{"id":35710,"date":"2011-03-14T16:18:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T23:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=35710"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:38:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:38:18","slug":"odds-2011-oakland-athletics-predictions-gambling-preview-14311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/mlb-baseball\/odds-2011-oakland-athletics-predictions-gambling-preview-14311\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Athletics Predictions | 2011 Season Betting Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

2011 MLB Team Preview: Oakland A’s<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hard to believe, as some of us still have VERY cold temperatures outside, that the Boys of Summer are almost back. But it\u2019s true; teams have started reporting to 2011 Major League Baseball training camps and it\u2019s time to start our team-by-team baseball gambling<\/a> previews for the year. <\/p>\n

SIGN UP TODAY With MySportsbook.com – 10% Sign UP Bonus – 10cent Baseball Lines – Gamble On 2011 MLB Future Odds and 2011 World Series Championship Lines<\/a><\/h3>\n

Athletics Calender<\/strong><\/p>\n

FEB. 1-18, 2011 – Salary arbitration hearings
\nFEB. 14, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players
\nFEB. 19, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for non-pitchers and catchers
\nFEB. 26, 2011 – Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players<\/p>\n

Was there a \u201cbeiger\u201d team in Major League Baseball than the Oakland Athletics last year? Long removed from the spotlight of Moneyball<\/em>, they went 81-81, staying completely under the radar. <\/p>\n

However, after their pitching staff quietly made major strides, is the forecast for 2011 more optimistic? <\/p>\n

Maybe the A\u2019s can emulate that other ballclub that plays across the bay and won it all last year.<\/p>\n

OAKLAND ATHLETICS<\/strong>
\nWorld Series odds: +3000<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a believer in the San Francisco Giants\u2019 story, one that exposed pitching as more valuable than hitting in today\u2019s game, then you can\u2019t count the Oakland Athletics out of the playoff hunt in the American League this season.<\/p>\n

Trevor Cahill exploded onto the scene with 18 wins last season. While he was pretty lucky and won\u2019t repeat that stat, he doesn\u2019t have to: I\u2019d argue that he\u2019s only the third-best pitcher on his own team. With Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez, the A\u2019s could have their best top of the rotation since the days of Hudson, Mulder and Zito.<\/p>\n

Anderson and Gonzalez both have hurdles to overcome, however. Anderson looks like surefire star \u2013 when healthy. He started just 19 games last season. He has to prove he can handle a full-season grind. Gonzalez\u2019s health isn\u2019t a problem but his control could be. He has great stuff and natural strikeout ability but he can beat himself with walks when he\u2019s off his game, sort of like a young Carlos Zambrano. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The A\u2019s have other decent guys to fill out their rotation. Dallas Braden is overrated after tossing a perfect game last year but he can eat innings. Rich Harden may pitch in relief this year but he\u2019s a low-risk, high-gain investment that is still capable of dominating hitters when he\u2019s on. I\u2019d like to see Oakland give him a shot as its No. 5. <\/p>\n

Oakland\u2019s bullpen looks like it\u2019ll be among baseball\u2019s best this season. We all know what closer Andrew Bailey can do. While he\u2019s an injury risk, the A\u2019s have plenty of insurance. Grant Balfour, Brad Ziegler, Brain Fuentes and Michael Wuertz are all solid guys who miss bats. This is a very deep pen.<\/p>\n

OK \u2013 so it probably looks like I\u2019m stalling. I\u2019ve talked up Oakland\u2019s pitchers long enough now without saying a word about this team\u2019s lineup. While it certainly lacks anything resembling star power, the lineup is at least made up of solid professionals.<\/p>\n

Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham join the fray and still have decent pop. David DeJesus isn\u2019t anything special but he\u2019s a reliable top-of-the-order guy who gets on base. Coco Crisp ran wild in his half-season with the A\u2019s last year. Kurt Suzuki is secretly among the AL\u2019s best offensive catchers. Daric Barton\u2019s lack of power is disappointing but he has a phenomenal eye at the dish.<\/p>\n

2011 OUTLOOK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure, the offense is underwhelming as can be, but Oakland\u2019s pitching is strong enough to make it a competitive ballclub this season. That said, I see the A\u2019s finishing closer to third place than to first in the AL West this season. Something around 85 wins seems about right. That\u2019s nothing to sneeze at but I don\u2019t think the A\u2019s are quite ready for a return to the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Prediction: 2nd, American League West<\/strong><\/p>\n

TEAM BY TEAM MLB PREVIEWS —-><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

View The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2010 \u00a0– Picks Packages for 2011 On Sale! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shea Matthews weighs in with his Oakland Athletics 2011 Team Gambling Preview. I see the A\u2019s finishing closer to third place than to first in the AL West this season. Something around 85 wins. Do your MLB betting with Cappers Picks MLB expert picks in 2011\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":35736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[46681,43915,11962,11432,11222,14240,12448,26612,26613,12113,26614,46682,66513,10729,66497,678,681,11217,12115,12116,46683],"class_list":["post-35710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2011-athletics","tag-2011-mlb-team-preview","tag-al-west","tag-al-west-predictions","tag-al-west-preview","tag-american-league","tag-american-league-central","tag-athletics-futures","tag-athletics-mlb-picks","tag-athletics-odds","tag-athletics-predictions","tag-athletics-world-series-odds","tag-handicapping","tag-handicapping-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-gambling","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-oakland-athletics-picks","tag-oakland-athletics-predictions","tag-oakland-world-series-futures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35710"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107877,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35710\/revisions\/107877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}