Gray one question mark that is still not answered
Ace recovering from yet another injury; offense could still use lefty power
The 2017 Cactus League has been a mostly positive experience for the A’s.
They have more wins than defeats, they’ve scored runs in bunches, and as the calendar turns to the Bay Bridge Series against the Giants starting Thursday at AT&T Park, there are glimmers of optimism to be had.
That wasn’t a given at the start of the spring, not with the A’s coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the American League West.
That’s not to say there aren’t issues. No. 1 starter Sonny Gray, who spent two terms on the DL last year, will start the season on the disabled list again because of an injury that could cost him a couple of weeks, if not more. Jesse Hahn, who had an all-but-free pass into the starting rotation, pitched himself into Triple-A.
The spring started with us asking five questions the A’s would need to address in Arizona. Here’s a look at how they’ve done:
1. Will Sonny Gray return to form?
Perhaps the low point of the
spring was the news that the A’s ace would start the season on the disabled list.
It’s a lat strain on his right side, and he could be back in the rotation by midApril.
But this is Gray’s third trip to the DL since the beginning of the 2016 season, and the A’s have to face the fact that he may not be as durable as they once believed. Gray has every confidence that he’ll be fine once he’s back in the rotation, but three DL trips in 11 months is disquieting in the extreme.
Without Gray, the A’s starting rotation will be thin. Raul Alcantara and Andrew Triggs landed the last two starting berths, and it’s likely the one who pitches best during Gray’s absence will remain in the rotation when Gray returns.
2. Do the A’s have enough left-handed pop for the necessary offensive balance?
To start the season, the answer is probably not. The A’s have a long history of adding a surprise name or two during the spring — Triggs and Khris Davis in 2016, Barry Zito in 2015, Jed Lowrie and Hideki Okajima in 2013, and Yoenis Cespedes and Manny Ramirez in 2012. All were added in February or March.
This year, there was no such addition, when the A’s could have used a lefthanded bat to balance an offense that lost lefty Josh Reddick and switch-hitters Billy Burns and Coco Crisp from last year’s squad.
Yet there are reasons for optimism based on the springs some of the remaining lefties and switch-hitters have turned in. First baseman Yonder Alonso posted a .348/.474/.652 slash line, while the switchhitting Lowrie (.293/.348/.341) and lefty catcher Stephen Vogt (.293/.354/.439) put up decent numbers.
Right fielder Matt Joyce, the first left-handed hitter the A’s went after in the offseason, hit just .206 this spring, but his .429 on-base percentage and .382 slugging percentage show promise.
3. Will this current roster be any better than last year’s at getting on base and scoring runs?
Spring training stats are notoriously unreliable — just look at the A’s 22 spring training wins in 2015. That was three more than any other big-league club, then they finished the regular season with the worst record in the American League.
Still, with the exception of Joyce, who had a .403 on-base percentage last season, it’s difficult to see the club’s on-base percentage improving until younger players such as minor leaguers Matt Chapman, Matt Olson and Franklin Barreto arrive.
4. How far can the A’s ride their bullpen?
The one area where the A’s are loaded is the bullpen, with four former or current big league closers — Ryan Madson, Santiago Casilla, John Axford and Sean Doolittle. Add right-handers Ryan Dull and Liam Hendriks coming off successful seasons in setup roles last year, and manager Bob Melvin will have the ability to go to the bullpen early.
5. Will 2017 be the year the A’s commit to their youth?
History tells us that the A’s will begin shipping out veterans in June or July if the club isn’t competitive.
Leading candidates if that occurs are Alonso, Vogt, Lowrie and Gray. That could trigger appearances by Barreto, Olson and Chapman by the middle of the season.
If the A’s hold on to most of what they have, look for Barreto to make the jump, with Olson and Chapman not far behind.
Barreto, Chapman and No. 3 starter Jharel Cotton are three of the four A’s ranked in Baseball America’s top 100 prospects. The other is last year’s first-round draft pick A.J. Puk, a lefty starter out of Florida. It’s the first time since 2012 that the A’s have had more than two players on Baseball America’s elite list.