![\"MlbHlSq\"](\"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/wp-content\/MlbHlSq.jpg\" "\\"MlbHlSq\\"")
Good things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\nGood things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So what should I make of the Oakland A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bursting into life this week and picking up three new players, while most teams are merely laying groundwork for possible deals?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The natural reaction would be one of interest but little excitement.\u00c2\u00a0 David DeJesus is a relatively punch-less outfielder who has had injury problems of late;\u00c2\u00a0 not the sort of player that the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s are exactly short of already.\u00c2\u00a0 Edwin Encarnacion brings some much-needed power, but he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the most refined approach at the plate and his fielding at third base leaves a lot to be desired.\u00c2\u00a0 Hisashi Iwakuma(*) might be a revelation, or he could follow the disappointments of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa in failing to justify their posting fees from Japan.<\/p>\n
All of which makes it unlikely that the reigning American League champs, the Texas Rangers, will be overly concerned that the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s have greatly improved.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but be optimistic about what General Manager Billy Beane has done over the past week.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not suggesting that the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had to pounce before others snapped up DeJesus and Encarnacion.\u00c2\u00a0 They are potentially useful players, no more than that.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact Encarnacion might even be dropped before Spring Training comes around.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, there are other potential targets out there that could help push the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from being a promising group to genuine contenders in the AL West.\u00c2\u00a0 Beane has decided to strike early, not to set up his team for the 2011 season, but to set up the rest of the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offseason.<\/p>\n
The 2010 Oakland A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had an impressive pitching staff and one of the best defences in the Majors, two factors that give the team genuine hope that they can compete for the West in 2011.\u00c2\u00a0 However, the offense didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pull its weight.\u00c2\u00a0 The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hit just 109 home runs compared to the American League average of 158, a deficiency that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just be explained by their pitcher-friendly home ballpark.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several expensive contracts have come off the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s books this offseason (Eric Chavez and Ben Sheets to name the two most notorious) and some fans had dreamed that the team might use their payroll flexibility to pick up a big bat or two.\u00c2\u00a0 Beane has been quick to play down expectations though, noting that flexibility on the 2011 budget doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help much with free agents like Jayson Werth and Adam Dunn as they will be looking for, and will get, multi-year deals.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, as always, the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s have to be creative and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where these early deals come into their own.\u00c2\u00a0 Iwakuma will add yet another arm to a strong, but young, pitching staff and as every knows, you can never have enough good pitchers.\u00c2\u00a0 If they need to flip a pitcher to get a hitter, they will not be left short even after trading Vin Mazzaro for DeJesus.<\/p>\n
DeJesus himself is a useful player and the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s can now look towards the rest of the offseason knowing that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already got some pieces to mix and match in the outfield if they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t add an outfielder with power the rest of the way.\u00c2\u00a0 As already noted, Encarnacion has his limitations, but he does provide some thump and, again, that could be useful if another infielder cannot be landed.<\/p>\n
The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just go out and get the players they want.\u00c2\u00a0 More than most teams, they have to give themselves plenty of options before seeing how the Hot Stove pans out and taking advantage of what opportunities arise a few months down the line.\u00c2\u00a0 These three deals leave them well placed to do just that.<\/p>\n
(* I should add that Iwakuma hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually signed a contract with the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s yet, but everything I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read makes it seem like the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s are very confident an agreement will be reached)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes. So what should I make of the Oakland A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bursting into life this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[247,553,128],"class_list":["post-9498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-hot-stove","tag-mlb-2","tag-oakland-as"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9507,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9498\/revisions\/9507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}