Oakland A's: No Longer the Little Team that Could

The Oakland Athletics opened the initial decade of the 21st century on a tear as they made the playoffs from 2000-2004. They did so as a "small market team" and on one of the smaller payrolls in the Majors. Billy Beane was the "in" general manager. He had a book centered around his philosophy of Moneyball, and there were plans for a major motion picture based around the book. However, since 2004 the A's have only made the playoffs once and had two winning seasons.

In the last three years, the A's have had losing seasons, and have underperformed expectations, with win totals of 75, 75, and 76. During that time, they have continued to serve as a farm club for the larger market teams. Following the 2006 season, the last of their Big Three, Barry Zito was lost to the San Francisco Giants in free agency. Dan Haren who was supposed to be an heir apparent to that legacy was shipped out in a trade following the 2007 season. The following year Rich Harden would be traded midseason. 2009 saw the departure of former rookie of the year closer Huston Street.

As the A's were shedding top pitching talent due to financial constraints, they have been unable to acquire or develop consistent middle of the order hitting. Jack Cust was their homerun leader over the 07-09 period with pedestrian totals (22, 33, 25) and they had no players with over 100 runs batted in.

With Billy Beane's Moneyball philosophy being adverse to "small ball" and focused on players getting on base and hitting the home run to knock them in, the lack of power at the middle of the lineup has been a major drag on that team's chance of success.

The paradox is that Beane's philosophy is centered around finding value in under-priced players, and he had success early in the decade with that plan. However, the middle of the order power guys are the ones that carry the highest price tag. That is why he has taken the risk on the broken down Jason Giambi and Nomar Garciaparra in 09. Those two one-time All Stars combined for only 18 homeruns and multiple trips to the disabled list.

As it stands, the only remaining link to the halcyon days is third baseman Eric Chavez. Chavez never emerged as the player that he was envisioned to be when he was selected over Miguel Tejada to be the long term answer in the middle of the lineup. He hasn't played in more than 100 games since 2006, and has not cleared 100 RBIs since 2005.

Once upon a time, it seemed like Billy Beane was a miracle worker and could trade spare parts for the services of an All Star caliber player for at least half of a season. However, those seeming spare parts are now starring for other teams, and the A's are left with only spare parts and memories of a time gone by where big names propelled Oakland into the post season as a way-station on their way to big contracts elsewhere.