Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
24. Oakland A’s
Back on July 31st, the A’s went all in on a win-now type of mindset, sending Yoenis Cespedes to Boston to acquire Jon Lester to pair him with Jeff Samardzija. Unfortunately for the A’s, without Cespedes, they were unable to generate many runs, and ended up losing to the Royals in the Wild Card game. Lester is now with the Cubs, Samardzija was traded to the White Sox, and Josh Donaldson was shipped to Toronto in exchange for Brett Lawrie. The A’s are now looking at an offensive core of Lawrie, Josh Reddick, and Ben Zobrist. Sure, Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir are still around, but after those two, there isn’t much. Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin are expected back in June, but will they be the same after major elbow surgery? (The surgery was Parker’s second Tommy John.) All the A’s can do now is hope, but things look grim, seeing as they are in the same division as the Angels.
How do you not mention Justin Morneau in the Rockies section when you talk about how much talent they have? He just won the batting title…