In 2001 Oakland dealt Franklin German and Carlos Pena to the Detroit Tigers for Jeff Weaver, who they then moved for Ted Lilly. There was a player to be named later included in that deal, a young high school pitcher drafted with the 26th pick in the amateur draft of that same season.  Jeremy Bonderman may not have fit the mold in terms of what GM Billy Beane saw as good bets for starting pitchers, but I bet he was kicking himself for making that deal last season when Rich Harden hit the shelf due to injury while Beane favorite Joe Blanton found himself in the middle of a sophomore slump.  What was Bonderman doing?  He was helping the leagues top ranked pitching staff carry the Tigers to the World Series.



The A’s did have a bit of a nice run themselves, losing to those same Tigers in the ALCS. Frank Thomas resurrected his career, putting up his best offensive season since 2003, and a strong argument could be made for including him in the discussion for AL MVP last season.  The A’s were hit early and hit hard by injuries. Rich Harden, Bobby Crosby, Esteban Loaiza and closer Houston Street all went down with injuries before the end of April.  May brought more of the same as Justin Duchsherer, Joe Kennedy and second baseman Mark Ellis all went down.  Star third baseman Eric Chavez also battled forearm tendonitis for the majority of the season, severely limiting his offensive contributions.








Obviously, since the team ended up in the ALCS, there had to be a silver lining through all of that Cubs-esque calamity.  Along with the contributions from Thomas and veteran catcher Jason Kendall, RHP Dan Haren and RF/1B Nick Swisher both turned the corner in their development, and helped lift the team back into the chase by midsummer.  Haren led all A’s pitchers with 176 strikeouts, pitching every bit as good as the former A’s first rounder Bonderman.  Swisher started the season on a tear and finished the season second behind Thomas with 35 homeruns while leading the team with 106 runs scored.  He fanned 152 times showing that he still has much to learn regarding pitch selection, though he did also walk 97 times on his way to a .372 on base percentage.  The rest of the team filled in admirable as role players while they waited for their big guns to all start clicking at the same time. True to form , Oakland turned it on in the second half, winning the West on there way to cruising past the red hot Minnesota Twins before the Tigers sent them home to lick their many wounds.

2007 looks promising, if only because Harden seems to be healthy and ready to join Haren and fellow bounce-back candidate Joe Blanton as the next “Big Three” looks to rise up in the  wake of Barry Zito’s defection across the bay.  Swisher will move back into the outfield as Dan Johnson will get a second opportunity to claim the first base job. If Harden and Crosby can stay healthy, and if Swisher, Johnson and a healed up Chavez can make up for the production they lost when Thomas and Jay Payton left in free agency, the A’s should be ready for another second half surge to the division in 2007.



Offseason Transactions:

Players Resigned: RHP Justin Duchsherer, Dan Johnson.
Players Lost: Jay Payton, Frank Thomas, Barry Zito, Keith Ginter, Mat Roney
Players Acquired: Mike Piazza, Shannon Stewart, Alan Embree, Donnie Murphy