A’s would have been better if they’d done less

Billy Beane was playing a game of Rummikub, moving 23 different tiles around in search of a move that didn’t exist and forgetting how to put them all back. I was so sure of it. This was the offseason in which the A’s GM was just a little too frenetic, a little too bold. He was going to enter the season without a second baseman, without a key roster upgrade, without improving the team.

There’s always a move, though. The A’s acquired Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar over the weekend, filling two roster spots at once. Zobrist, secretly one of the best players in baseball, will give the A’s another multi-position player to play around the diamond. Escobar, coming off a down season, will give the A’s capable defense at short and the potential for a little offense, too. The A’s on Monday are better than the A’s last Friday. Oh, Billy. Why do I keep doubting you?

It’s not quite as simple as giving Beane a pat on the back and declaring him Emperor of the Offseason for the eight or ninth time in the last 10 years, though. There are two truths about the A’s right now:

We sure love to comment on those trees, but here’s the forest. Beane’s sometimes inexplicable timing and boldness can mask the simple fact that he’s A) in charge of a roster that should contend; and B) he built that roster while having substantial financial handicaps that the other teams in the division don’t have to deal with. It’s still impressive, even if he has to take a Jeffy from Family Circus path to get there. The A’s have a lot of things working against them; the A’s should still be good. That’s still the most impressive accomplishment, here.

Look at this lineup and rotation:

Coco Crisp - CF
Ben Zobrist - LF
Josh Reddick - RF
Billy Butler - DH
Ike Davis - 1B
Brett Lawrie - 3B
Stephen Vogt - C
Yunel Escobar - SS
Marcus Semien - 2B

Sonny Gray
Scott Kazmir
Jesse Hahn
Drew Pomeranz
Kendall Graveman/Jesse Chavez/other

I’m underwhelmed by the middle of the order, too, but it’s deep. There isn’t a Sogard-sized hole in the bunch, and it’s flexible. Zobrist can play second against tough righties, and Sam Fuld can play left. Semien can play short if something happens to Escobar, and Zobrist can move back to the infield. Vogt can move around. Craig Gentry is on the bench. It’s an assembly line of competent players. The rotation might not be improved by swapping out Jeff Samardzija for Hahn, but it’s still deep enough to contend, and that’s before A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker return from injury.

It’s January, and the A’s are in position to contend for the postseason again, despite significant budgetary limitations. Well played, Billy Beane, you old dog.

Probably for the long term. Maybe for the short term, too.

This was before the Samardzija/Jason Hammel deal that began the violent reshaping of the roster. The lineup, if Beane spent the next several months reading a really good book:

Coco Crisp - CF
Josh Donaldson - 3B
Josh Reddick - RF
Yoenis Cespedes - LF
Brandon Moss - 1B
Derek Norris - C
John Jaso/Stephen Vogt - DH
Eric Sogard - 2B
Andy Parrino - SS

Sonny Gray
Scott Kazmir
Drew Pomeranz
Jesse Chavez
Dan Straily/other

Is it a better roster than the current one? Probably not, especially when you get to the middle infield and back of the rotation. But in this scenario, the A’s have the money they gave to Billy Butler. They still have Donaldson. Just as importantly, they have the bounty of prospects back to go on a similar spending spree. What would Addison Russell bring back in a deal today? At least Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar, for sure. Now you still have Billy McKinney and Daniel Robertson to dangle for the rotation. Or, heck, keep them all and get some low-priced free agents to help. Jason Hammel wouldn’t have been too expensive, A’s fans!

This ignores the prospects and young players coming back, like Semien, Franklin Barreto, Jesse Hahn ... really, it’s a 500-part shell game. Moss starts to make more money and Cespedes is approaching free agency in this scenario, but even though Donaldson is still around for four more years, four more years, four more years, there’s the draft pick that Zobrist will likely provide to help rebuild the farm. You might prefer the current permutation. It might be reasonable to prefer the current permutation.

But this also ignores the value of continuity, both on and off the field. Josh Reddick sure seemed ticked to see his friends go. The security, stability, and fuzzy feelings count for something, I would guess, even if just a little. I just got my tires replaced at a shop that had this poster up behind the counter ...

... with little paper tombstones reading “R.I.P.” under Norris, Donaldson, Cespedes, Samardzija, and Moss. The guy behind the counter was grumbling about the latest trade (Norris) and the whole offseason. Maybe that all changed after the Zobrist/Escobar deal, but there is value to continuity, especially to fans. Athletics Nation had a post in November titled “The sustainability of a faceless franchise,” asking how long a team can keep going with a GM as its most recognizable star. The conclusion: not very long.

Playing Monday morning GM in January is a lot easier than it looks, and you can’t just ctrl-z your way back to the July 1, 2014 roster. Once the Samardzija trade was made, the chain reaction started. It’s worth pointing out about here that Beane is much, much, much smarter than me, and he’s absolutely more capable of building a better baseball team than I ever possibly could.

Still, both things can be true: It’s impressive that the A’s still have a team that can contend for the postseason, but the juggling it took to get back there probably wasn’t necessary in the first place.That contender was already there. Doubt Beane at your own peril, and he’s already plotting more ways to make this post read even dumber by this time next year. But the end of this unnecessarily intricate magic trick should make us all remember that people almost never go out and pay to watch magicians these days.