Athletics: no news is good news

The Oakland Athletics have been very quiet in the offseason. This plays right into their plans as they’re relying on their internal players to take that next step.

The Oakland Athletics have been very quiet this offseason. They haven’t made any big moves and seem content with what they have. They’ve made small maintenance moves, such as bringing back Jake Diekman and trading Jurickson Profar.

But the fact of the matter remains, the A’s have a plan in mind and it doesn’t consist of outside help. Oakland has been growing players in their minor league system, since they decided to hit restart after the 2014 season. That was the season they went all in to build a dominant staff and fell apart in the Wild Card game against the Royals.

That plan started to take shape last year as the young guys started to grow. Matt Chapman, Matt Olson and Marcus Semien each took big steps in their careers. That season ultimately ended with a loss in the Wild Card game to the New York Yankees.

They continued that success into last year, as they ultimately would win 97 games for a second straight season. But would fall again in the Wild Card game to the Tampa Bay Rays. The next step is either winning the Wild Card game in 2020 or avoiding it in all and winning the AL West.

The Athletics will be as good as they’ve been in a long time. They have a staff that consists of two guys with dominant stuff in A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo. Followed by many guys who are veterans in this league such as Mike Fiers, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas.

You add that with the Chapman, Olson and Semien trio that is a year older and only getting better and you have the recipe for success. That trio is great on both offense and defense and could possibly all win gold gloves next season. Semien was also third in MVP voting in 2019.

The outfield has good talent in Ramon Laureano, Stephen Piscotty and a mixture of Chad Pinder, Mark Canha and Robbie Grossman. As well as one of the most powerful designated hitters in the league in Khris Davis.

Sean Murphy behind the dish has an opportunity to be a gold glove catcher for a long time. This team has so many gold glove players and gold glove potential players on it. The defense will be one of, if not the best in the league again.

So they don’t need to go out and make a flashy trade or signing. They need to stick to the plan and rely on internal growth. They’re starting to see the success they were reaching for when starting over in 2014.