A Look Ahead: A’s In September

The A’s finished the month of August with yet another losing record, and things are not looking particularly good at the moment for the green-and-gold. Oakland entered the season with a revamped offense—on paper at least—and one of the better starting rotations in baseball, but an excruciatingly slow start by the offense wasted the rotation’s brilliant first-half performance.

Since the start of the second-half, the brilliant pitching has since turned into a mediocre staff led by youngsters Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, and the offense has surprisingly stepped up a notch or two. The whole Jekyll and Hyde aspect of this A’s squad has made 2011 a very painful year to watch as a fan, and I’m not sure where the organization plans to do after this season.

Do the A’s roll out next season like it’s finally their year to contend? Or does Billy Beane, or David Forst, who might take over soon if Beane decides to pack his bags and leave, decide to rebuild yet again for the future?

Those questions are going to be answered at some point or another, but until then, here are a few things to look forward to in September:

• September Call-Up’s: The A’s have a few talented minor leaguers down in their system, and according to FanSided and A’s expert writer Nathaniel Stoltz, the A’s might have a solution to their third-base situation waiting in Triple A: Wes Timmons. Other call-up candidates, or players to look out for, include power hitting outfielders Chris Carter and Michael Taylor. September call-ups could give A’s fans a little excitement as the season winds down yet again…
• Final Homestand of the 2011 Season: The A’s will again host their AL West rivals Texas Rangers from Sept.20-22 before heading out a six-game road trip to close out a forgettable 2011 season.
• Moneyball: If you haven’t read Michael Lewis’ best seller Moneyball, run, don’t walk, to your local bookstore and pick up a copy and read it! The tale of Billy Beane’s quest to build a championship team on a tight budget has been turned into a big motion picture event with Brad Pitt portraying Beane. The A’s didn’t win a championship that season, but Beane did impact the game of baseball greatly.
• End of a tumultuous season: Let’s face it, the A’s really stunk this year. September is going to be a short month for the A’s, with Sept. 28 being their last game of the season. The A’s barely made it to .500 last season, but it’ll be a little harder to do so this season. Time to wrap things up and hope for the best in 2012.