Nationals' Pitcher Tanner Roark .... Wait, Who?

Exactly .... 

Going into tonight’s game between the Washington Nationals and the Oakland Athletics I know I had ever heard of Tanner Roark. Granted I do follow the American League more so than the National League, still I found it odd that I had never heard of the National’s big, although not necessarily tall or heavy, right-hander. The Nationals are a team I have a soft spot for. There’s no real rhyme or reason for it except that they have two of my favorite former A’s, starter Gio Gonzalez and reliever Jerry Blevins. I assumed I would know something about the all of the other pitchers in their rotation besides Gonzalez, which I did with the exception of Roark. When Roark held the A’s to two hits in 7.2 inning, I thought, “alright, what’s with this kid?”

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In a baseball sense he is a kid even though he made his first pitching appearance at the age of 26 last season. He pitched barely over the rookie status limit of 50 innings (53.2) last season in just 14 games, five of them starts. So going into this season he’s like the pitcher he faced Saturday the A’s Sonny Gray. He is still practically a rookie, but is not considered one under Major League Baseball’s official rules. Gray pitched 64.0 innings last season with Oakland. I got a little comfort regarding my ignorance from that, but I still can’t understand why I hadn’t really heard of this guy. Especially since he has already pitched a complete game shutout this year.

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Why the A's Should Trade for a Starter

The A’s are looking good this season, despite losing their last two series to the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners. They are sitting atop the American League West with a 20-15 record and a game and a half lead over the second place Texas Rangers. So yes, they are not in any danger right now and are looking like playoff contenders.

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Besides the pitching of former closer Jim Johnson, the A’s pitching has been strong which has been a surprise to many since they lost two of their starters for the year to Tommy John Surgery, Jarrod Parker andA.J. Griffin. However their four and five starters have been slowing down the rest of the team. Not that Dan Straily orTommy Milone have been terrible but look at it this way, the A’s are 16-5 when their top three starters Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir and Jesse Chavez pitch, when the other two and one time call up Josh Lindbloom have pitched the A’s have a record of 3-10. That means something needs to change at the back end of the rotation.

(*stats do not include Milone's eight inning gem last night, but let's face it ... he can be inconsistent that way and the premise of this story written before yesterday's game still stands*)

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Video: "Sonny" Skies over Oakland

Even all the way from Texas there were "Sonny" skies in Oakland Monday as 24-year old Sonny Gray pitched his first career complete game shutout! #ItsAlwaysSonnyInOakland

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Five Changes the A's Need to Make Right Now

Obviously it is not time to panic. No, it’s only been seven scheduled ballgames.  At this point the Oakland Athletics have won two out of the five games that they have actually played, out of the six that have been scheduled and with their ace 24-year old Sonny Gray on the mound there’s a decent chance they can emerge out of the first seven days of play with three wins and three losses. In a week, I’d call that unscathed. There was a rain out that turned into a double header and the next day a 12-inning marathon that ended in a 3-2 win. Then another game was canceled due to weather. So, like I said, no time to panic ...

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Ok, so why is everyone panicking and what can be done to quell the nervousness that is surrounding what should be a strong team? Problem number one: closer Jim Johnson who was acquired from the Orioles this off season. There  are lots of issues with this. The A’s gave up relatively nothing in Jemile Weeks and a player to be named later, who ended up being catcher David Freitas. They did, however,  take on the $10 million a year that Johnson makes and with a budget like Oakland’s he’s a player they are going to have to work with. So far he is responsible for two of the A’s losses. Letting what should have been an easy 9th inning where the A’s had the lead turn into a complete nightmare. And it’s not the type of nightmare where he gave up home runs. There were hits, there were walks and both blown saves were far from pretty. The fans are already up in arms with two arguments or complaints for Oakland’s general manager Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin. The first is why didn’t the club keep their closer of the last two years who was let go to free agency when they could have afforded him? The second is why don’t they demote Johnson from closer and demote him now? As I mentioned panic has begun to set in in Oakland.

The other major is a HUGE lack of offense. When Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin both went down, Parker to season ending Tommy John surgery, everyone suspected that the A’s problem would be their starting pitching. Personally, I barely even flinched. I put more stock in Gray, Dan Straily and now that I have seen him pitch Scott Kazmir than either Parker or Griffin. Parker can be effective, so can Griffin but neither are entirely as consistent as I’d like and Griffin’s propensity for giving up home runs is quite staggering. Not shockingly, at least to me, is that the starting pitching and relief pitching by every pitcher but Johnson has been great. Collectively the A’s entire staff has an ERA of 2.44 which is pretty good considering Johnson’s alone is 22.00. The collective batting average of the team? .214. They aren’t letting teams score runs they are just not scoring any and the deficits in their lineup are not the ones you’d expect.

There are already some easy changes that could be made that would benefit the club. They have enough depth at almost every positions to correct these issues. Some may find them my suggestion bold, others may see them as obvious.  However you see them, here is my take on five ways the A’s can easily improve their two key issues: offense and the closer situation.

To Find Out What Five Changes I think the A's need to Make CLICK HERE! Brought to you by Outside Pitch Sports Network LLC. 

You can find us on Twitter @OakAsSocksGrl and @OPSN_MLB

My Collaborative Article with John Flesta on VAVEL.com for an A's 2014 Season Preview

I was asked to assist on an A's preview by John Flesta (you can follow him on Twitter @jflesta). You may or may not like what I have to say but I would love to hear your opinion so please check it out! I think John's preview of the 2014 Oakland Athletics is great! I hope you enjoy reading it and any feedback is welcome!

