For the first four months of the season, the Oakland A's were by far the best team in baseball.  They were repeatedly ranked #1 in almost every publication's power rankings.  They had one of the best pitching rotations in the game as well as an opportunistic offense that found a way to score just enough runs to win.

They made headlines on Independence Day, trading away their top two prospects, Addison Russell and Billy McKinney, as well as young pitcher Dan Straily, to the Cubs in exchange for starting pitchers Jeff Samardzjia and Jason Hammel.  That trade gave the A's two experienced starters, and it looked like they would be able to walk to the postseason.

But Billy Beane wasn't done.  Three weeks later, at the July 31st Trade Deadline, Beane traded away arguably his best hitter to strengthen an already-solid pitching staff.  He sent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to Boston and added Jon Lester, a tremendous pitcher as well as a postseason legend.  They also obtained Jonny Gomes in the trade, ostensibly replacing Cespedes' spot in the heart of the batting order.  Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to match that offensive output, batting only .211 during his time in Oakland. 

It looked like a good move on paper, as it gave the A's a rotation of Lester, Samardzjia, Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, and Hammel.  But was it really necessary?

At the time, Beane was praised for his gutsy negotiations, and rightly so.  He has been known to say that good teams can separate themselves from the rest of the pack over the course of the season because of the large sample size, but that the playoffs are just a "crapshoot."  

That crapshoot hasn't treated the A's very nicely in the past, as they have lost in the first round of the playoffs many times in the Beane era, including the past two seasons.  Beane was obviously trying to slide the odds into his favor as much as possible, and acquiring a pitcher with such an amazing playoff resume couldn't hurt.

While that overpowering staff will be a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs, the offense they lost with Cespedes is currently hindering their path to the postseason. That's right, they are now percentage points behind the Angels for the AL West crown and if the playoffs started today, they would be forced to face Felix Hernandez in a one game, winner-take-all game just to make it to the ALDS.

The A's have gotten a paltry .344 slugging percentage out of their left fielders since the trade, while Cespedes has been raking in Boston.  Also, they have averaged only 3.5 runs per game so far in August, after scoring more than 5 runs per game in the first four months.

And now, as the schedule moves into the dog days of August and September, the A;s have a lineup that is scuffling.  Some of its best hitters, Derek Norris, Coco Crisp, and Brandon Moss, are stuck in major slumps.  When they traded Cespedes, they needed the rest of their hitters to step up.  They have done anything but step up, and their record reflects their struggles.

If they end up in that Wild Card play-in game, their deep rotation isn't going to matter.  If they face off against someone like the Mariners with Felix Hernandez on the mound, they are going to have to find a way to score runs because The King has shown he can match zeroes with anyone.  

Then again, maybe Beane traded for Lester for that very situation.  In a must-win scenario, who would you rather have on the bump than Lester, who had a 1.56 ERA in four starts in the Red Sox quest to the World Series in last year's postseason?

Anyways, this writer by no means criticizing Beane's decisions.  He might be the best general manager in the MLB, he had a book and a movie made about him, and he has shown his greatness many times in the past, continually getting the better end of trades.  He is putting all his chips on this year's A's team, and their offense is going to have to start producing if Oakland is going to have a chance to continue their season deep into October. 

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About the author
Heath Clary
I am a sports columnist and blogger. I mostly write about the MLB and college football, but I do a little of everything