Your Brand New Oakland Athletics Infield

This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen) and will continue to break them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.

As Eno examined a couple of weeks ago, the Red Sox infield has seen some changes this offseason. (The same would hold true for the Red Sox’s rotation and outfield for that matter.) But no team in the league has seen more changes to their infield than the Oakland A’s, whose 2015 opening day lineup projects to return exactly zero starters from the 2014 version.

Indeed, only two players across six positions (counting designated hitter) were even on the roster at the end of 2014. After trading away their best position player (Josh Donaldson) and a number of other contributors (John Jaso, Derek Norris, Brandon Moss) and letting another leave via free agency (Jed Lowrie), many of who had been successful reclamation projects, the A’s have a brand new ragtag bunch. Let’s try to parse how much use it will be for fantasy owners.

First, here’s an actual chart projecting the A’s infield depth.

Position	Starter	Backup/Platoon	Depth
Catcher	Stephen Vogt (v. RHP)	Josh Phegley (v. LHP)	–
First Base	Ike Davis (v. RHP)	Mark Canha (vs. LHP)	Billy Butler
Second Base	Ben Zobrist	Eric Sogard	–
Third Base	Brett Lawrie	Eric Sogard	Mark Canha
Shortstop	Marcus Semien	Eric Sogard	Ben Zobrist
DH	Billy Butler	Mark Canha	–

Now, here’s a position-by-position exploration.

Catcher

The A’s have pretty obvious platoons going at a number of positions, one of them being catcher. Vogt was very good against right-handed pitchers in 2014, posting a 113 wRC+ against them compared to a 83 wRC+ versus lefties. With John Jaso and Derek Norris out of the picture, Vogt—who turned 30 in November—looks set to receive significant playing time for the time in his career. His numbers against righties weren’t propped up by an insane BABIP or some weirdly high number of infield hits, so it’s easy to imagine him as mixed league relevant, at least in leagues with daily lineups, and even more especially in leagues like Ottoneu where you might play two catchers with platoon splits and get the most out of both of them. Vogt also should be eligible at first base and outfield in most league, giving his value a slight boost.

Phegley posted excellent numbers at Triple-A last season as a 26-year-old, which he also did in 2013 before getting called up to the show and putting up equally poor numbers with the White Sox. His minor league splits were not dramatic, but he doesn’t project as a number one catcher, so it makes sense to take advantage of his better power and contact versus lefties.

First Base

At first base we have another pretty clear platoon. Ike Davis has always been pretty good against righties (career 126 wRC+) and pretty awful against lefties (career 61 wRC+). The Mets never seemed to want to make room for him as a platoon player—even after he swatted 32 homers in 2012—so Oakland seems like the perfect fit. From a statistical standpoint, Davis made several notable improvements last year. His Contact% and LD% were both career highs, perhaps in part due to his O-Swing% being a career low. And yet his .265 BABIP was well below both his career mark and league average. Granted, Davis is very slow, so he’s not going to run out as many in-the-hole grounders as some guys, but some positive regression in BABIP is probable. Indeed, Steamer sees a BABIP closer to his career mark. Davis’s success in 2014 also might have something to do with the fact that he was protected from lefties to a high degree. But that likely won’t change in 2015 with the A’s. The drawback is that fantasy owners can bank on only around 450 plate appearances or so.

Manning the other half of the first base platoon is Rule-5 draftee Mark Canha, who also appears on the depth chart at third base given that he played 18 games at the latter position in Triple-A in 2014. (He also played 61 games in left field.) Overall, during the course of his four-season minor league career—during which he has always been “old for his level,” we might note—Canha has exhibited negligible platoon splits, but he’ll have to cut his major league teeth as a platoon player. Canha will be yet another interesting character in the ongoing Oakland A’s narrative of underdogs, retreads, and role players, for those who enjoy that sort of thing. (I do.) Unless an injury catapults him into more playing time, he’ll be of less interest for fantasy purposes.

