Philadelphia Athletics
Going into 1932, the A's were coming off of 2 consecutive pennants and, in 1930, the first World Series title in team history. Hopes were high. Alas, they were soon dashed. Philadelphia struggled out of the gate, and then just when they seemed like they were ready to move into contention a 9 game losing streak in early August knocked them all the way into the second division. From there on out, they went streaky a lot but the losing was as bad as the winning: won 3 of 4, got swept by the Indians, won 4 in a row including a road sweep of the Browns, 5 straight losses and 7 of 9, then 4 straight wins and 6 of 7, 2 losses, 2 wins, 2 losses... by this time their pennant hopes were dashed.
Philadelphia rode their league-leading offense as far as it would take them. Unfortunately, many of their guys were as atrocious with the leather as they were clutch with the bat. You may not believe it but the pitching actually wasn't that bad. We certainly don't believe it.
Code:
Record overall 76-78, .494 PCT 4th, 20.0 GB
Home 38-39, .494 PCT
Road 38-39, .494 PCT
X-inning games 7-6, .538 PCT
One-run games 18-20, .474 PCT
Versus LHP 24-13, .649 PCT
Versus RHP 52-65, .444 PCT
April 3-6, .333 PCT
May 18-10, .643 PCT
June 17-11, .607 PCT
July 13-14, .481 PCT
August 9-18, .333 PCT
September 12-14, .462 PCT
October 4-5, .444 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .302 - 2nd in AL
On-Base Percentage .374 - 1st in AL
Slugging Percentage .426 - 4th in AL
On-Base + Slugging .800 - 2nd in AL
Runs Scored 944 - 1st in AL
Hits 1704 - 1st in AL
Extra-Base Hits 469 - 6th in AL
Home Runs 78 - 7th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 668 - 1st in AL
Strikeouts 407 - 1st in AL
Stolen Bases 75 - 1st in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 5.16 - 6th in AL
Starters' ERA 5.09 - 6th in AL
Bullpen ERA 5.49 - 8th in AL
Runs allowed 930 - 7th in AL
Hits allowed 1718 - 8th in AL
Opponents AVG .303 - 8th in AL
BABIP .323 - 8th in AL
Home Runs allowed 94 - 5th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 417 - 2nd in AL
Strikeouts 558 - 2nd in AL
Pitching
Yuck. What was that we were saying about the pitching not being as good as it looks? We were so, so wrong to try to fool you, dear reader, like that. It was really, really bad. The fact that a lot of the badness can be attributed to fielders not catching up to playable balls is besides the point. The fact is, the pitchers should have adjusted to that and played for the strikeout.
One man who did understand that lesson and, as a result, did at least passably well was Peter Brewer. Brewer finished in the top 6 in the AL in strikeouts for the 6th consecutive season. His ERA was still up almost 2 runs from 1931 but that was a tiny blip compared to the rest of the team. Still not 30 years of age, Brewer figures to pick up his 1,000 strikeout next year and has an outside shot at his 150th victory.
On the flip side, Al "Hellraiser" Montieth was 18-8 for the Cubs last year and when he came over to the Athletics he was expected to turn around his mediocre 8-9 record and not quite mediocre 5.13 ERA. Instead, the latter climbed a full run, entering cannon fodder territory, and as a result he was just 4-10 with the A's. The chief culprit for him was the gopher ball: he gave up a career-high 26 between the two teams. Montieth may not have the stuff anymore to put together a 5th 20-victory campaign. It serves him right for choosing such a profane nickname.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Peter Brewer 28 21 14 0.600 39 39 0 316.2 355 153 20 68 172 4.35 30.2
Raúl Carrillo 26 14 13 0.519 33 33 0 241.2 297 128 11 70 74 4.77 10.3
Mark Dunbar 30 12 11 0.522 27 27 0 183 259 116 10 59 36 5.70 -13.0
Nathan Christy 25 7 7 0.500 35 20 0 160.2 197 76 13 51 52 4.26 16.9
Al Monteith 35 4 10 0.286 17 17 0 126.2 174 86 14 47 61 6.11 -15.2
Bob McKamey 25 2 2 0.500 38 0 5 69.2 71 36 4 22 52 4.65 4.0
Kurtis Houk 25 6 0 1.000 15 4 0 54 62 27 4 19 18 4.50 3.0
Dave Crosby 26 1 7 0.125 13 8 0 53.2 98 50 4 23 22 8.39 -21.3
Brian Barnes 25 1 2 0.333 16 6 0 53 75 40 3 22 22 6.79 -10.8
Harry Milburn 36 6 8 0.429 27 0 7 39.2 49 27 5 21 22 6.13 -4.8
Charlie Nickles 31 2 2 0.500 17 0 1 33.2 30 16 2 6 20 4.28 2.6
Randy Danford 36 0 1 0.000 10 0 0 16 17 9 2 5 1 5.06 0.1
Todd Kirk 20 0 0 0.000 7 0 0 11.1 15 6 1 2 3 4.76 0.5
Juan Mendoza 29 0 1 0.000 5 0 0 7 19 14 1 2 3 18.00 -11.0
Team Totals 28.4 76 78 0.494 299 154 13 1366.2 1718 784 94 417 558 5.16 -8.4
Catcher/First Base
Herman "The Human Camera" Cain has probably the best eye in the game. He flat out refuses to swing at pitches that are not strikes, and a career spent behind the plate means that he knows exactly what the zone is going to look like on a given day. In his five year career spanning 1,893 at-bats, Cain has struck out a grand total of 33 times.
