Oakland Dynasty: A's Solid in 1st Half of 1975

This is my 2nd post on the Oakland Athletics dynasty from the 1970's. As you may know, from reading the first post that I decided to take over the Athletics coming off the heals of their three-peat championship parade. I was curious of what could have been for this dynasty that could have accomplished even more if it were not for their owner Charles Finley.

I did some of the following to avoid Finley's path...

• Catfish Hunter got paid on time, which did not void his contract, which in part did not make him a free agent or New York Yankee. Hunter is still Oakland's ace.

• The Athletics still have some of their prospects that were dealt off by Finley in Chet Lemon, Dan Ford & Manny Trillo.

• The Athletics also held onto relievers Darold Knowles and Bob Locker, plus other pieces that makes this team a more solid bunch.

All these moves have contributed to an excellent 1st half for the 1975 MLB Season. I of course have done this quick simulation with an administrative eye with the great help of Out of the Park Baseball 20... Doing this with APBA Baseball cards would take forever, while BBW could have done the simulation part, I feel OOTP is definitely more accurate.

As of July 4th, the Athletics were sitting 10 games ahead of the California Angels at 56-25, on pace for a 112 win season. The rotation as predicted has been outstanding...

• Catfish Hunter: 10-4, 2.08 ERA, 75 K & 1.048 WHIP in 147 innings (18 starts).
• Vida Blue: 11-5, 2.24 ERA, 91 K & & 1.046 WHIP in 136.2 innings (18 starts).
• Ken Holtzman: 13-2, 2.62 ERA, 44 K & 1.113 WHIP in 130.1 innings (17 starts).
• Glenn Abbott: 10-2, 2.73 ERA, 27 K & 1.202 WHIP in 99 innings (13 starts).

Dick Bosman has been the only starter in the rotation that has not done well, posting a 5-7 record with a 4.71 ERA & 1.342 WHIP. Bosman is leading the bunch by allowing 11 HR so far, which is not incredibly bad, and may have a lot to do with the inflated ERA. Holtzman has only allowed 1 HR during his 130.1 innings, which is pretty incredible.

At the beginning of the season, the middle of the lineup was struggling, so I moved up Phil Garner who was batting 7th, who was hitting .369 in mid-May, moving everyone like Sal Bando (to 3rd slot), Joe Rudi (to cleanup) & Reggie Jackson, who only had a .500 OPS at the time, to the 5th slot. Since the lineup adjustment, the lineup came alive, and the team gained some separation from the Angels. Reggie started to slug away, while his average climbed from .200 to .254, while his 16 HR ranks among the home run leaders. Garner has cooled off slightly, but is still batting .300 at the moment. I may have to make a new adjustment though with Sal Bando only batting .222 in the 3rd slot, I believe I may move him down to the 5th slot, making Rudi the #3 hitter once again, with Reggie batting in his natural cleanup slot.

I decided to go with the following, for the remainder of the month...

The bullpen has been pretty strong between Rollie Fingers (16 SV, 1.65 ERA), Dave Hamilton (1.72 ERA, 15.2 innings) & Jim Todd (2.90 ERA, 31 IP). Paul Lindblad has a 4.03 ERA with 22.1 innings, while Darold Knowles and Bob Locker has had limited appearances so far. I think the bullpen has plenty in the tank, thanks to a strong rotation.

Around the rest of the league...

• The New York Yankees, who were predicted to win the A.L. East with 109 wins, are sitting at a disappointing 40-39 record in 3rd place -- 6 games back of the 1st place Baltimore Orioles.

• The Cleveland Indians (39-36) have been a surprise early on, led by a decent rotation (The Perry brothers, Jim Kern & rookie Dennis Eckersley) & A.L. home run leader Oscar Gamble, who is hitting .335 with 27 HR & 58 RBI (1.089 OPS) -- who is likely the early favorite for the Most Valuable Player Award.

• The N.L. East has the closest division race at the moment with the Montreal Expos (46-33), St. Louis Cardinals (44-35, 2 GB) & Pittsburgh Pirates (43-36, 3 GB). Part of Montreal's surprise is acquiring Phil Niekro (traded for C-Larry Johnson, OF-Bombo Rivera & SS-Gary Gingrich) & Dave McNally (10-10, 3.47 ERA) pitching better than he actually did in 1975. 

• The Kansas City Royals have the worst record in all of baseball at 29-54 (.358) compared to that in real-life, in which the Royals finished 2nd in the A.L. West with 91 wins that season.

• The Cincinnati Reds (52-29) currently are the hottest team in baseball with 8 straight wins, while they hold a 3.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants.

Oakland has at different points in the season received interesting offers, with Milwaukee offering Hank Aaron & Cincinnati offering George Foster, but neither trade was worth what they were asking for.

The remainder of the season should be fun, I'll keep you posted.