3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Oakland Athletics
This one will be tough. The Oakland A’s finished the 2021 season with a record of 86–76, good enough for 3rd place in the AL West but not good enough for a spot in the playoffs. In typical Oakland A’s fashion, it was time to pay some of their bigger names (Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, etc.) and they traded them away and are now beginning what looks like the start of another rebuild. This piece will be a little different than most. There’s nothing the A’s can do with their current roster, prospects, or with any of the remaining free agents that will improve their record from what it was in 2021. Today, we’ll see what 3 things the A’s can do to set them up for success in the future. Hope you like prospect talk…
1. Get Shea Langeliers Up By May 1st
Part of the return the A’s got in their trade of Matt Chapman to the Atlanta Braves was catching prospect Shea Langeliers. Drafted in the 1st round of the 2019 draft by the Braves, Shea immediately became the A’s 2nd ranked prospect. With a 70 graded arm (baseball scouts work on a 20–80 scale. 50 is average), and 24 homeruns over 151 minor league games and 556 at bats, Shea seems to be just what teams will be looking for in a catcher with the automated strikezone coming the Majors as early as 2023; an offensive minded catcher with a great arm.
Once the automated zone does make it’s way to the Bigs, pitch framing will be a thing of the past. Guys in the mold of Tyler Flowers will cease to exist and we will start to see catchers with stats closer to that of a DH. Shea can be that guy for the A’s. The A’s should let him have the month of April in AAA as he’s only gotten 11 at bats there so far, but he needs to be up and facing Major League pitching by May 1st to continue his development at the plate.
2. Sign Ramon Laureano To A Long Term, Team Friendly Deal
It’s the same old song and dance every few years for the A’s. Develop guys that can be the face of the franchise, trade them away when it’s time to sign them to a deal that they’re worth. I’m sure that it’s hard to be an Oakland A’s fan with the amount of roster turnover that they have. Enter Ramon Laureano.
Ramon Laureano is by no means a face of the franchise type player. However, he is a solid role player and someone that the fans can get behind for years to come. Over his 4 year career, he’s hit to the tune of .263/.335/.465 with an OPS+ of 119. Not only has he been above league average at the plate, he also has above average range in the outfield. Primarily a center fielder, his career range per 9 innings is 2.63 where the league average over that time is 2.52. This means that over 9 innings, Laureano gets to .11 more balls than league average, which equates to 160.38 more outs than league average over 162 9 inning games. The A’s need to loosen the purse strings a little this year and sign Laureano to a 7 year, $100 million deal. If Byron Buxton can make that kind of money while only playing half a season on average a year, Laureano can too.
3. Start Kevin Smith In The Majors
As part of the return for sending Matt Chapman to the Toronto Blue Jays, the A’s acquired prospect Kevin Smith. The 25 year old was drafted in the 4th round of the 2017 draft by the Blue Jays, and he saw some time in the Bigs with Toronto, but never on a regular basis. The A’s need to change that.
Over 4 years in the minor leagues, Kevin holds a career line of .268/.328/.490 with 73 homeruns over 1,570 at bats and 400 games. He is ready to be an everyday starter in the Major Leagues. Luckily for him, the A’s just had a spot open up at 3B that could use a .490 slugging percentage and a 50 walk eye. Kevin has had enough time in minor league ball as evidenced by his 1,570 at bats. He now needs to see Major League pitching on a day in and day out basis or risk stunting his development and completely losing out on the trade with the Blue Jays.
If the A’s can do these 3 things, they’ll be better prepared for success in the long run. There is another strong free agent class coming after the 2022 season and they could pick up a few guys off of it to help fill any holes and could be back in contention as early as 2023. Don’t expect much from them this season though.
This has been the 20th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and see what we can do to help improve them this season (or in this case for the future). Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets. Follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for updates and other sports musings. Next up will be the Philadelphia Phillies!
