{"id":9693,"date":"2009-03-25T11:27:30","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T16:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=9693"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:31:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:31:27","slug":"2009-oakland-athletics-preview-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/mlb-baseball\/2009-oakland-athletics-preview-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Predictions \/ Previews: Oakland Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"

MLB Team Preview \u2013 Oakland Athletics<\/h2>\n

In MLB betting, general managers don’t come much crazier than Billy Beane. The man who popularized Moneyball <\/em>was thinking outside the box again this offseason, but not in his usual sense. Sure, he grabbed another handful of on-base machines from free agency, but they weren’t they typical no-name guys whose peripheral stats suggested breakouts.Instead, Beane picked some unwanted veterans off the scrap heap and traded for a superstar every other GM labels a statistical fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the end, though, online betting fans should pat Beane on the back. In the AL’s weakest division, he’s given the A’s a solid shot to compete for second place at the very least.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2009 Oakland lineup will put the “stat” “station to station.” MLB betting<\/strong><\/a> fans will be hard pressed to find a bigger, more patient middle-of-the-order. Free agent signing Jason Giambi joins Jack Cust to form a tandem of all-or-nothing sluggers who walk, homer, strike out and do nothing else. Beane’s big offseason coup, of course, was acquiring “superstar” Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies. The good: Holliday hit .321 or better with 25-plus homers, 100-plus runs and 10-plus steals each of his last three seasons. The bad: he’s a .357 career hitter with a 1, 068 OPS at home (Coors Field) and a .280 hitter with an .803 career OPS on the road. Beane better not be expecting Colorado-caliber numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean Holliday isn’t an above-average hitter – and still probably the best the A’s have. Also joining him from free agency are Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra, both of whom have lost a step but still have some pop.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

The A’s should score more runs this year, but will the pitching staff answer the bell? The truth is that Oakland’s hurlers are true question marks in MLB betting this season. Justin Duchscherer leads the staff coming off a career year; he unquestionably has talent and pinpoint control, but he’s more fragile than a gingerbread house. The rest of Oakland’s starters are all the same types – youngish guys who have potential and could break out or end up in AAA by season’s end (read: Dana Eveland, Sean Gallagher).\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least Bean has stayed consistent in his ability to build quality bullpens. Brad Ziegler burst onto the scene by setting the major-league record for the longest scoreless innings streak to start a career last year. He’s not overpowering but he should still thrive in whatever late-inning role he receives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sportsbook players have to keep an eye on Joey Devine, who had an absurd 0.59 ERA last year; he has the elite stuff to be an All-Star closer but he can’t seem to stay healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While A’s don’t scream “contender” on paper, they certainly look more competitive than they have for several seasons. Winning 85 games wouldn’t be a stretch and, if the starting pitching comes together, they could even push the Angels a bit in this year’s MLB odds.<\/p>\n

Planning On Doing Some MLB Betting This Year? BetOnline.com Sportsbook Has The Best Oakland A’s MLB Future Odds For You!!! Click Here >>><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disagree with something in this article? We want to hear from you!! Leave us a comment below We’ll send you a free pick!!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s your 2009 Oakland A’s predictions, in the AL’s weakest division Billy Beane has given the A’s a solid shot to compete for second place at the very least…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[12111,10727,12112,12114,11962,11432,11222,12113,9709,10608,10601,66513,10729,66497,678,681,11217,12115,12116],"class_list":["post-9693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2009-as","tag-2009-mlb-team-preview","tag-as-futures","tag-as-predictions","tag-al-west","tag-al-west-predictions","tag-al-west-preview","tag-athletics-odds","tag-betonlinecom","tag-betonlinecom-articles","tag-betonlinecom-sportsbook","tag-handicapping","tag-handicapping-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-gambling","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-oakland-athletics-picks","tag-oakland-athletics-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9693","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\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9693"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107519,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9693\/revisions\/107519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}