Oakland Athletics

Last year, a player that emerged from obscurity in the Oakland Athletics farm system was third base prospect Stephen Parker.  

In 2010 he hit .296, with 21 home runs and 98 RBI, yet coming into 2011 he was still largely overshadowed by fellow prospects Grant Green and Michael Choice.  Despite his breakout 2010 campaign, he solidified his position as the team's third baseman of the future with his consistent and solid play last season.

Major League Baseball definitely did not disappoint this year when it comes to buzz in the media. As fantasy owners, you may find yourselves in a familiar place; deciding what to make of these relatively over-hyped foreign prospects.

Most of the attention as been focused on Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers and Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics.

The past five seasons have been unkind to the Oakland Athletics. The team has been stuck in no man’s land as getting just 80 wins has proven to be a difficult task. Oakland has missed the playoffs for five straight years. Their best season in that stretch came in 2010 when the team finished at .500 with 81 wins.

It comes as no surprise that Athletics' names are starting to pop up in trade rumors.

Expectations are that Josh Willingham, Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, Hideki Matsui, Michael Wuertz and perhaps Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes will at least be shopped before the deadline.

The A's finished a six game week with a 3-3 record.

That was a surprising twist, considering how the A's offense struggled against the Mariners on Thursday and Friday.

The greatest compliment you can pay a manager is that you can't imagine their team performing any better year after year. Unfortunately this can't be said of A's manager Bob Geren since his tenure began in 2007, and the trend has carried over into 2011.

Through the team’s first 17 games, the Oakland Athletics lead the majors in ERA, and it’s not even close. The A’s team ERA currently sits at 2.44, while the major’s second lowest ERA (Angels) is 3.01.

The A's are off to a decent start to the 2011 season, going 9-8 in their first 17 games. They currently lead baseball in ERA and are fourth in pitching WAR because of the strong performances of the starting rotation, led by Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill.

Until the Texas Rangers went on their run last season, defeating the New York Yankees and making it to the World Series, most people around baseball viewed the American League West as the weakest division in the American League.

It's still too early to panic at only 14 games into the regular season, but this Oakland team is underwhelming the baseball world in all facets of their game but one, and it is costing the A's in the win column.