The Other California Teams

The Oakland Athletics and the San Diego Padres are often forgotten when you think of California baseball. The Athletics surprised everyone when they won the AL West in 2012 and the Padres did just as they were expected to do, poorly. Both teams are looking to do well in 2013, but one may fare better than the other: Take a guess on which one.

The Padres have a pretty good offense especially playing in the cavern of Petco Park. They are led by Chase Headley who won the silver slugger award for NL third baseman. Also Carlos Quentin is in the outfield slugging as always.

1. R. Maybin CF  85 OPS+
2. R. Forsyth 2B   106 OPS+
3. S. Headley 3B  144 OPS+
4. R. Quentin LF   145 OPS+
5. L. Alonso 1B    109 OPS+
6. R. Guzman LF  106 OPS+
7. L. Baker C        68 OPS+
8. R. Cabrera SS   84 OPS+

The pitching rotation for the Padres is led by Edison Volquez who had a 4.14 ERA over 184 innings. He is a bright spot in the Padres rotation. Freddy Garcia was signed by the Padres to a minor league deal. I expect he will get the 5th spot in the rotation.

1. R. Edison Volquez 4.14 ERA
2. L. Cory Luebke 3.29 ERA in 2011
3. L. Clayton Richard 3.99 ERA
4. R. Jason Marquis 5.22 ERA
5. R. Freddy Garcia 5.20 ERA

People suspected that the Padres' bullpen wouldn't be so good when Heath Bell left and signed with the Miami, but they actually performed very well. One of my favorite names in baseball, Huston Street is the closer and had a 1.85 ERA in 2012. Every season Luke Gregerson's ERA gets lower and lower and in 2012 his ERA dropped to 2.39, and lefty Joe Thatcher had some success after coming off injury.

I project 78 wins for the Padres in 2013

The Oakland Athletics have a team of people we never heard of, until 2012. Every player on that team did well and impressed a lot of people who doubted them, but the true star on the A's is Billy Beane. I'm not sure if he knew something about Josh Reddick, Yoennis Cespedes, and Coco Crisp or if he got lucky. Either way there are more new players on the A's in 2013 and they are looking to win.

1. S. Crisp CF        105 OPS+
2. R. Nakajima SS .833 OPS in Japan
3. L. Reddick RF    110 OPS+
4. R. Cespedes LF 137 OPS+
5. L. Moss 1B        160 OPS+
6. R. Norris C         73 OPS+
7. L. Smith DH        109 OPS+
8. S. Lowrie 3B        108 OPS+
9. S Weeks 2B          71 OPS+

The Athletics have a pitching rotation of young pitchers who all were successful in 2013. They each pitched well and shocked many by how well they handled the pressure down the stretch. They aren't household names by they are pretty damn good. A perfect addition for their team would be Kyle Lohse, but he may be too expensive.

1. R. Jarrod Parker   3.47 ERA
2. L. Brett Anderson 3.57 ERA 2011-2012
3. R. AJ Griffin          3.06 ERA
4. L. Tommy Milone  3.74 ERA
5. L. Travis Blackley  4.10 ERA

A new trend in Oakland began in 2012, that is Balfour Rage. When Australian born Grant Balfour entered games to the sounds of Metallica's song "One" the fans would go crazy. I've never seen a crowed become energized so quickly, but Balfour will be out for the beginning of the season. Ryan Cook and his 2.09 ERA will probably take over as closer until Balfour comes back. Sean Doolittle, the lefty in the pen pitched to a 3.04 ERA in 2012 and will play an important role in 2013.

I project 85 wins for the Athletics in 2013.