Here's the link to the interview on VAVEL.com: 

Oakland A's 2014 Season Preview

A's Announce Opening Day Roster

*I was close (kinda) with my Bold Prediction on Billy Burns (check out my piece on Billy Burns)! He got moved on the last day possible! I bet we see him on the Big League roster before the end of the season!*

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Catchers (2): Derek Norris, John Jaso

Eric Sogard (MLB.com)

Infielders (7): Brandon Moss, Daric Barton, Eric Sogard, Alberto Callaspo, Nick Punto, Jed Lowrie, Josh Donaldson

Outfielders (4): Yoenis Cespedes, Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Sam Fuld

Sean Doolittle (Getty Images)

Starters (5): Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez, Dan Straily, Tommy Milone

Relievers (7): RHPs Jim Johnson, Luke Gregerson, Dan Otero, Evan Scribner; LHPs Sean Doolittle, Fernando Abad, Drew Pomeranz

Ryan Cook (Getty Images)

DL: Ryan Cook, A.J. Griffin, Craig Gentry and Fernando Rodriguez

Billy Burns (Getty Images)

Other Moves:
Michael Taylor designated for assignment
Optioned to Triple-A: C Stephen Vogt, LHP Joe Savery, INF Jake Elmore
Billy Burns will begin the season in Double-A Midland

Why Sonny Gray will Dominate the AL West and Beyond!

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Unless you watched the American League Division Series where the Oakland Athletics took on the Detroit Tigers, then you may not know the name Sonny Gray. At the age of 23 Gray was a, much anticipated by A’s fans, mid-season call-up in 2013. Drafted in 2011 in the first round by the Athletics, Gray had little professional experience yet a lot of expectations. He met those expectations and more.

Starting in ALDS game two he faced off and went pitch for pitch against the great Justin Verlander. Gray matched Verlander both throwing eight shutout innings and each amassing an impressive 11 strikeouts. Neither Verlander nor Gray won the game. The game ended in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off single by A’s catcher Stephen Vogt. Not only did Gray face and match arugably one of the best pitchers in the league, he was chosen to face him again in game five over All-Star Bartolo Colon. Gray did not match Verlander perfectly in game five and the A’s lost. Gray’s effort, however, was stellar enough to win pretty much any other game if given at least some offense.  Gray lost the game to Verlander as the Tigers won 3-0. He only surrendered six hits in just over five innings.

To Find Out More About Sonny Gray CLICK HERE! Brought to you by Outside Pitch Sports Network LLC

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Holland Has Accident at Home; Out Until Mid Season

On Tuesday, 27 year old Texas Rangers’ pitcher Derek Holland fell on the stairs at his home severely injuring his left knee.  Unfortunately the result of the injury required arthroscopic surgery that was performed on Friday by the team physician Dr. Keith Meister. During the surgery Dr. Meister repaired the torn cartilage behind Holland’s knee but lucky for both Holland and the Rangers there was no ligament damage.

Via AP: “I am devastated by this injury. It was a freak accident at home that resulted in a hard fall on my knee,” Holland said in a statement released by the team. “As upsetting as this is, my goal is to begin rehab and get back on the mound as quickly as possible.”

Getting back to the mound quickly might be a little tougher than the Rangers’ star expects. According to Texas General Manager Jon Daniels, Holland will only be allowed limited activity for the next six weeks. The team is planning for the lefty to be able to return by mid-season but are optimistic that he may be available earlier than that.

“I feel I could be back sooner, but I don’t know, I’ve never had an injury like this,” Holland said. “That seems like a long time, but I’ve never had this before, so I don’t know what to expect.”

It appears both he and the Rangers will  just have to wait and see. Holland, who has been with the Rangers for the last five seasons, pitched a career high 213 innings in 2013 finishing the season at 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA. He is under contract with Texas until 2016 with club options for 2017 and 2018.

Holland is a staple to the Texas starting rotation along with Japanese ace Yu Darvish. This injury is certainly a set back for the Rangers. Even without Holland Texas still has four solid pitchers in their rotation. As it appears now their opening day starting rotation will be Darvish, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez and Alexi Ogondo.

When asked about replacing Holland in the rotation Daniels said that the Rangers will definitely be looking to add to their pitching before the start of the 2014 season. He did specifically clarify that he didn’t necessarily mean finding a replacement for Holland but just adding in the “depth category.” Mostly likely this will entail having a long reliever from the bullpen step up to the starting rotation.

“This is an opportunity for a number of our guys,” Daniels said. “We’re going to go out and hopefully fortify that group and give ourselves some additional options and expect Derek will be back midyear.”

The Rangers were once rumored to be interested in, newly posted, Japanese free-agent Masahiro Tanaka and they certainly have the money to spend. But Daniels seemed to hint that would not be their course of action saying that it didn’t seem like a “big ticket item,” which would be a player like Tanaka, would be the answer to the temporary loss of Holland.

For more injury related news go to MLB Nation - delivering the latest news, insights, and analysis from around the league.

My A's fan perspective: well, it's definitely NOT a bad thing for us A's fans but it is usually Texas' job to choke down the stretch! Let's just hope they just choke all season! LOL! JK! (kinda, I just don't wanna bring us bad baseball voodoo karma, ya know?) We are gonna do it this year A's fans! Our team is hella complete and it just seems right and this year people know the name Josh Donaldson in the baseball world and Sonny Gray ... Our rotation is gonna be kick ass and I need to see a Gold Glove Award in BringerOfRain's hand at the end of 2014! Anyways, I'm rambling! I hope you read and shared my article! :-)