Athletics' Revamped Lineup: Top Players & Season Forecast

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00:00Let's go to the A's lineup here, which is a lot more formidable than it has been over the last

00:05several years, because Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, 1-2, both were rewarded with long-term

00:11extensions, and both were fantasy factors in a big way. Last year, really good players. J.J.

00:16Bleda came over from Miami, struggled a little bit with Oakland, but now seems to be an everyday

00:20player there. Langa Leers is one of the top catchers off the board, maybe top five catcher.

00:25Soderstrom, Gelof with a down year last year, but he is back into the A's lineup you can complain

00:31about, but who's complaining, George? The A's finally seem to be in a position where they've

00:36woken up out of their slumber and want to compete here a little bit. Now, will the A's win 80 games

00:41a season? I doubt it, but they certainly are not going to lose 1-10 or anything like the White

00:46Sox this year, so kudos to them. But what's happening, and this is not a fantasy thing,

00:52but in reality, everyone's like, oh yeah, well now that you're moving to Vegas and you need some

00:56support, this is what's going on here. You're spending some money here, and on Severino,

01:00they spent that as well, but gotta like the top three, four guys in Oakland. In Sacramento,

01:06A's lineup here, I have no issue actually with drafting any of those guys.

01:11I'm Soder with you here as well, and let's also not forget, all right, they're not playing in

01:15the Oakland Coliseum anymore. Not only do you not get that massive foul territory, which hurts,

01:20the foul pop-ups that get caught there, but also the ball should carry more in Sacramento.

01:25It's going to be very warm there, both in the day and night. I do wonder if these players can hold

01:29up over a long season, because once again, there's no dome. You're playing in upper 90s heat over and

01:35over again. That's going to take its effect here, but I think the numbers will be 10% better

01:41across the board here as far as home runs and scoring runs, and as you said, and I agree,

01:46this is a bad team, but it's not horrific. I think they can win 75 games, somewhere around there,

01:51maybe even approach 500. I don't think they'll get there, mind you, because they won't replace

01:55when guys get hurt, and that's going to happen here, but I like Brent Rooker. I keep saying

02:01his second base is so weak. I like Gelof late, if I can get him. Don't mind him. So I think this is

02:06a better athletics team than we've seen in a while. They're not going to compete for a playoff

02:11spot. That's not going to happen, but it's not a bad team. Bledet is a late outfielder. I meant

02:16to catch, he's terrible. So Langleyers, I'll take Langleyers. Don't mind him at all here. So yeah,

02:21the bottom of that, Brown or Shull or Wilson, yeah, I'm not touching up the 10-foot pole,

02:24but the top of that lineup, yeah, I don't mind either. Yeah, and maybe Gelof, a bounce back,

02:29is coming for him as well. Starting pitching, actually a couple of pitchers to like here.

02:34I'm very intrigued with Jeffrey Springs, who I thought was going to be a superstar for Tampa

02:39Bay and then had some issues and injuries, etc. But I don't know. I think I might try to buy back

02:46in on Springs this season with the A's and also Osvaldo Beto. If you look at his limited numbers

02:53last season, he'll be their four starter to go into this rotation. I mean, the A's, again,

02:58George, have looked a lot worse. I mean, Mitch Spence could be a fifth starter for 15, 20 teams,

03:04I think, in Major League Baseball. He's not great. He's okay. He's not somebody I want in fantasy,

03:09but, yeah, like, again, I mean, not a bad rotation to open up a season.

03:16Agreed. All right. I like Severino. Is he miscast as an ace? Of course. You know,

03:22Springs, same thing. They're more, you know, SP3s than anything else now. But as much as I

03:27mentioned about the hitters, that I think they'll benefit from playing in Sacramento,

03:31the pitchers, not so much. Once you get the Bulls traveling better here and, you know,

03:35shorter foul territory, it's going to help the hitters here. So I might be worried about that

03:39a little bit, but it's a representative pitching staff. It's not a joke. You know, it's like,

03:44oh, well, this guy's going to get lit up tonight. They have some decent Major League pitchers here.

03:48We'll see what happens here. Am I dying to get any of them? No, they're all at the back end of my

03:52rotation. You know, I'm not staying away from them. But, you know, Severino, he's not, I'm

03:58probably not one of them. If I have five true starters, I don't want him to be one of those

04:02fives for my backup. So I'm going to pitch him, and I like the matchup. Two start weeks, stuff

04:06like that. But I think Severino's upside. Springs, I agree with you. He looked like he was going to

04:10be a star at one point. I think he had Tommy John, so it didn't really work out here. We'll see what

04:14he can do on his first full season with the Oakland Athletics. Sacramento Athletics. Damn,

04:21there's a dollar in the jar. Dollar in the jar. Yeah, Jacob Wilson, I didn't really talk enough

04:27about him. He was, you know, very highly thought of player. I know he's going to open up the season

04:30batting at the back end of the A's lineup, but let's not forget about him, too. He could be a

04:36star in waiting.

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