Oakland Athletics

It comes as no surprise that Athletics' names are starting to pop up in trade rumors.

Expectations are that Josh Willingham, Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, Hideki Matsui, Michael Wuertz and perhaps Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes will at least be shopped before the deadline.

The A's finished a six game week with a 3-3 record.

That was a surprising twist, considering how the A's offense struggled against the Mariners on Thursday and Friday.

The greatest compliment you can pay a manager is that you can't imagine their team performing any better year after year. Unfortunately this can't be said of A's manager Bob Geren since his tenure began in 2007, and the trend has carried over into 2011.

Through the team’s first 17 games, the Oakland Athletics lead the majors in ERA, and it’s not even close. The A’s team ERA currently sits at 2.44, while the major’s second lowest ERA (Angels) is 3.01.

The A's are off to a decent start to the 2011 season, going 9-8 in their first 17 games. They currently lead baseball in ERA and are fourth in pitching WAR because of the strong performances of the starting rotation, led by Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill.

Until the Texas Rangers went on their run last season, defeating the New York Yankees and making it to the World Series, most people around baseball viewed the American League West as the weakest division in the American League.

It's still too early to panic at only 14 games into the regular season, but this Oakland team is underwhelming the baseball world in all facets of their game but one, and it is costing the A's in the win column.

It appears that for once the statement "all things happen for a reason" has some validity in regards to the Oakland Athletics.

The A's attempted to buy their former radio flagship KTRB 860am, finally ending negotiations the final week of spring training.

The failed bid to purchase the station briefly put regular season broadcasting in question for the Athletics, drawing criticism for A's owner Lew Wolff.

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