A as in Anemic

by
April 24, 2009

Oakland has a team batting line of .232/.307/.304.

That’s a .611 OPS. Last year, Jose Vidro’s OPS was .612. Jose Vidro the DH was one of the bigger jokes in the baseball community. That doesn’t speak too well for Oakland’s lineup, one that saw numerous additions during the off-season.

Thus far only Jack Cust and Kurt Suzuki have been bright spots. Cust is walking nearly 20% of the time and Suzuki is putting almost everything into play. After that, Matt Holliday is the only other hitter with an OPS over .700 and only Ryan Sweeney has an OPS over .600. When Billy Beane traded for Holliday, I’m guessing he expected a bit better performance than what we’ve seen thus far.

Jason Giambi has a lower ISO than Bobby Crosby and Landon Powell. Nomar Garciaparra and Orlando Cabrera are doing poorly – although when the former is getting a hit, it’s usually been one for extra bases – and Eric Chavez is doing his best Jack Hannahan impression.

The offensive struggles are a gut punch to a team who had contention hopes. Throw in a struggling young rotation (5.22 FIP) and the Athletics find themselves below an injury depleted Angels squad.

Good news could be on the way, since most of the issues seem BABIP related. Plus, there’s just no way a major league team is going to OPS .611 for an entire season. Since 2000, exactly zero teams have finished with OPS below .650. Yes, even the 2003 Tigers, who were pitiful in every way imaginable found a way to hit for a higher OPS.

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