February 27, 2008
A's Get F's For Base Running
Bob Geren is trying to improve the Athletics base running skills, but so far it's not working:
Oakland's manager was impressed by Carlos Gonzalez's strike from center that cut down Jeff Baisley at third, but at the same time, Geren didn't like the baserunning, either at that point or overall. He has been emphasizing baserunning this spring, and there were several gaffes in that area at Papago Park.
"I'm not happy with that at all," Geren said. "It was awful, actually. It wasn't for lack of aggressiveness, but there were too many mistakes."
This is the story of the Athletics throughout this decade. This is the team that lost two LDS series due to poor base running. This seems like an organizational problem. Do the A's pay attention to this in the minor leagues like they do the ability to take a pitch out of the strike zone? It's supposed to be about process, and base running, like taking a ball or throwing a strike, is a process.