Oakland Athletics Trade Cespedes

Ces only had a batting avg of .220-.230. The team needs hitters and less sluggers.

While I certainly agree with the idea, the A's weren't exactly laden with sluggers.  Currently, you only have 2 guys with more than 10 HRs.

What wins Championships ? Pitching and defense, and it's hard to argue that there a better playoff-ready rotation in the league now.

If the A's end up winning the division GREAT.  if they have to play a one game wildcard game, then Lester is definitely the one you want.

I hope you guys are right.  Things are about to get interesting.

The A's had a .635 winning percentage when Cespedes started and a .389 percentage when he didn't. If that doesn't have any impact on morale and chemistry of a team I don't know what does.

Lester is capable of good things. Hes also capable of this


2012
Bos 33 33 9 14 0 0 0 3 0 205.1 216 117 110 25 68 166 4.82 1.38 .273

LA Angels are lick'in their chops!

LA Angels are link'in their chops!

More like praying right now bro.

We're all atheists in LA, didn't you know?

That's not a surprise....

Even atheists get on their knees now and again.

Even atheists get on their knees now and again.

Yeah, but they're not praying!   

Ces only had a batting avg of .220-.230. The team needs hitters and less sluggers.

While I certainly agree with the idea, the A's weren't exactly laden with sluggers.  Currently, you only have 2 guys with more than 10 HRs.

What wins Championships ? Pitching and defense, and it's hard to argue that there a better playoff-ready rotation in the league now.

I agree with you wholeheartedly but I was disputing the idea that the A's were stacked with sluggers.

Yes, when the Giants won in 2010 & 2012, it was pitching, defense, playing well at the right time, and a little luck.

I don't like the idea of trading a proven guy whose already signed through next season...for a guy that is gonna be on the team for 3 months. Because the A's have 0 chance of signing him long term, especially if he has a good 2nd half or playoff performance. So for me, it all depends on how they do in the playoffs. If they make it to the WS then it was probably worth it. But anything short of a WS makes it a bad trade. UNLESS cespedes turns out to be horrible on the sox, then maybe it was a decent trade regardless. But I truly hope he kills it in Boston (except when they play Oakland!).
As far as OF depth they are stacked so he won't be missed on defense. They will miss his bat so hopefully the other guys can pick up the power slack...reddick, moss, vogt, norris & crew. And we need Coco healthy in October.

I agree with you Pat, but the A's will miss his arm in the outfield.  Just his mere presence with that cannon would hold a runner to a single instead of trying to stretch it out to a double.  It would have been nice to have that arm presence out there today.  Moss is not the answer for left field.  Of course if Gentry and Coco were playing things would be different.

The fact is Cespedes was fun to watch all the time.  Whether he was crushing homeruns or kicking the ball around the left field fence only to throw the guy out at home.  He was the draw for the A's and fun to watch!  The A's haven't had anybody like that since Giambi.  Last year, during Game 1 of the playoffs, when the A's were down to Detriot, Cespedes steps in and crushes a home run which ignited ballpark.  They don't have anyone like that now.  Sure they all can do it, but not the majority of the time like Cespedes did.  Donaldson, Reddick, Coco, and Moss have to step up to fill the void.

Okay I'm done with my Cespedes man crush  for now! 

FYI - The A's have a winning percentage of .333 since they traded him.

FYI - The A's have a winning percentage of .333 since they traded him.

Yeah - hard to look past the A's record over the last few years when Cespedes was palying versus not playing.