5 Players the Oakland Athletics Could Sever Ties With Before 2014 Season
5 Players the Oakland Athletics Could Sever Ties With Before 2014 Season
A dramatic game 5 loss to Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS is nothing to be ashamed of for the Oakland Athletics. They once again walked away with the American League West despite being way behind in payroll to the Texas Rangers and other contenders that seemed to be there early on but faded. The A’s rose above them all once again and they should be extremely proud of it.
For a team like the A’s there are a few areas that always need trimming each and every offseason. If you look at this roster you see very few players making a ton of money in MLB terms and basically none with a WAR stat well below 0.0. These guys know how to build a team and they are about to have to do it again and defend their title once again. To do that, they will need to make some difficult and some very easy decisions.
One name that I’ll say right now that is not on the list is Bartolo Colon. We’ll call him an honorable mention because I think they will be able to re-sign him as long as he doesn’t look for a crazy amount of money or seasons for a pitcher his age. They could do without him but would be much more stable with him. With that said, here are five they can do without, one of which is bound to surprise some. Leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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5 – Chris Resop
This is more than an easy decision. No team built like the A’s needs a pitcher that is having trouble keeping runs of the scoreboard. Someone else is bound to need to take a chance on Resop but the Athletics do not.
4 – Andy Parrino
Last spring training the Athletics had a surplus of talent in the middle infield and are bound to once again this coming spring training. Considering that fact, I don’t think there is enough going on for Parrino to be considered one of those with a real shot. They can do better.
3 – Chris Young
An $8.5MM salary and a flat 0.0 WAR should tell you all you need to know about Young needing to return. There are always outfield options for a good and deep farm system and the Athletics have one of the very best. Young isn’t needed at that cost.
2 – Kurt Suzuki
It was nice to see Suzuki return for the playoff run at the end of the season but the truth of the matter is they don’t really need him unless he is willing to take way less than he can get somewhere else. There is no reason for him to re-sign or for the Athletics to want to re-sign him. This should be another easy but not so fun goodbye for Suzuki and the A’s.
1 – Grant Balfour
Here we go. I know this probably looks silly. Balfour is one of the better closers on the free agent market so why wouldn’t the Athletics need him back? Well they could use him for sure but the answer is in the fact that he is one of the best on the free agent market. It looks like he is going for somewhere around 2 years and $19MM. That just isn’t something that the Athletics need to do. They will find someone else to do almost as good of a job if not as good; I guarantee it.
