Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jon Lester (31) is relieved by manager Bob Melvin (6) during the eighth inning of the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. — After a lightning fast start and a startling second-half nosedive, the Oakland Athletics made a quick exit from the postseason, suffering a painful 9-8, 12-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals in the American League wild-card game.
Less than 24 hours later, A’s general manager Billy Beane looked back on a roller-coaster ride of a season and ahead to a promising but uncertain future for his team.
“There’s still a lot of good pieces, but we have a number of guys that certainly won’t be back, not because they’re not good players but because just the cost is not going to allow us to keep everybody,” Beane said.
Beane pointed to a 2015 rotation that will likely feature Sonny Gray, Jeff Samardzija and Scott Kazmir from Opening Day and should add Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin — both recovering from Tommy John surgery — at midseason.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson, fresh off his first All-Star season, will be back, as will right fielder Josh Reddick, center fielder Coco Crisp, first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss, catchers Stephen Vogt and Derek Norris, outfielders Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry and infielders Eric Sogard and Nick Punto.
Closer Sean Doolittle will return, along with Ryan Cook, Dan Otero and most of the A’s strong bullpen.
On the flip side, the Oakland will almost surely lose left-hander Jon Lester, who will become a free agent. Shortstop Jed Lowrie, reliever Luke Gregerson and right-hander Jason Hammel, are also among the A’s free agents.
“Based on the guys I know we have coming back, I know we’ll have a competitive team,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.
The A’s were 66-41 and owned a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West on July 31 when Beane made a blockbuster trade, sending slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for Lester.
After that trade, the A’s finished the regular season 22-33, were finishing 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Angels and barely held off Seattle for the second wild-card spot.
Taking Cespedes out of the middle of the batting order, hurt the A’s offense, but Beane said he has no second thoughts about his trade for Lester.
“If we don’t have Jon Lester, I don’t think we make the playoffs,” Beane said.
The trade for Lester was Beane’s second blockbuster of the summer.
On July 5, he acquired Samardzija and Hammel from the Chicago Cubs for a package that included right-hander Dan Straily and highly touted minor leaguers Addison Russell and Billy McKinney.
Despite the A’s fast start, Beane said he believed the back of their makeshift rotation, which had lost Parker and Griffin, was showing signs of wearing down. He believed the team overall needed help to hold off the Angels and Seattle.
“I could feel the Angels breathing down our necks,” Beane said. “And Seattle was good too.”
