In the wild-card round, the Oakland Athletics won their first MLB playoffs series since 2006. But the ALDS, well, that didn't go nearly as well.
Oakland fell to its division rivals, the Houston Astros, a team that finished the regular season seven games back of the A's, with a record two games under .500. While the Astros are now looking more like the defending American League champions they are, that's little consolation for Oakland.
David Schoenfield takes a look at where the A's stand and answers three key questions for the club moving forward to 2021 and beyond.
Oakland Athletics
Notable free agents: Marcus Semien, Liam Hendriks, Yusmeiro Petit, Joakim Soria, Mike Fiers, Mike Minor, Tommy La Stella, Robbie Grossman, Jake Lamb
Trade candidates: Mark Canha
Extension candidates: Matt Olson, Matt Chapman
1. That's a lot of free agents. Can they re-sign Semien?
Semien was third in the MVP voting in 2019, but wasn't able to match that production in 2020 and now heads into free agency entering his age-30 season. He's a perfect example of the difficulty evaluating players in a small sample size. How much do you weigh 2018 and 2019 (average of 6.8 WAR) and how much do you weigh 55 games in 2020? It's also true that his 2019 stands out in an otherwise consistent rate of production (OPS+ between 93 and 99 every other season since 2014).
That perhaps makes Semien affordable to the A's, although they'll have to go outside their usual comfort zone. You also wonder how the Khris Davis extension, which has backfired the past two years and has one more year left, will affect the thinking on Semien. The A's also don't have an obvious internal replacement, so even if they lose Semien they might have to dip into free-agent waters to replace him (Andrelton Simmons and Didi Gregorius are the other top shortstops).
2. What about replacing all those relievers?
Hendriks has probably priced himself out of Oakland with a second straight dominant season. Given the lack of quality closers across the game in 2020, he'll be in high demand. Soria and Petit also had strong seasons, although would be more affordable to re-sign. Still, even without those three you have J.B. Wendelken, Jake Diekman, Lou Trivino and Jordan Weems, and the bullpen has been the one area Billy Beane has been willing to spend some on in free agency.
The rotation is a little more settled with Jesus Luzardo, Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, but they'll have to replace Fiers, who has at least chewed up some innings for them the past two-plus seasons. A.J. Puk's shoulder surgery is discouraging, but he's supposed to be ready for spring training. If that group is all set, that could push prospects Daulton Jefferies and James Kaprielian to the bullpen.
3. How do they find more offense?
This is where Beane will really have his work cut out for him. Olson and Chapman both suffered big dips in their on-base percentages (with Chapman undergoing season-ending hip surgery for a torn labrum). Throw in Semien's drop-off, and the A's declined from 5.22 runs per game down to 4.81. That was still good for fifth in the AL, but they were just ninth in OPS, so only timely hitting with runners on base saved their production. They'll need better seasons from Olson and Chapman, and catcher Sean Murphy looks like a potential All-Star, but Davis looks like a sunk cost at DH, and second base has been an issue for a couple of years now. I could see Beane going after one of the cheaper free agents out there and hoping for the best -- think of Brad Miller as a DH/infield option or Dodgers utility man Enrique Hernandez as a potential second baseman.