A's Deal at Winter Meetings

Post date: Jan 22, 2012 2:30:31 PM

The Athletics traded for a new 2012 bullpen with deals for (L-R) David Robertson, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon

One year ago the Philadelphia Athletics braintrust, led by GM Matt Veasey, arrived at the 2011 WFBL Winter Meetings intent on not allowing a repeat of the 2010 season. In '10, the A's slipped to a 12-10 record and 4th place in the Owens/East Division, their worst regular season performance in a decade.

The main culprit was believed to be a lack of quality depth in the starting pitching rotation, and shoring up that shortcoming was the main goal at the Meetings. The goal was met, the A's obtained the arms they believed they needed, and Veasey left those Meetings believing the club was ready to move back up the standings in 2011.

And then came what has become known around these parts as the "Valentine's Massacre", the blowup of that very plan and those carefully crafted winter trades. "We took a long, hard, honest look at our organization and those of our divisional rivals in the weeks after the close of the 2011 Winter Meetings, and didn't like what we saw" said Veasey.

In that 2nd week of February, including Valentine's Day, the A's General Manager set out to rebuild the organization in one massive, quick-strike swoop, negotiating a coordinated series of 7 trades that surprised rival GM's when finalized following the Annual Draft. The deals left the organization with a boatload of highly rated prospects and top draft choices, but woefully short on talent at the Majors level.

The 2011 Athletics team and their fans paid a hard price for that rebuilding effort, suffering through a 6-16 season and a 5th place finish in the new 6-team Owens/East, by far the worst season in franchise history. But there were bright spots, and by the end of the year the club and the fans began to get a clearer picture of the direction that the A's were heading.

Now at the 2012 Winter Meetings, the A's are looking to help tweak the roster to begin taking steps back up the eastern standings ladder. Manager Buck Showalter, who was on board with all the 2011 changes, entered the Meetings confident: "We're not trading away any of our core youngsters and prospects, but we'll be better by the end of this process than we were at the beginning, and better this coming season than we were last season, I promise you that."

The main focus at these Meetings has again been pitching, this time in building a new, young, talented bullpen. "We used up too many transactions and too much energy trying to put a pen together last year" said Veasey. "We thought that would have to happen again, but as the Meetings developed, some opportunities emerged, and now we think that we have a strong group of arms back there."

Back in December, moves in MLB left the A's with two new starting pitchers, but at the cost of two back-end bullpen arms, when Neftali Feliz and Daniel Bard were moved to the rotation. "We are very excited at the talent and depth those guys will bring to our rotation" said Showalter, "but it did erase our pen. Now we have 3 big arms there."

The three "big arms" that Showalter was referring to are the new bullpen that Veasey's trades have landed him in righthanders David Robertson, Kenley Jansen, and Mark Melancon. All are expected to be setup-type relievers that will provide strong shutdown innings on a consistent basis. While none is a true 'Closer', all have a shot at reaching that level at some point.

"They all fit in with our club age-wise" said Veasey of the 24-year old Jansen, and Robertson and Melancon, who will both pitch at 27 in the 2012 season. "These guys have a chance to grow with the rest of the club, but even in the short term will help us be competitive in 5 of the 6 relief pitching categories."

In the WFBL, with 18 teams having to use a total of 54 relievers in their starting lineups each week, the average team would have 1-1 1/2 MLB closer. With a number of the clubs having multiple closers, there will be many weeks when the A's will face other teams with one or no closers. They feel they can be competitive in all those matchups now.

To land the young Jansen from Detroit, a strikeout artist with the most upside of the group, the A's parted with leftfielder Logan Morrison. "We like Logan a lot" said Veasey, "but we fully expect Bryce Harper to be here soon, and for a long time to come, so we shopped Logan to help us shore up a weakness."

The A's lineup is set everywhere but at 3rd base now. Eric Hosmer at 1st, Dustin Ackley at 2nd, Ian Desmond at short, Matt Wieters behind the plate, and the trio of Mike Stanton, Desmond Jennings, and Harper across the outfield. If Harper isn't ready at the beginning of the season, the club will likely select a player in the Annual Draft as a stopgap until he is ready.

In the rotation you can expect to see returning ace Cole Hamels team up with returning righty Jordan Zimmerman, now fully removed from any restrictions after being limited last year following Tommy John surgery. Joining them will be another TJ survivor, Stephen Strasburg, who looked great in a late 2011 MLB return to action. Rick Porcello will continue to develop after having spent the past two season as a rotation stalwart. Wade Davis and Rich Harden are still around for depth, and both Feliz and Bard will joing the rapidly deepening group.

The A's plan to grow a new crop of stars for the fans to enjoy is well underway. How soon this group of youngsters can contend in the always rough-n-tumble Owens/East remains to be seen. But the talent is there, and thanks to the deals here at the 2012 Winter Meetings, there is even more of it now. And I don't think that this time around the fans have to worry about any more changes in direction in the coming weeks.