a Chapman/Semien/Jed Lowrie/Olson infield into like one postseason appearance and a handful of B-/C+ prospects so I’m honestly just happy Gelof’s still got like three seasons before John Fisher panics about having to pay him and makes Beane and Forst give him away to the Braves for their 7th best prospect and two relievers.
If anything, this Gelof/Butler/Soderstrom stretch of games where the A's are still losing most of their games but at least resembling an actual MLB team most of the time at leasts gives me hope for the next couple of seasons when/if the front office finally is freed from John Fisher's tight wallet.Don't forget they also traded away both starting catchers in this year's All Star game -- one of them (Jonah Heim) to a division rival and the other one (Sean Murphy) who has already won a Gold Glove and has a .900+ OPS this season making him arguably the best player at his position in the entire league.
The "what could have been" season the A's should be having right now with Gelof at 2nd and the rest of these guys still in Green and Gold is marvelous. The actual season is it's own kind of marvelous I suppose.
The A's can HAVE nice things, they just can't KEEP them. Such disastrous ownership.
If anything, this Gelof/Butler/Soderstrom stretch of games where the A's are still losing most of their games but at least resembling an actual MLB team most of the time at leasts gives me hope for the next couple of seasons when/if the front office finally is freed from John Fisher's tight wallet.
If this (guy who's currently hitting like post-HGH Barry Bonds while running the bases like pre-HGH Barry) is truly what Gelof is as a player, the A's probably just need to fill out their pitching staff with guys who don't suck (they're honestly probably missing the entire rotation worth of starting pitchers they traded away for nothing more than the several MVP-level infielders they moved.) in order to be competitive (or at least watchable) next season. Just getting Mason Miller for a full healthy season would probably be a full 5 or so game difference on its own.
I was pretty much out on the A's given the whole Las Vegas saga and Fisher gutting what would probably be the best team in the entire AL in order to save money thing but the last month plus of the team finally bringing up some prospects who aren't just AAAA-ers has rekindled a tiny bit of that spark I had for baseball beyond seeing Ohtani do absolutely ridiculous things on a nightly basis.
Seriously, Billy Beane and David Forst have pretty much proven themselves to be some of the best talent evaluators baseball has seen but they have to keep punting on the elite guys they find because their owner is too cheap to keep a single one of them. I've never asked for Fisher to keep EVERYBODY but a normal cost-conscious ownership group would have probably kept at least one of Chapman or Olson or even just Semien and found cost effective guys to put around them (Same goes for the Cespedes/Josh Donaldson/Brandon Moss/Steven Vogt teams that got gutted before the Chapman squads). Unfortunately, Captain Cheapskate won't even do that. Lew Wolfe at least let Beane extend Eric Chavez (just don't mention what happened immediately after that).
Season not quite dead!
Paul DeJong was the hero we needed
I hate John Fisher and ever…..and there’s a deep drive to left by Nick Castellanos
He’s making these guys look silly with that breaking ball. 9 Ks through 4Kyle Harrison is giving me some young Tim Lincecum type vibes with his stuff. Dude just trying to strike out every single hitter. Fun to watch.
He’s making these guys look silly with that breaking ball. 9 Ks through 4![]()
Electric stuff. Slurve nasty, and that fastball is no joke. Can’t wait to see more of this kid!
Didn’t expect to see him out in the 6th (as he strikes out another guy)
Nice seeing Meckler come into his own after a rough start.