When is the last time you can say that an offseason with the Oakland A\’s wasn\’t interesting? I can\’t remember. This offseason has been no different with the team first firing Ken Macha, announcing plans to move to Fremont, a very thorough search for a new manager leading to the hiring of Bob Geren, the loss of Frank Thomas to a team that plays on an artificial surface, the signing of Mike Piazza and the loss of Barry Zito. It\’s been a wild one for the team that was one of baseball\’s final four teams standing in 2006.
So you know that Billy Beane would just have a lot of interesting things to say about all that has gone down since the 2006 season came to a rapid close at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.
I sat down with Beane last week in his office in Oakland for one of our chats and what follows is the first part of our discussion.
Blez: What was your reaction to last season and the ultimate result?
Billy Beane: We were all pleased especially if you look at it in hindsight, particularly with what we went through with the injuries. It was an unbelievable year when you look at the sheer number of injuries and the fact that we accomplished what we did. I think one of the reasons we were able to overcome it was because the year before (2005) the injuries, and the Angels had a lot to with it, prevented us from winning the division. I think last year we had a tougher injury year but because of the depth of club we were able to overcome it. We got beat by Detroit who was a buzzsaw in that ALCS, but we were the same thing with Minnesota. So in hindsight we were very pleased with what happened.
The interview with Beane (a three part series) concluded on Jan. 31. You will be able to access all three interviews with a simple click
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