1998 Oakland Athletics season explained

Oakland Athletics
Season:	1998
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Network Associates Coliseum
City:	Oakland, California
Record:	74–88 (.457)
Divisional Place:	4th
General Managers:	Billy Beane
Managers:	Art Howe
Television:	KRON-TV Fox Sports Bay Area (Ray Fosse, Greg Papa, Ken Wilson)
Radio:	KNEW (Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse)

The Oakland Athletics' 1998 season saw the A's finish with a record of 74 wins and 88 losses. The campaign was the first of the Billy Beane era. While the Athletics finished a distant fourth in the American League West, they improved upon the prior year's dismal output of 65–97.

The strong play of Jason Giambi, Matt Stairs and Kenny Rogers highlighted an otherwise forgettable campaign. Rogers' performance was particularly impressive; in arguably the finest season of his career, he won 16 games and posted a 3.17 earned run average (both were the best full-season marks by an Athletics starter since 1992). Additionally, the 1998 season marked Rickey Henderson's fourth (and final) stint with the Athletics. Henderson, at the age of 39, stole a total 66 bases; this total lead the league in that category. Lastly, rookie Ben Grieve collected a Rookie of the Year (ROY) award for his solid debut season. The award was the Athletics' first since Walt Weiss received one in 1988.

The Athletics posted a winning record in 1999. The organization, under Beane, would not post another losing season until 2007.

Offseason

• October 29, 1997: Dane Johnson was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Toronto Blue Jays.^[1]
• November 7, 1997: The Athletics traded a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Kenny Rogers and cash. The Athletics completed the deal by sending Scott Brosius to the Yankees on November 18.^[2]
• November 18, 1997: Tony Batista was drafted from the Athletics by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the 27th pick in the 1997 MLB Expansion Draft.^[3]
• November 26, 1997: David Newhan and Don Wengert were traded by the Athletics to the San Diego Padres for Jorge Velandia and Doug Bochtler.^[4]
• November 22, 1997: Damon Berryhill was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[5]
• December 4, 1997: Mark Acre was purchased from the Athletics by the Yakult Swallows.^[6]
• December 5, 1997: Jack Voigt was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[7]
• December 16, 1997: Mike Blowers was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[8]
• December 22, 1997: Izzy Molina was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[9]
• January 22, 1998: Rickey Henderson was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[10]
• March 9, 1998: Kevin Mitchell was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[11]
• March 17, 1998: Ernie Young was purchased from the Athletics by the Kansas City Royals.^[12]
• March 25, 1998: Doug Bochtler was purchased from the Athletics by the Detroit Tigers.^[13]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• Rafael Bournigal
• Tom Candiotti
• Jason Giambi
• Ben Grieve
• Rickey Henderson
• A. J. Hinch
• Dave Magadan
• Jason McDonald
• Scott Spiezio
• Matt Stairs^[14]

Notable transactions

• June 2, 1998: 1998 Major League Baseball draft
  • Mark Mulder was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round (2nd pick). Player signed October 9, 1998.^[15]
  • Eric Byrnes was drafted by the Athletics in the 8th round. Player signed June 12, 1998.^[16]
• June 26, 1998: Aaron Small was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Arizona Diamondbacks.^[17]
• August 7, 1998: Kevin Mitchell was released by the Athletics.
• August 9, 1998: Jack Voigt was acquired from the Athletics by the Texas Rangers in a conditional deal.

Roster

1998 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (pitching) (bench) (bullpen) (first base) (hitting) (third base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C		120	337	34	78	9	35	.231	.341	3
1B		153	562	92	166	27	110	.295	.489	2
2B		114	406	54	105	9	50	.259	.377	1
3B		129	409	56	97	11	71	.237	.386	1
SS			105		365		53		85	11	45	.233	.384		5
LF		152	542	101	128	14	57	.236	.347	66
CF			117	370	56	95		5		50	.257		.368	5
RF		155	583	94	168	18	89	.288	.458	2
DH		149	523	88	154	26	106		.294	.511	8

^[18]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	85	209	47	.225	1	19
	78	207	52	.251	7	34
	61	182	51	.280	1	15
	70	175	44	.251	1	16
	51	127	29	.228	2	21
	35	123	33	.268	2	9
	35	109	35	.321	1	13
	27	87	13	.149	3	7
	57	72	10	.139	1	10
	16	45	14	.311	0	6
	6	15	4	.267	0	0
	11	12	1	.083	0	1
	7	7	1	.143	0	1
	8	4	1	.250	0	0
	6	2	1	.500	0	0
	3	2	0	.000	0	0
	3	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	34	238.2	16	8	3.17	138
	33	201.0	11	16	4.84	98
	33	194.1	11	9	5.09	134
	31	175.0	7	11	6.22	112
	24	117.1	5	9	6.37	89
	8	42.2	3	3	2.74	27
	2	8.1	0	1	11.88	8

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	7	27.0	1	3	6.33	29
	8	20.0	0	1	3.60	5

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	70	4	9	33	3.58	58
	75	3	1	0	4.24	36
	66	7	4	1	4.58	53
	57	3	3	0	5.16	42
	48	1	6	5	3.99	34
	25	0	1	0	4.00	33
	24	1	1	0	7.25	19
	13	1	0	0	5.59	3
	9	0	2	0	8.25	3
	3	0	0	0	1.93	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/johnsda05.shtml Dane Johnson
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/brosisc01.shtml Scott Brosius
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/batisto01.shtml Tony Batista
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/velanjo01.shtml Jorge Velandia
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/berryda01.shtml Damon Berryhill
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/acrema01.shtml Mark Acre
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/voigtja01.shtml Jack Voigt
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blowemi01.shtml Mike Blowers
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/moliniz01.shtml Izzy Molina
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/henderi01.shtml Ricky Henderson
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mitchke01.shtml Kevin Mitchell
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/y/younger02.shtml Ernie Young
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bochtdo01.shtml Doug Bochtler
14. Web site: 1998 Oakland Athletics Roster by Baseball Almanac.
15. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/muldema01.shtml Mark Mulder
16. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/byrneer01.shtml Eric Byrnes
17. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smallaa01.shtml Aaron Small
18. Web site: 1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics.

• 1998 Oakland Athletics team at Baseball-Reference
• 1998 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 3rd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 2007. 978-1-932391-17-6.