Second Base

Second base is easy when you have Ben Zobrist. Depth is easy when you have Ben Zobrist. His contact ability and plate discipline remain intact even if his power numbers have taken a hit in the last couple of years. From 2011-2014, only Robinson Cano has posted a better wRC+ while posting over 2000 PAs as a second baseman, and Cano doesn’t offer fantasy owners shortstop and outfield eligibility. Steamer sees a 2015 line for Zobrist that very closely resembles his 2014, which makes sense: he’s been one of the most consistent players in the league.

Eric Sogard will back up Zobrist, and also serve as depth at shortstop and third base. His value—such as it is—is that he can field all of those positions at least passably, though UZR and other metrics don’t like his work in a small sample at short. After a couple seasons of receiving significant playing time, he will probably play much less in 2015—which is good news for the A’s: he’s below replacement level as a hitter.

Third Base

After being the centerpiece of the A’s return for trading an MVP-caliber Josh Donaldson, Brett Lawrie might be under some scrutiny going into 2015. Then again, A’s fans and local media have to be used to this sort of thing by now. While Lawrie might have lost his some of his prospect sheen, when on the field, he’s been about a league average hitter and an above average defensive third baseman over the last three years—his age 22-24 seasons. As an extremely free swinger, Lawrie is not the stereotypical Billy Beane buy low guy (also, he wasn’t bought low), but there’s talent to work with there. Health, of course, has been the real issue for Lawrie.

It’s interesting (read: disconcerting) to consider what the A’s would do in the event that Lawrie missed significant time in 2015 as he has in 2013/2014. They could move Marcus Semien to third base, Zobrist to short, and play Sogard at second, but, as I mentioned above, it’s not ideal to give Sogard any significant number of plate appearances. A more interesting option, by my taste, might be to try Canha at third, as Nate Freiman could be recalled to platoon with Davis at first.

Shortstop

In the same ways that Brett Lawrie isn’t the stereotypical Billy Beane acquisition, Marcus Semien is. He’s shown nearly impeccable ability to lay off of pitches outside the strike zone, and in 2013, across two minor league levels in the White Sox system, he recorded more walks than strikeouts while hitting for above average power for a middle infielder. Much has been said about Semien being a shortstop in name only, and that may be true. But Jed Lowrie wasn’t great at fielding the position; Sogard was/is at least below average. The bar isn’t high for Semien in that regard.

As far as fantasy production goes, prospective owners probably can’t count on a good batting average from Semien, but the rest of his line looks promising. In slightly less than a full complement of plate appearances, both ZiPS and Steamer see 16 home runs and a K% that is under control. For reference, here’s where Steamer’s projections would place him in several categories among full-time shortstops in 2015:

Stat	Projected Rank
HR	6
R	10t
RBI	10t
SB	16t
AVG	30+
OBP	10
SLG	10t

That looks rosterable for most mixed leagues; starting material in AL-Only leagues and deeper mixed leagues. He should be a nice addition to the fantasy shortstop pool.

Designated Hitter

In 2014, Billy Butler set career lows in AVG, OBP, SLG, HR, HR/FB, BB%, and wOBA, just to name a few. He ended up being (per wRC+) just about league average as a hitter. Whether you’re a major league executive or a fantasy owner, league average isn’t what you want from a guy who’s limited to DH duties (or the Utility spot in fantasy leagues).

Yet, the A’s made him their top priority this offseason when they already had a good number of candidates to share DH duties. What could they have seen?

Mike Podhorzer and Eno Sarris each examined this soon after Butler signed with the A’s in November. In sum, Pod figures that Butler’s HR/FB rate was a bit unlucky, and sees his power coming back despite a lateral shift to another pitchers’ park in O.co Coliseum. (Steamer agrees.) But that seems to be an upside of 15-17 HR from a 1B/Utility spot. In the past, the bonus of owning Butler in fantasy leagues has typically been his AVG, which, despite a good LD% and the BABIP to match, Butler couldn’t produce in 2014. Average Draft Positions (ADP) in mock drafts so far show Butler being drafted around the 18th round. That sounds about fine. It’s just not exciting.