A New Year’s Wish for Every Oakland A’s Fan
By RJ Prince
Let’s look at a New Year’s wish list for Oakland A’s fans for the upcoming year.
As the trades begin to come raining down, Oakland A’s fans are still waiting for their wishes to come true this New Year’s holiday. With the San Diego Padres trades for Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, it’s time for the A’s to make a move to stay in contention for a World Series title.
After two trades by the San Diego Padres to acquire two all star arms in Darvish and Snell, the Padres look like a team selling out for NOW. With a Dodgers team in their division they obviously needed to add a little extra help if they want to end the Dodgers 8 straight NL West titles streak.
The A’s won the AL West this year but seem skittish in this year’s offseason so far. With a few minor league contracts signed and handed out, the A’s have been super quiet so far this offseason. With this team on the brink of breaking through, it truly makes no sense to stay quiet and keep things where they are. General Manager David Forst went on the MLB Network on December 17th to say “Look, we got some work to do… Everyone around here thinks the world of Marcus (Semien), his six years here there is no better person, there’s no better story to be the face of what the A’s did over the last few years… He’s out there and I’ve talked him a little as well.”
I’ve compiled a list of three wishes Oakland A’s fans want before ending the dreadful year of 2020, Fans want to go into 2021 with a positive outlook for the year. This is how the A’s can make their wishes come true.
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Priority number one has to be bringing back Marcus Semien, as Forst said in his interview, “there’s no better person, there’s no better story to be the face of what the A’s did over the last few years.” That is only the truth, Semien has been a strong leader in the locker room for the organization while putting up a career 22.3 WAR (Baseball Reference).
Semien has been a sign of rock solid stability for the Oakland A’s, so why not give him the money he deserves and keep him around for another run at the playoffs. Semien has shown for years that he likes Oakland with multiple1 year deals to stay when he could have signed elsewhere and taken more money.
I believe the A’s will sign Semien to a 5-year, $60 million dollar contract this offseason, granting A’s fans their first wish.
As one of the best closers in the past couple of years, the stove has begun to heat for Hendriks. Many teams are desperate for a late arm to come in and close everything down and Hendriks has proven that he is more than capable of doing that. After a 25 save season in 2019 and 14 in a covid shortened 2020, Hendriks has moved his way up as a top-5 closer in the league.
After a year with a WAR of1.4, Hendriks proved solid again and has drawn interest from many squads already. The A’s can be a little more lenient with Hendriks because they have backup arms in Diekman and Trivino that, if all else fails, they can turn to. Although Diekman only has 7 career saves, he has shown he is a dependable late game arm if the A’s need him.
This may sound off, or that I have to be joking, but this is most definitely for real. Joey Gallo could prove to be the big bat the Oakland A’s need. After a down year in 2020, Gallo will most likely be shipped out to the top seller for pretty much nothing.
After seeing how little the Rangers got for their best arm in Lance Lynn, the A’s can definitely get Gallo with a couple of pieces for a good price. Gallo had career years in 2018 and 2019 for Texas, batting above the Mendoza line and knocking in 20 and 42 HR’s those years. in 57 games Gallo batted a meager .181/.301/.378, the worst of his career.
Many speculated the Rangers would try to trade him and Lynn at the trade deadline, but after both lost a little stock, they decided to hang on and use them to the best of their ability the rest of the year. Gallo would be a defensive help in the OF as well with a cannon for an arm, and great tracking ability. Add all these things together and it is well worth the risk, for the price you can get Gallo, there is no reason not to try and add a power bat to the lineup.
dark. Next. A's finding different approach to pitching
As the New Year comes, hopefully a new front office will come as well, one that will buy in and pay the necessary amount to the players who will keep the team contending for a playoff, and maybe even their first World Series since 1989.