The A's are what you would call a small-market baseball team. The A's General Manager, Billy Beane, is the man who coined money ball, which is viewed as the key to winning with a small-market team. Teams like the A's always go through good stretches, usually because of a run of good drafts. Then they usually lose their big names to free agency or trade them because they cannot offer the long term contracts they want. The A's are a prime example of that. The A's were in the play-offs every year from 2000-2006, a run in which they featured a spectacular Miguel Tejada and Jason Giambi at his best. Eric Chavez was at the time one of the best third basemen in the game and they had various other stars play for the team in those six years. Of course, they also had a pitching staff that was called the big three, with Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson consistently turning in 15+ win seasons with ERA's that hovered around 3.00. '
Then came the end. Each of those stars left by the end of 2007 (Eric Chavez was still but he spent all his time on the DL) and the A's went into rebuilding phase. The goal was to rack up as many prospects as possible and see how many pan out. It seems to be working - the A's enter 2011 with the best young staff in the majors and some seemingly promising hitters coming along. But that's the thing; the window starts now and will close in seven or so years. Hopefully they can put together another set of post-season runs, but it has to bear fruit, or it will be 15 more years. It's like a wash and dry cycle. Win for six lose for six. THAT, is the pain of being an A's fan.
By Arjun Parikh
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