Round-table: Part Three
I’ve asked a few friends of mine to weigh in on five questions that I think are on the minds of Oakland fans this season. I’ve also asked them to respond to one question about the current state of the game as we know it.
Their responses were nothing short of fascinating, and I can’t thank them enough for agreeing to participate.
I’ll be posting the questions and responses in a six-part series. Here’s part three.
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Today’s panel consists of:
Jeff Sackmann, the creator of Minor League Splits, the master of Brew Crew Ball, the captain of Beyond the Boxscore, and a contributer to The Hardball Times and Heater Magazine.
SwizStick, of Condition Oakland, one of the top few Oakland sites out there. It’s also one of the longest-running ones, dating back to 2004.
HollywoodOz, who runs Notes from the Nat, a simply outstanding blog about the Vancouver Canadiens, the short-season class A club affiliated with Oakland.
baseballgirl, from Athletics Nation. I have to confess, I consistently enjoy reading her front page stories more than any other author of AN. Sorry, Blez, Nico and louismg…
Becca the Bullpen Baker, who runs the light-hearted and delicious Bullpen Baker MLBlog. It’s one of the only baseball websites that actually makes my mouth water.
Sal Baxamusa, a well-tenured member of Athletics Nation and an author of The Hardball Times. He also happens to be a chemical engineering graduate student at MIT.
Marc Normandin, the founder of Beyond the Boxscore, a contributer to Heater Magazine, and a regular author of Baseball Prospectus.
Ken Arneson, who writes Catfish Stew for the Baseball Toaster family of blogs. I’ve admired Ken’s writing for a while, and his photography is nothing to sneeze at, either.
Tyler “Blez” Bleszinski, the founder of Athletics Nation, and the guy behind all of those wonderful SBnation blogs.
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How much will this team miss Barry Zito, in terms of pitching and/or leadership?
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Jeff Sackmann: I don’t follow the A’s on a daily basis, but I find it hard to believe that the eccentric Barry Zito provided much in the way of leadership.
As for pitching: if it weren’t for the Cy Young on his mantle and the reputation that goes along with it, he’d probably slot in behind Rich Harden and Danny Haren among this year’s starting five.
Put it this way: the A’s will be a much better team with 30 Rich Harden starts than 30 Barry Zito starts.
SwizStick: I think he will be missed. The last member of the “Big Three” finally gone, a pitching mentor to Danny Haren, solid leadership to others, etc.
In terms of pitching, as I said above if Harden can remain healthy then he will be an upgrade over Zito, so it’s possible this rotation could be even better than last year’s, provided Loaiza improves and Kennedy pitches as well or better than Brad Halsey/Kirk Saarloos.
HollywoodOz: There’s plenty of chiefs in the unit already, so I don’t think his leadership will be missed. I mean, really, who has ever said the words, “Maybe Barry will give them a pep talk and get a comeback happening?”
They’ll miss his ability to show up to work on time and start games, but they won’t miss his walks (especially in pressure situations - playoffs, opening day etc), and though we’ll all miss the comicbook curveball, we won’t miss watching our ‘ace’ throw 110 pitches to get out of the 6th inning.
Watch Haren make us all say, “Barry who?” by the end of the first month.
Bullpen Baker: I have a feeling everyone will miss Barry’s presence (and curveball and high socks and smoldering grin and do-gooder attitude). But I’m sure he and the guys will get together on off-nights (perhaps Barry can cross the Bay Bridge for an East Bay get-together at the Alehouse or the A’s and he can hang out at SF’s 21st Amendment) to strum a little guitar and zenfully sip a beer or two.
Sal Baxamusa: I don’t put a lot of stock into pitching staff leadership, particularly when the putative leader is all of 28. They’ll miss his pitching for sure, though, particularly the number of innings he throws at an above-average ERA. Watch to see if the A’s bullpen is taxed this year with Zito’s 220+ innings going across the bay.
Marc Normandin: I don’t know Zito’s place in the clubhouse hierarchy, so I’ll stick with the numbers for this one. In 2007, the Athletics will miss Barry Zito since they did not pick up a significant starter to replace him, and seem to be set on using one of their swingmen from 2006 in the rotation.
Long-term, I’m not sure Zito will be missed all that much; this is an organization that prides itself on developing and identifying talented young pitchers, and they’ll bounce back.
There was a time when everyone thought the A’s would be done for since they were missing the Mulder/Hudson security blankets in the rotation, but Danny Haren seems to think otherwise. No comment on Dan Meyer though :-)
baseballgirl: The A’s will be fine, as long as Rich Harden can stay healthy.
Barry Zito, while a great guy and a great pitcher, did not seem to be the ‘veteran presence’ you hear talked about in the clubhouse in a way that affected the other pitchers, at least not in my opinion. Zito is an emotional pitcher, who needed to keep his own head in the game to prepare for his starts.
If (and I know it’s a BIG ‘if’) Rich Harden can pitch the season with similar numbers to Zito, the loss will be minimal. If not, the A’s will certainly miss their never-injured ace.
Ken Arneson: They won’t miss him if Harden and Haren stay healthy. The minute one of them breaks down, we’ll start feeling it.
Blez: I think they’re going to miss the guaranteed 35 starts and 200 plus innings he provided more than anything. It’s also contingent on whether or not Harden can remain healthy. If the A’s get 25 or more starts out of Harden, they won’t miss Zito nearly as much as people think. Harden is a dominating force when healthy. He just hasn’t been healthy enough to find out just how dominating or good he is.
The leadership factor I think will be most seen in Danny Haren as he and Zito were very close and shared a special bond. I’ll be interested to see what happens when Haren has his first slump of the year and how he’s able to fight through it.