The Catfish Hunter of this A's squad is Einar Pena, who has garnered three consecutive Cy Young awards. He is the Jeff Hackman of the mound, with four 20-win seasons and 99 wins in just four major league campaigns. Given Pena's health, durability, and makeup, we could be looking at the standard bearer by which all future Plumpy pitchers are measured. He could easily top both the 300 win plateau and 3000 strikeouts by the age of 35!
With the loss of Atkinsson to the rival Minnesota squad, the starting rotation is still solid, but only Pena and to a lesser degree Sefcik have the stamina one looks for in a starter. Ruffin, Byrd, and Simmons will provide five or so good innings, but the bullpen will be used and abused in Oakland if they don't find an innings eater to take some pressure off. Of course Manny Chang is one of the elite closers in the game, and should anchor a very solid bullpen along with Allen Bryant.
Offensively Oakland remains solid, with power hitters Norm Hunter, Damaso Ramirez, Tony Ball, Ivan Ortiz, and SS phenom Mateo Bennett setting the pace. Jefferson and Musial also offer some solid offensive contributions.
If Oakland can fine one more horse starting pitcher to slot behind Pena and replace their loss of Atkinsson, they can once again compete for another World Series title in season 13. Just no crazy mustaches this time, fellas!
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