2018 Unlucky A's

[Providence A's]

After back-to-back seasons of having a Pythagorean record of -5 or higher, we hope to turn our "luck" around. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but if some guys bounce back we could be right back in the playoffs. Either way, I'm starting to build for the future ever so slowly.

Starters

Position	Player	Age	Ratings	2017 stats / awards
C	Daric Barton	32/33	8,8,8,10,6	.278/.363/.460/.823; 20 homers, 75 RBIs, 89 runs, and 75 walks
1B	Prince Fielder	33/34	8,7,8,10,4	.266/.349/.529/.878; 39 homers, 126 RBIs, 90 runs, and 60 walks
2B	Cliff Pennington	33/34	8,9,3,8,6	.270/.323/.356/.679; GG at SS and 20 steals
SS	Jemile Weeks	31	8,10,4,4,5	.254/.281/.363/.644; 35 steals
3B	Ryan Zimmerman	33	8,8,9,6,8	.239/.304/.389/.693; 18 homers, 82 RBIs, and 89 runs
LF	Jose Abrego	30	8,7,3,7,7	.274/.330/.347/.677; 51 steals in part-time play
CF	Jermaine Mitchell	33	9,8,9,7,6	.285/.340/.434/.774; 16 homers, 76 RBIs, 91 runs, and 29 steals
RF	Chris Parmelee	30	10,9,8,7,7	.310/.377/.493/.870; 18 homers, 80 RBIs, 95 runs, GG at 1B
DH	Albert Pujols	38	10,10,10,10,10	.369/.454/.544/.998; 15 homers, 102 RBIs, 105 runs, and 76 walks

Bench

Position	Player	Age	Ratings	2017 stats / awards
C	Brian Jeroloman	32/33	7,6,6,7,6	.158/.304/.158/.462 in 19 ABs (in for D, may be replaced)
1B/OF	Corey Brown	32	8,7,6,10,4	.279/.339/.384/.723; 15 steals with great D
IF	Paul Markstrom	30	7,7,5,6,6	.277/.378/.468/.846; great D
OF/DH	Delmon Young	32	8,9,9,7,8	.257/.315/.419/.734; 8 homers, 61 RBIs, and 11 steals in part-time play

Rotation (order to be determined with 1 guy moving to the pen)

Position	Player	Age	Ratings	2017 stats / awards
SP RHP	Jon Asahina	37	7,8,10,7; 62 GBP	12 - 12 with a 3.82 ERA
SP RHP	Vin Mazzaro	31	10,6,10,7; 68 GBP	10 - 11 - 9 with a 3.87 ERA
SP LHP	Chaz Roe	31	7,10,9,7; 69 GBP	15 - 4 with a 4.10 ERA
SP LHP	Scott Olsen	34	8,9,7,7; 32 GBP	15 - 13 with a 3.70 ERA
SP RHP	Jason Hirsh	36	10,7,9,8; 52 GBP	7 - 9 - 1 with a 7.60 ERA
SP RHP	Frank Manhardt	28	9,9,7,9; 47 GBP	1 - 6 with a 8.17 ERA

Bullpen

Position	Player	Age	Ratings	2017 stats / awards
MR	Ryan Madson	37/38	8,9,8,6; 50 GBP	4 - 5 - 5 with a 4.17 ERA
MR	Santiago Casilla	38	9,9,8,3; 48 GBP	2 - 2 - 1 with a 5.84 ERA
MR	Andy Sisco	35	8,5,9,6; 31 GBP	3 - 0 - 3 with a 4.50 ERA
MR	Richard Pinto	33/34	8,8,9,5; 69 GBP	1 - 4 - 4 with a 4.74 ERA
MR	Calvin Delaney	26/27	8,8,9,3; 37 GBP	4 - 3 - 2 with a 4.19 ERA
CL	Deon Silva	29	7,10,10,3; 35 GBP	3 - 3 - 11 with a 2.87 ERA

I'm not sure what my rotation will be exactly. Mazzaro, Asahina, and Roe are the only locks. Mazzaro moved back to the rotation during last season out of need due to lack of SP depth. He did better than he had in the past as far as his walks go. Olsen will probably be there, but his lost of talent and ratings scares me. Hirsh still has solid ratings, but was terrible last year (1st time in 11 years he didn't get at least 10 wins). Manhardt took his lumps as a rookie, but hopefully he'll find it eventually.

C Jeroloman may be replaced with Ambort or if I get someone in FA. Markstrom will probably stick, but I want to get Soto up somehow.

Also, you'll notice that the reigning GG winner at 1B for the last 9 years will be in RF. That's because Pujols is a defensive liability now and the fact that Fielder can't play anywhere else except 1B due to his slow speed and weak arms. Parmelee has a 7 OF arm so I'm hoping he'll do alright out in RF. Zimmerman and Weeks need to bounce back near their track records.

We'll see what happens. We should have won 89 games according to our Pythagorean last year so I definitely feel we're better than the 83 wins we actually got. Hopefully, my pitching staff doesn't get decimated by injuries like it did last year:

SP Manhardt - 1.5 weeks
SP Mazzaro - 4 weeks
SP Roe - 6.5 weeks
MR Madson - 10.5 weeks
MR Casilla - was DTD for 3 weeks or something and didn't pitch
MR Sisco - 5 weeks

[Kingdom]

Stay health and get some reasonable production, you can easily beat the overly lucky mariners.