We have such a long way to go...

We have such a long way to go...

          This past weekend I had the chance to catch some of the Rays-Yanx series on TV. My wife got tired of the snow in our beloved Lake Tahoe, so I was relocated against my will to sunny South Florida, where in addition to alligators, hurricanes, and huge, prehistoric bugs, there is a baseball team that is really worth watching. The Rays are what our Athletics could aspire to become, if only we could have the top pick in the draft maybe five years in a row.

          While the Yankees busily spend their way to the top, the Rays have taken the other route. They have literally lost their way to the top, compiling so much talent from the top of the first round that Kurt Suzuki is the only current A's position player that could hope for playing time on this loaded team. The Rays have a stacked rotation, a solid bullpen, speed throughout the lineup, and fantastic defenders at every position. They have four guys that can play solid, MLB-quality shortstop, and four CF's, too...and they'll only get better, because only a few key players on the roster are in the prime of their careers--the rest are still improving. 

         The Yankees, on the other hand, have just a few players developed in their system, with the rest cherry-picked through FA to create a cyborg mercenary superstar team that represents all that is evil in the universe. When the few home-grown talents (Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte) outlive their usefulness, they will be replaced by the next wave of mercenaries plucked from "The Real NYY Farm System", the rest of MLB. It has been this way since I was a kid, when Catfish was the first to join the Dark Side, and it will always be this way. We cannot expect change (until, perhaps, MLB adopts a salary cap...?).

          Sadly, we know how this will end for Rays fans. They will have a 3-4 year window with their young stars, who will then all sign with the rich teams, leaving poor TB to start all over again. As Oakland fans, we know the script. I am very disillusioned as an A's fan, because the thinking seems to be that we are maybe one or two decent players away from contention. Actually, we are perhaps two decent players away from being REMOTELY WATCHABLE. The current roster (in terms of position players, at least) is horrifyingly bad. The young pitching is very intriguing, and should be the backbone of the team in the years to come, but this lineup is just awful.

          In order to be competitive, a team should have perhaps four or five key players in the peak years of solid careers, with maybe 2 being true All-Stars. The Yankees have Teixeira, Sabathia, Cano, Pay-Rod, and Swish as examples of this. Philadelphia has Halladay, Utley, Rollins, Howard, Werth, and now perhaps Oswalt that could be classified as their "cornerstones". On the A's roster, I count only five players in the "prime" of their careers--the trouble is, when all is said and done, I doubt anyone will describe any of these players as "All-Stars" or even "solid". The five are, in my opinion, Cust, Kouz, Braden, Davis, and Wuertz. How sad--our "cornerstones" are the Strickout King, a forgettable middle reliever,a 4th OF, an ispirational 4th starter, and a marginal MLB 3B. All our other players are either on the downslide and in the last year of their deals (Ellis, Crisp), or still trying to figure it out (Barton, Suzuki, Pennington, Sweeney).

          Granted, Cahill has come a long way this year, with Gio and Bizarro not far behind, so the future looks very bright for our rotation (with Anderson likely to be the best of all). Suzuki is a huge plus too. Now we only need to worry about the other SEVEN positions on the diamond. It is laughable for us to think that we can truly compete with teams like NYY and TB with our "Solid Core" of Rajai Davis, Jack Cust et al. The disparity in talent between our roster and the rosters of the top teams is simply immense. We need a lot more than "two decent players" to become competitive again. Two solid players might make us relevant again, even slightly intriguing--but not quite competitive.

           I truly feel that for the next A's dynasty to rise into being, four players are absolutely crucial. I think at least three of them need to fulfill the promise they have shown, and perhaps BB can trade for a fourth or even a fifth. Players like Barton and Sweeney could be very valuable to us as "the supporting cast", but I think the next "cornerstones" must come from the group of Anderson, Cahill, Carter, and Taylor. If two or more of these guys end up being busts or surgery victims, I think the road ahead is bleak for our Green and Gold. So what do you think, AN? Are these the Anointed Ones? Could it be someone else further down the pipeline? How many will we need in order to rise again and become "The Next Rays"?