building with steam with building blocks

There comes a point in the season when a fan refocuses his perspective. At 9 games back in early June, the A's have a long steep hill to climb to catch Texas, and now there may be more compelling storylines than our record.

22-30 is not good. But despite being bottom 5 in MLB, it's not atrocious either. There are still 110 games to play. The season is still early. But as reassuring as that is, looking beyond this season has been a more rewarding practice lately.

The A's started 4 rookies against the White Sox this week. The newly formed rotation of: Dallas Braden, Trevor Cahill, Vin Mazzaro, Josh Outman and Bret Anderson is by far the youngest rotation in Major League Baseball, and they're coming off a very strong week, having given up just 5 runs in the last 4 games.

Vin Mazzaro threw 7 shutout innings of 4-hit ball, in his MLB debut Tuesday. Both he and fellow rookie Brett Anderson blanked a potentially dangerous White Sox offense and earned themselves a big league win. John Outman improved to 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA on the season. Not bad for a 23 year old rookie. Although our bullpen erased a quality start by Cahill, he went 6 and gave up 3 runs.

As good as this week was, last weekend was ugly in equal measure. Outman's 9 K's were not enough to beat first place Texas, and they took 3 of 4 pretty easily. The Oakland offense just couldn't find it's step, and the bullpen is even more janky. So in tough times, the dedicated fan finds reason for hope in other areas. Oakland's silver lining may be our rotation.

The beauty of dealing in young, undiscovered pitching prodigies is that they're inexpensive, and under team control for several years. If these youngsters continue to picth as well as they did last week, the A's would be looking at the youngest, most talented and least expensive rotation in baseball. This last week projects very well on 2010 and beyond.

This is Moneyball at it's best. Beane built out this staff of youngsters by trading away any player with name recognition for handfulls of young prospects. Now we have 22 year old arms for days, and we've filtered through to chaff to find the 5 strongest. If the A's can establish a true nucleus of young fireballers; 5 guys with sub-3.00 ERA's, our chances look very good in fielding a competitive squad for the next few seasons. But that's a big IF. Yes, it takes some time for a rookie to adjust, and yes, it seems liek our guys have found a rhythm. But nothing is established yet.

Nothing hurts an A's fan more than playing to our payroll. Just because we are the 5th brokest team in baseball, it doesn't mean we're condemned to playing like the 5th worst. A's fans have been spoiled to an extent by enjoying superior management that translates to a disproportionately competitive team; at least over the last decade. 2007 and 2008 were especially tough, having made the ALCS in 2006, and seeing every big name player on that roster be dealt away. Rebuilding took its tool. And, though it may still be too early to see the fruits of those moves, glimmers of brilliance are visible.

Tonight the A's head back to Oakland to face a similarly underachieving team in the Baltimore Orioles. They hope to build on a 3 game win steak against a 24-30 club with the 3rd worst ERA in the AL. If we cant take this series, I'm confident we have no shot left at the West in 2009.