Offseason attention will be on youth
Oakland’s feel-good September might be trickling into the way the A’s approach the winter.
The team’s top honchos made it clear Monday that even after a third consecutive last-place finish there won’t be a lot of sweeping changes this offseason — the mainstays will be back, don’t expect any major free-agent starting pitchers to be added — and next year will be about continuing that late-season upward trajectory with primarily homegrown players.
“We had a number of guys who came up and performed well, and we have some more guys coming,” said Billy Beane, A’s vice president of baseball operations. “Next year will be an advancement of what we did this year.
“Next year, you want to improve,” Beane added later, “but more than anything, if we can just get long-term pieces in — a process that was started this year and will continue on — I think we’ll feel good. If we have the opportunity for a playoff spot, of course, I think we’ve always been opportunistic, and we’ll look at the winter that way, but we do want to be disciplined long term.”
Beane expressed disappointment in the young starting pitchers’ fitful development this season, but described the free-agent market for pitching
as too risky to be a surefire answer. “The preferred route is to create the pitching staff organically. That’s where we’ve had the most success,” he said.
Left-hander A.J. Puk, the A’s top pick in 2016, is likely to be in Oakland’s rotation at some point next year, probably around mid-June if he performs well at Triple-A. James Kaprielian, obtained in the Sonny Gray deal with the Yankees, also might figure in the mix after he gets a few months of work post-Tommy John surgery.
Dustin Fowler, also acquired in the Gray trade, has a strong shot to be the A’s center fielder come Opening Day; he’s expected to be fully recovered from patellar tendon surgery in time for spring training. Infielder Jorge Mateo, yet another player from the Gray deal, also got some mentions as a player on the rapid rise.
The brain trust believes the offense is fairly well set. The A’s couldn’t be happier with the young position players who came up this year: Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chad Pinder, Boog Powell and Bruce Maxwell. But the discussion about Olson (24 homers in 59 games) and Chapman, highly regarded for his defense at third base, led to the best comedy of the day.
General manager David Forst: “Anytime you bring a player up, you expect there’s going to be ups and downs. I don’t think anyone expected what Matt Olson did.”
Beane, leaning into the microphone, “I did.”
They repeated this routine later when Chapman was the topic.
As for the more experienced players, manager Bob Melvin noted how well Matt Joyce played after his rough start to the season, hitting a careerhigh 25 homers. Melvin said he’d be happy with a Joyce/ Pinder combo in right, with Pinder also subbing in a number of other spots.
The team will pick up Jed Lowrie’s option, as expected. Beane emphasized that Lowrie had one of the best seasons ever by an A’s second baseman.
Where does that leave highly touted middle infielder Franklin Barreto? The A’s don’t mind the thought of sending the 21-year-old back to Triple-A for more seasoning. “You’ve got those two dynamics, which is actually ideal,” Beane said. “I want a young player to sort of push, where his performance is so good that he sort of pushes himself in. But Jed Lowrie had an absolute amazing year, one of the best years probably this side of Jose Altuve as any second baseman in baseball.”
The main area in which the A’s will be on the lookout for help is the bullpen, looking in particular for setup men and perhaps a left-handed specialist.
That has led to speculation that Oakland might move left fielder Khris Davis in the offseason. He has hit 85 homers over the past two seasons, including a career-high 43 this year, and he’s going to be expensive in arbitration.
It certainly doesn’t sound, however, as if the A’s brass is contemplating any such thing. Davis’ contributions are too important.
“He fits in perfectly here,” Beane said. “I think having that big bat that Khris brings helps guys like Olson and Chapman, and he’s been so consistent from the day he got here, just consistently hits homers and drives in runs, which is nice to have with a young team.”
Asked if it might be a tough arbitration case, considering Davis’ numbers, Forst said, “If it is, it is. I don’t think you could overstate the impact he has on the rest of the lineup.”
The one regular in the A’s lineup, then, who might be dangled for bullpen help is corner infielder-designated hitter Ryon Healy, should the front office want to risk breaking up the tight-knit core of youngsters who have come up through the organization together.
Healy is 25 and he blasted 25 homers in his first full bigleague season, but he isn’t an accomplished fielder and moving him would free up the DH spot for Davis and give Oakland more options in the outfield.