Baseball: Will the A's make it out of the first round?

I hope so but their offense gets worse every offseason but I really think we're in for another first round exit, if we even make the playoffs.

i will be suprised if they make the playoffs this year, the angels are much improved and the mariners have strengthened some key positions, the A;s have their work cut out for them

tj is right they have to make it to the playoffs. A's need their pitching to be sharp each and every night.

I really think tha the A's have a better chance this year, if the pitching staff stays healthy. Remember last year in the playoffs... the fight in a Boston bar. Although the rest of the division is much better the A's have also improved. If only hte MRI that Mark Ellis got came back postitive they will be complete. The Mariners and Angles have THEIR work cut out for them.

By the way were you directing this one at me???

The Bar scence?

How do you think Arthur Rhodes will fare as the A's new closer?

He has wicked stuff and a screaming fastball, but many are questioning whether or not he has that closer mentality. He hasn't ever been a full-time closer although he has finished off a few games the past couple years. I think he has alot of pressure on him, especially when he's trying to save a game for Zito or Mulder or Hudson.

I'm not too sure I see the A's in the postseason this year. They have a good pitching staff but Mulder has been battling alot of injuries. Their offense has lost alot of key players lost, most notably Tejada of course.

I think the wild card for the A's this year is the health of their projected clean-up hitter who has been nagged by alot of recent injuries, Jermaine Dye.

Alright Arthur Rhodes is not a certian thing... but he does promise something through his endurence, he can pitch the last one or two innings. As far as for Jermaine Dye, he is not as promising as Eric Chavez is. But the man who no one is looking at is Mr. Hussle himself: Eric Byrnes. He is the man and I will be looking for a stellar season this year from him.

See what gets me is in 2001 we had a potent offense with speed, power, and good hitting. We had an excellent pitching staff that went 4 deep with quality starters. We had a solid bullpen with a reliable closer,and guess what i thought we were the best team in the league that year,you know what happened we choked!!

Right now we have better pitchers but the bullpen is worse than it was and the rest is pretty bad aswell,we have no standout players i mean they are all hitting the same (about 15 homers)

We know what were getting with Chavez so you see somebody in the A's lineup has to step-up big time,i'm hoping Mark Kotsay and Bobby Crosby can achieve this.Kotsay was considered a budding star for the Padres until he had a poorer, injury-riddled season last year. If he can bounce back and Erubiel Durazo and Jermaine Dye can show some promise aswell things might not look so bad.