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05' looks good for SF, bad for OAK

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  • 05' looks good for SF, bad for OAK

    2005 LOOKS GOOD FOR GIANTS, BAD FOR A's

    During the 2005 off season, there have been some major differences between the Giants and A’s front office decisions. While Giants GM Brian Sabean was addressing his teams biggest needs, A’s GM Billy Beane was dismantling his teams best attribute. Sabean signed closer Armando Benitez to help a San Francisco bullpen that blew 16 save opportunities. Benitez had 47 saves in ’04, which is just one less the entire Giants bullpen had all season. While Benitez came to San Francisco, both of the A’s best pitchers in ’04 left Oakland. Beane traded All-Star and 17-game winner Mark Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals and a week later traded Tim Hudson to the Atlanta Braves. Hudson has the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the majors since 2000. But it is not just the pitching staff that the Giants improved while the A’s stripped away. The offense will also look different for both teams in 2005.

    Just as loyal A’s fans saw some production from Jermaine Dye, the right fielder who only played 52 percent of his games in his first three seasons with Oakland, Beane refused arbitration which lead him to the south-side of Chicago. Dye seemed to be becoming the offensive power he was in Kansas City with 23 homers and 80 RBI’s last season, his best stats since his 2000 All-star season with the Royals. While Oakland lost a slugger in right field, the Giants added Moises Alou. The former Cubs slugger is a huge improvement over their former starter Michael Tucker, who only batted .256, while Alou batted .293 and 39 home runs, the best of his 15 year career.

    There is no way that Oakland will be able to keep up with the rest of the AL West, since Seattle has beefed up their offense by signing Richie Sexson and 2004 home run champ Adrian Beltre and Anaheim (or Los Angeles of Anaheim) still has Vladimir Gurerro, Garret Anderson and now Steve Finley. But the Giants have done their best to keep up with Arizona who signed Troy Glaus and Los Angeles who signed Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew.

    I see San Francisco staying in the race with the rest of the NL West and they may even win it for the third time in four years. But as for the A’s, they will be down towards the bottom of their division with Texas with only 70 wins. But hey, every year the A’s lose a superstar and yet they always seem to slip into the playoffs. Never count out Mr. Moneyball and what he can do with only $59 million.

  • #2
    Good article, but try putting your baseball posts in "The Show" catergory, football stories in "The Gridiron" and so on. Also, Tim Hudson was dealt before Mark Mulder, and although Seattle added a couple of big bats in the offseason, it's still a stretch to call them an AL West contender for 05.
    I have never done steroids. Period. Well, not today, anyway.

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    • #3
      Mariners

      With Ichiro, Boone, Beltre and Sexson, I see Seattle staying close for a few months, but their pitching will let them down in the stretch. I strongly belive that Anaheim will dominate this league like Braves did in '04 in the NL East.

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      • #4
        Sure the Giants made moves in the offseason to help them out. They arent going to win the West though. The Dodgers will win it this year with the Diamondbacks falling close behind. Maybe you should take a look at the article i wrote entitled "Barry will still be walked". We have very different opinions on what the Giants will do this year.
        What? Thats crazy! If you think my ideas and opinions are, just let me know.

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        • #5
          As long as Barry Bonds keeps taking those steroids, the giants will be contenders in the west. I'm looking forward to opening day. Should be good times at SBC park.
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