Oakland Athletics

Looking at the A's rotation so far, it's clear that Dallas Braden is every bit the good #2 guy I thought he could be. Josh Outman looked very good before blowing out his elbow, and Vince Mazzaro should be a good starter for years to come.

As for Trevor Cahill...well, his terrible peripherals indicate he's in the need of some Triple-A time.

The other starter in the Oakland rotation is 21-year-old rookie Brett Anderson.

Anderson posted ERAs above 5.00 in April, May, and June, leading many to categorize him as the weakest link in a young rotation.

Not so fast.

Billy Beane needs to take a play out of the Colorado Rockies playbook. The Rockies were playing uninspired and painfully poor baseball under manager Clint Hurdle. So, what did the Rockies management do?

The Rockies did not subscribe to Beane's theory that firing a manager during the season is a sign of weakness for a team. Instead the Rockies fired Hurdle and offered him a job in the organization, which he turned down and is now an announcer for MLB TV.

We obviously have seen just the beginning of the wheeling and dealing to commence before the trade deadline. 

One day after dealing Yuniesky Betancourt for a pair of minor leaguers the Mariners have struck again nabbing 3B Jack Hannahan from the Oakland Athletics for Double-A pitcher Justin Souza. 

We still have 20 full days until the trade deadline, and still have all of our trade chips intact like Jarrod Washburn, and Miguel Batista, both will be subject to plenty of Hot Stove rumors. 

I grew up in a home where the vast majority of the time one of two things were being watched on television: the news or sports. By the age of 10 I easily knew more about the Giants and 49ers of San Francisco than whatever the most popular cartoon of the era was.

In this environment I learned how to be a good sports fan. I was taught to be fanatical about my team and at the same time appreciate the talents of athletes regardless of who they played for.

A's fans like myself really appreciate Andrew Bailey.

The rookie righthander has emerged from obscurity to become one of the best relievers in baseball this season. Using a devastating cutter/curveball combo, Bailey has carved up the American League with a 2.67 FIP.

That said, Bailey's not the best reliever on the team. And the guy better than him doesn't get nearly as much recognition.

Michael Wuertz has been the best reliever on the A's.

I know Bailey's got the saves and the flashier ERA, but bear with me.

With the first half of baseball quickly coming to a close, the Oakland A's are sitting 9.5 games out of first due to their anemic offensive attack. A's General Manager, Billy Beane, signed Jason Giambi, a former MVP, Orlando Cabrera, Nomar Garciaparra and traded for the NL Silver Slugger, Matt Holliday last offseason. The signings were believed to turn Oakland into a darkhorse contender.

Those signings haven't changed a thing. The A's are still dead last in batting average, on-base percentage as well as slugging percentage.

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From the start of Bob Geren's tenure as manager of the Oakland A's, he was doomed to fail.

The reason being is the style of managing he employs and it has nothing to do with the trades that Billy Beane has made during the time he's been manager.

The excuse of injuries as well isn't an easily bought excuse either because every team in baseball has to deal with injuries at some point during a season.

The difference is a good-to-great manager knows how to motivate and get the most from his players.

The baseball season is nearly half over. It is time to look back on the season and take a look at the numbers that have defined the A's so far, and will define the team's performance during the second half.

12

The number of times the A’s have used the disabled list.

Eric Chavez, Mark Ellis, Justin Duchscherer, Josh Outman, and Ryan Sweeney are just some of the players who were supposed to give huge contributions to the A’s this season, but instead have spent significant time on the DL.

I've written 22 articles on Bleacher Report in about 14 months on the site, and I just realized that I've never really stated what I thought about the A's. Obviously they're my favorite team, but I really haven't remarked on their state of affairs. Oddly enough, I've written articles on how bad (at the time) teams like San Francisco and Texas should change their rosters, but never the A's.

So here we are.