One of the bright spots on a team that had more than its share of disappointments, Corey Jones upped every aspect of his game - contact hitting, timely hitting, power, even defense - and was the MVP of the club. He had two hitting streaks of 20 or more games last year.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C *Herman Cain 27 131 130 463 72 140 28 3 11 87 0 1 101 7 0.302 0.424 0.447 0.871 35.9
C Randall Sheets 29 37 24 100 13 35 5 2 0 16 0 0 13 8 0.350 0.427 0.440 0.867 8.1
1B *Corey Jones 26 151 151 629 120 234 40 4 16 128 1 2 71 46 0.372 0.433 0.525 0.957 64.1
Infield
Despite their record, the Athletics set an American League record for the most runs scored in a season with 944. There were not a lot of weak spots on the diamond. Even second base, which superfically looks less than great, was manned by a pair of guys who got the job done. Jim Martin had the sort of rookie season that you don't hold up among the all-time greats but which would fit in quite nicely with a Hall of Fame career. Okay, we may be overstating things a bit. But he can play anywhere in the infield if needed; he's not your stereotypical bat-first glove-second keystoner.
We don't know what Gustavo Pena ate before this season started but we'd like to have some of it. The fan favorite from Venezuela shattered his career highs in runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, walks, steals, and batting average. It's like we were watching a different player last year. The question here is "does he fall back to Earth?" and the answer, sadly, is probably. Still, for a guy who was never considered a Hall of Famer despite starting for the A's at third for the last 11 years, he's now at least in the conversation.
Jaime Gonzales has a much better chance at those laurels if he keeps what he's doing up. That's a big if, and there are some question marks about his defense. His defensive numbers don't really show it - he was 3rd in the AL in fielding average at .944 and ranked second in assists and double plays - but A's scouts are reportedly less than ecstatic about his arm. Don't be surprised if he and Martin switch spots next year.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B Jim Martin 22 102 96 419 67 108 23 8 9 59 6 4 39 23 0.258 0.316 0.415 0.731 12.2
2B Jack Ambrose 25 51 38 155 21 43 6 4 0 21 6 0 22 6 0.277 0.365 0.368 0.733 7.2
3B #Gustavo Peña 35 150 149 609 120 203 40 13 10 87 16 9 103 34 0.333 0.433 0.491 0.924 71.5
3B Dustin David 26 34 34 128 23 40 8 2 0 14 2 2 20 11 0.313 0.409 0.406 0.816 6.0
3B *Joe Jarboe 28 1 1 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.400 0.400 0.400 0.800 0.3
SS *Jaime Gonzáles 24 136 135 574 130 205 43 7 5 79 11 6 98 27 0.357 0.450 0.483 0.933 63.0
SS Fred Harris 25 7 6 27 2 6 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 4 0.222 0.250 0.259 0.509 -2.8
SS Bill Anderson 27 7 3 17 0 4 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 0.235 0.235 0.412 0.647 -0.7
Outfield
The outfield was surprisingly weak for an offense of this caliber. Juan Carlos Munoz was nothing less than horrible so he was jettisoned for Jay Carbaugh, who brought some veteran know-how but couldn't keep the team from losing games. Walter Carlson hit for average like he always does but at the age of 38 it appears that led to 5 20+ homerun seasons over the course of his career is all but gone. Still, even if the A's stumble out of the gate, he provides fans with a reason to show up to the games: he's just 44 hits away from the 3,000 mark and is about two more seasons like the last one away from setting the all-time record in that category.
Otherwise, there were a lot of guys given shots in the Shibe Park grass and most of them failed to impress. The A's are really hoping for a full recovery from Pablo Valenzuela, who was looking like he was going to improve on a good rookie season, only to tear some muscle in his shoulder that we have never heard of and miss the second half of the season. He has the speed and arm to play center field, if not the instincts. Or at least he did before the shoulder woes.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF Walter Carlson 37 151 151 641 107 209 35 10 8 100 14 12 78 60 0.326 0.395 0.449 0.844 28.1
LF *Juan Carlos Muñóz 29 49 46 212 33 54 15 1 4 39 2 2 15 12 0.255 0.303 0.392 0.694 -7.2
LF *Joe Borst 32 57 8 75 10 19 2 0 0 4 0 0 8 6 0.253 0.321 0.280 0.601 -6.6
CF *Pablo Valenzuela 24 71 66 281 56 95 12 2 4 40 7 3 25 7 0.338 0.393 0.438 0.831 17.0
CF Jay Carbaugh 35 53 53 228 45 63 12 5 7 54 3 1 14 23 0.276 0.314 0.465 0.779 4.1
CF Zack Levin 26 58 47 183 22 49 9 3 1 32 4 3 16 16 0.268 0.325 0.366 0.691 -4.4
CF *Bill Looper 29 30 19 79 7 16 1 0 0 5 1 1 9 7 0.203 0.284 0.215 0.499 -8.4
RF Ji-man P'aeng 29 66 39 193 32 53 17 1 3 26 1 0 16 12 0.275 0.340 0.420 0.759 -1.5
RF Jerry Joseph 25 36 36 145 19 39 5 7 0 22 0 0 9 18 0.269 0.310 0.400 0.710 -1.1
Code:
Team Totals 28.1 1677 1386 5645 944 1704 316 75 78 872 75 46 668 407 0.302 0.374 0.426 0.800 292.2
* - bats left-handed, # - switch hits, blank - bats right-handed