25-Year Oakland A's (1982-2006)

by user Pinatubo2000

I'm new to this site, and the first article I read was DNL's challenge. And I was immediately intrigued.

Here's what I've come up with for the Green & Gold Machine. It was fun to go through the old rosters and revive memories of players I had forgotten about. I'm sure a better A's team can be put together, but I found myself getting caught up in making changes and I realized that I probably would never actually finish, since the combinations are endless. I'd appreciate your feedback.

Starting lineup

Rickey Henderson 1989 LF (OPS+ 149) Henderson actually spent the first part of the 1989 season with the Yankees. After he was traded to the A's, Henderson went .294/.425/.438, 52 SB in 85 games, and led the A's to a World Series win. His totals for both teams in 1989 were OPS+133, .274/.411/.399. 1990 was Henderson's AL MVP year, but you'll see that there's a good reason why I picked his 1989 season instead of 1990.
Dwayne Murphy 1984 CF (OPS+ 131) Murphy doesn't get enough credit. He was the perfect guy to hit behind Rickey. A left-handed bat that was willing to take a few pitches so Rickey could run. 33 HR, 88 RBI, 93 R, .256/.342/.472 for a number 2 hitter.
Jose Canseco 1988 RF (OPS+ 170) AL MVP year. First ever to 40 HR (42 to be exact) and 40 SB. .307/.391/.569, 120 R, 124 RBI. Yeah, he was roided up, but there's nothing in the challenge rules that says I can't use him ;-)
Mark McGwire 1996 1B (OPS+ 203) Statistically, McGwire's best year in Oakland. .312/.467/.730, 52 HR, 113 RBI, 104 R, 116 BB. His last full season with the A's; he went to St. Louis in 1997.
Frank Thomas 2006 DH (OPS+ 141) An excellent comeback year for the Big Hurt - .270/.381/.545, 39 HR, 114 RBI. I really wanted to put Geronimo Berroa's 1996 season here as DH (OPS+ 122, .290/.344/.532, 106 RBI, 101 R, 36 HR) because Berroa won't clog up the basepaths like Thomas, but that was McGwire's year.
Eric Chavez 2004 3B (OPS+ 132) I thought about 1989 Carney Lansford (.336/.398/.405 OPS+ 132), but I have so many vivid memories of Chavez making spectacular fielding plays. One of many Gold Glove years.
Miguel Tejada 2002 SS (OPS+ 122) AL MVP year, and a key reason why the A's won 20 in a row in 2002. .308/.354/.508, 204 hits, 34 HR, 131 RBI. Played in all 162 games.
Terry Steinbach 1992 C (OPS+ 116) .279/.345/.411. One of my all-time favorite Athletics.
Brent Gates 1993 2B (OPS+ 106) The 1993 A's were a bad team (68-94). Gates went .290/.357/.391

According to Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis, this lineup can produce 6.623 runs per game.

Bench

Utility Fielder: Donnie Hill 1986 (OPS+ 98) Played 2B, 3B, and SS.
Utility Outfielder: Adam Piatt 2000 (OPS+ 127) 2000 was Jason Giambi's AL MVP Award season, but I decided to go with McGwire at 1B. Piatt hit 5 doubles, 5 triples, and 5 HRs in 2000, to go along with his 23 RBIs and 23 walks.
Backup catcher: Mike Heath 1983 (OPS+ 98) In addition to catching in 90 games, he played OF in 24 games, and 3B in 2 games.
Other pinch hitter: Dave Magadan 1997 (OPS+ 114) The 1997 A's had a decent lineup but horrible pitching. They ranked at the bottom or near the bottom in nearly all AL pitching categories.
Defensive replacement: Randy Velarde 1999 (OPS+ 125) More of an offensive threat (.333/.401/.478).

Starting rotation

Dave Stewart 1987 (ERA+ 113) 20-13 in 37 starts, 261.3 IP, 3.68 ERA, 205 SO. I absolutely had to have Stew on this team. 1990 was his best year (ERA+ 145), but like Henderson, 1990 belonged to another Athletic. For this 25 year period, Stewart epitomizes "staff ace" for the A's.
Kenny Rogers 1998 (ERA+ 144) It sorta pains me to include Rogers on this team. He hated playing for the A's, but he was one of the few shining stars on a team that went 74-88. 16-8 in 34 starts, 3.17 ERA, 1.18 WHIP.
Tim Hudson 2003 (ERA+ 158) Could easily be number 2, but the A's like to do the right-left-right-left-right pattern. 16-7 in 34 starts, 2.70 ERA (2nd in AL), 1.08 WHIP (3rd in AL), 240 IP (3rd in AL).
Mark Mulder 2001 (ERA+ 126) 21-8 in 34 starts (1st in AL wins), 6 CG (2nd in AL), 4 SHO (1st in AL) 3.0 SO to walk.
Mike Moore 1991 (ERA+ 130) 17-8 in 33 starts, 2.96 ERA. Since I decided to go with Tejada instead of Barry Zito's Cy Young 2002 season, I ended up with Moore. I guess I could've gone with Zito's 2000 season (ERA+ 174), but he started only 14 games that year and it doesn't seem fair to pick him.

Bullpen

CL: Dennis Eckersley 1990 (ERA+ 606!) 73 SO, 4 BB, 73.1 IP, 0.61 ERA, 48 saves. The reason why I didn't pick Henderson's AL MVP season. The best mullet on the team, too (barely beating Canseco's).
Tom Underwood 1982 (ERA+ 119) This lefty appeared in 56 games, starting 10 of them. 10-6, 3.29 ERA.
Rick Honeycutt 1995 (ERA+ 180) 2.42 ERA, 1.03 WHIP. LOOGY who always seemed to come through.
Steve Ontiveros 1985 (ERA+ 200) 75 IP, 1.26 WHIP, 1.93 ERA. Only 36 SO.
Justin Duchscherer 2005 (ERA+ 204) Perhaps one of the most underrated setup men in baseball, because he can't throw faster than 85 mph. 85 SO in 85.7 IP, 2.21 ERA, 1.00 WHIP.
Mark Acre 1994 (ERA+ 130) Not great. The best year of his short 5-year career. Someone's gotta mop up.

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DNLLegend

937 days ago

Score 1

Wow, Eck was incredible. My favorite "side effect" of this little game has been revealing just how good some years were, like Eck '90. 4 BB in 73 IP! Oh, but my Mets rotation is so much better than this one... I'm not (too) afraid. :)

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Awrigh01All-Star

937 days ago

Score 0

That's crazy 4BB. I never realized that either.

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

937 days ago

Score 1

The A's have had bad, good, or very good pitching staffs in the past 25 years, but they've never had a great staff with a superstud. Stewart was a machine, but he always was a bend-don't-break pitcher at times. I could've used 2002 Zito (ERA+ 169), but then I couldn't use Tejada's best year. And Bob Welch's 1990 Cy Young year (27-6, 3.72 ERA) was a disappointing ERA+ 126. Rich Harden could end the A's stuperstud drought. If he can stay healthy.

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