Could A’s be more fun than Giants?
First, a disclaimer: In building a ballclub, general managers in Major League Baseball give slight, if any, weight to excitement.
This is the computer age, teams are built largely through analytics, and computers don’t get excited by a player who performs with flair. If Willie Mays were playing today, he would get no extra credit for his basket catches or losing his cap.
But we like that stuff, we fans and professional observers. So we’re just throwing this out there: The Oakland Athletics might have a more exciting team this season than the San Francisco Giants.
Oh, the Giants will win more games. They’re projected to win around 80. The A’s are projected at about 56 wins, which would be an improvement of six victories over last season — while losing 100 games for a third straight year.
Shame on the Giants if they don’t win 24 more games than the A’s. The Giants’ projected payroll is $173 million (Cot’s Contracts). The A’s are dead last in MLB at $53.4 million for their projected Opening Night roster, a comedically low number.
Winning games is exciting in itself, although when the Giants won 107 games three seasons ago, on the fun-to-watch scale, they weren’t exactly Cirque du Soleil. So what we’re talking about here is overall team style points, and the A’s, we maintain, will surprise and reward whatever few fans actually watch them.
The Giants have a more exciting pitching staff, starters and relievers, and that’s where a lot of the extra payroll goes. But one thing is clear: Though the A’s ownership side gives every ap
pearance of trying to lose as many games as possible, the manager and the players are determined to play baseball hard and aggressively.
Example: The A’s stole 149 bases last season, sixth in MLB despite the fact that A’s base thieves didn’t get on base much. The Giants plodded to 57 steals, last in MLB, 15 below the next-lowest club. Hello, Giants, MLB teed it up for base stealers last season, with the new rules. The Giants are running more under new manager Bob Melvin, so we’ll see.
It’s a mistake to be seduced by spring training stats, but it’s interesting that going into Wednesday, the A’s had MLB’s 3-4-5 hitters, batting average-wise: Lawrence Butler, Zack Gelof and Miguel Andújar.
Based on our wildly subjective entertainment/ excitement scale, we’ve got the A’s at least holding their own with the Giants. Just for chuckles, here’s our Bay Area All-Fun-toWatch starting lineup:
Jung Hoo Lee (CF, Giants), Gelof (2B, A’s), LaMonte Wade Jr. (1B, Giants), Jorge Soler (DH, Giants), Michael Conforto (LF, Giants), Shea Langeliers (C, A’s), Matt Chapman (3B, Giants), Esteury Ruiz or Lawrence Butler (RF, A’s), Nick Allen (SS, A’s).
A few of the comparisons:
• Shortstop: Easy nod to the A’s Allen, despite his light bat. He’s a 5-foot-8 defensive wizard, David Eckstein with an arm. The Giants could take this spot if Marco Luciano develops, but he’s hitting zippo, and maybe never will. The nod here could also go to the Giants’ Casey Schmitt, should he eventually win the job.
• Second base: Gelof is looking like the best baseball player in the Bay Area, and at age 24, he hasn’t played a full season yet. The Giants have Thairo Estrada; nice player, but he’s 28 and has had trouble getting on base.
• Catcher: Langeliers over the Giants’ Patrick Bailey. Langeliers is two years older at 26, but appears more durable, and hit 22 homers last season, to Bailey’s seven (in 122 fewer at-bats).
• DH: Soler should be an easy call, with his 36 homers last year. However, his previous two seasons were not nearly as productive, and his homer graph is as jagged as the San Francisco skyline. So the A’s could steal this spot.
• Center field: This one is interesting. The Giants’ Lee looks capable of making a smooth jump from Korean baseball with a solid spring so far. You have to give entertainment bonus points to a man who calls himself the Grandson of the Wind. But the A’s could challenge here. Ruiz has 100-steals potential, but he could get beat out by the aforementioned Butler, a late call-up last season who — at 23 — has come along quickly. Maybe the A’s should make Ruiz their designed base-stealer as a latter-day Herb Washington. What have they got to lose?
Entertainment-wise, who dazzles for the Giants? Chapman, for sure, as a defensive magician at the hot corner. But what if the A’s pick up J.D. Davis and he out-hits Chapman?
Enjoy the A’s while you can — a phrase that means everything at the moment — because come this year’s MLB trade deadline, anyone doing well and collecting a larger-than-minimum paycheck will be heading elsewhere to save wear and tear on John Fisher’s wallet. Until then, though, it could be fun.