Oakland Athletics fans and officials will look back at 2011 with mixed feelings.
The team failed on the field, finishing 74-88 and 22 games behind the American League West champion Texas Rangers, but has gotten more exposure than it has in decades with the release of the film version of “Moneyball.”
The movie, which stars Brad Pitt as general manager Billy Beane, chronicles the 2002 A”s team that shocked baseball purists by winning 103 games while trying to reinvent the way teams evaluate players.
The film is actually really good, and the team probably hoped the late-September release would coincide with an A”s run to the postseason.
Unfortunately, the on-the-field product didn”t live up to expectations and reminded fans that no Beane team (even the lauded 2002 group) has won a World Series.
So, A”s officials are left in the same position they were in during the opening minutes of “Moneyball:” trying to figure out what went wrong last season and how to address free agency next season.
Beane”s 2011 A”s showed bright spots and glaring deficiencies.
Oakland had another strong pitching year, ranking 10th in ERA and batting average against, seventh in quality starts and fourth in shutouts.
But the offense struggled, a theme during the team”s streak of five consecutive non-winning seasons. Oakland finished 20th in runs, 22nd in on-base percentage (.311), 24th in batting average (.244) and 25th in slugging (.369): all low totals that make it difficult to win in the AL.
The A”s also had the second-most errors in baseball (124), a surprising twist for a traditionally respectable defensive team.
The poor offense and awful defense trumped the good pitching, which was a shame considering the year some A”s hurlers had.
Gio Gonzalez led the starting staff with a career-best 16-12 record, finishing with a 3.12 ERA and 197 strikeouts.
Offseason acquisition Grant Balfour (5-2 with a 2.47 ERA in 62 innings) ended the year as one of the best relievers in baseball and closer Andrew Bailey had decent results (3.24 ERA with 24 saves) after missing the first couple months because of injury.
There were some frustrations on the mound though.
Trevor Cahill, who signed an extension early in the season, regressed during an inconsistent year (12-14 with a 4.16 ERA and 1.43 WHIP). Reliever Brian Fuentes (2-8 with three blown saves) cost the A”s many early-season wins as replacement closer.
Injuries also forced the A”s to underuse effective starters Brett Anderson (13 games), Dallas Braden (three games) and Rich Harden (15 games).
The A”s offense had similar disparities, though more hitters had bad years.
Free-agent-to-be Josh Willingham had a stellar season, ranking 25th in home runs (29) and 20th in RBI (98) and giving the A”s a power hitter for the first time since Frank Thomas in 2006.
Shortstop Cliff Pennington and designated hitter Hideki Matsui both finished with good results after rough first halves (hitting .303 and .295, respectively, after the All-Star break).
Rookie second baseman Jemile Weeks was the biggest surprise for the A”s. The mid-season call-up hit .303 with a .340 on-base percentage, 50 runs, 26 doubles and eight triples in 97 games.
Then again, Weeks” success only serves as a reminder of Oakland”s offensive struggles because he wouldn”t have entered the lineup if opening-day second baseman Mark Ellis didn”t get hurt while hitting around the Mendoza line.
Ellis wasn”t the only inefficient starting infielder. In fact, opening-day first baseman Daric Barton and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff both got demoted because of awful play, and now all three are out of the equation.
Starting catcher Kurt Suzuki (.237 with 14 homers and 44 RBI) and right fielder David DeJesus (.240 with 10 homers and 46 RBI) also had down years.
The inconsistent hitting plagued the A”s all season – and ultimately cost head coach Bob Geren his job in early June.
Now, the A”s have a lot of questions as the offseason begins, especially with pending free agents Willingham, Matsui and Coco Crisp, and an outside chance Beane might decide to leave Oakland.
Some answers appear simple (like having consistent hitters and playing better defense), but A”s fans need to hope the solutions begin to arrive during the next six months.
Here are a few year-end stats to consider:
* The A”s were 39-53 before the All-Star break and 35-35 after.
* They were OK at home (43-38) but awful on the road (31-50).
* The same goes for during the day (32-31) and at night (42-57).
* All six infield positions made double-digit errors, including 28 at third, 26 at short and 19 for pitchers.
* The A”s scored 210 fewer runs than first-place Texas.
* September (14-12) was the team”s only winning month.
(Stats from ESPN.com)
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com.
