Can history repeat itself for A’s and Giants?
The A’s and Giants both are having miserable seasons. But, with both teams, history has shown that good things are soon to follow.
1979 TO 1980 » After 108 losses, the worst season in Oakland history, Charlie Finley made one last great move that instantly rejuvenated the club. He hired Billy Martin to manage, and Martin coaxed a winning season in 1980 (83-79) by leaning heavily on a talented young rotation and a 21-year-old rookie outfielder named Rickey Henderson, who ran with abandon.
The Giants, after losing 91 games, improved by six games in 1980 but then made a real jump in 1981 when Frank Robinson was brought in to manage and Joe Morgan was signed as a free agent to provide leadership.
They barely managed a winning record in the strike-shortened ’81 season but then were contenders throughout 1982. They were knocked out in the final week but they also knocked the Dodgers out on the last day of the season on a Morgan homer.
1985 TO 1986 » At the end of the 100-loss year, the worst in franchise history, the Giants cleaned house and Al Rosen was brought in as general manager. Roger Craig was hired to manage, and there was instantaneous change when Will Clark and Robby Thompson came up and became fixture rookies and Mike Krukow won 20 games in a remarkable 83-79 turnaround. The following season, Rosen acquired Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky and Don Robinson in blockbuster trades and the Giants were division champions again.
Fledging general manager Sandy Alderson went through three managers in 1986 but the last one he hired, Tony La Russa, finished the year 45-32 and it was the precursor to a dynasty. The A’s were .500 in 1987 but the Bash Brothers were born with Mark McGwire crushing 49 homers as a rookie to join Jose Canseco, who had emerged as a 21-year-old slugger the previous year. Dennis Eckersley, acquired for next to nothing, resurrected his career as a closer, and Dave Stewart began to emerge as the staff ace. In 1988, Oakland won 104 games and started a three-year run as Ameri- can League champions.
1996 TO 1997 » After three straight years of losing under rudderless regimes, both the Giants and A’s went young in the front office — Brian Sabean and Billy Beane became general managers in the same year. Sabean revamped a club that went 90-72 under manager Dusty Baker and won the National League West. It would begin a run of eight straight winning seasons.
The A’s would take a bit longer, but Beane was clearly building something in 1997 and 1998 as promising young players like Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez began to emerge as cornerstones. All that was needed was pitching, and Tim Hudson arrived in 1999, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito followed in 2000, and Oakland was also off on an eight-year run of winning seasons.
2008 TO 2009 » The Giants struggled offensively with aging vets in 2008 after the Barry Bonds era finally came to an end in ’ 07 and they lost 90 games. But there was reason for hope on the pitching staff. Young phenom Tim Lincecum went 18-5 and won the Cy Young Award.
Fellow starter Matt Cain showed considerable promise, Brian Wilson established himself as the closer and 21- year- old named Pablo Sandoval came up and hit .345 in 41 games. The next year, it took hold. Lincecum went 15-7 and won the Cy Young again. Cain went 14- 8. Wilson saved 38 games. And at the end of the year, two youngsters the Giants had drafted in ’07-08, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey, came up and got their feet wet. By the next season, they were fixtures on a World Series champion.
The A’s took longer to emerge. After playing in the ALCS in 2006, manager Ken Macha was unexpectedly fired and the team floundered for five non-winning seasons under replacement Bob Geren.
But things changed in 2011 when Bob Melvin replaced Geren midway through the season, and Beane dramatically revamped the roster for 2012, trading for Josh Reddick and Josh Donaldson and signing Brandon Moss and Cuban free agent Yoenis Cespedes.
The A’s promptly won back-to-back A.L. West titles and also made the playoffs in 2014.