The Oakland Athletics: A New Hope?

  Every die hard Oakland Athletics fan dreams of repeating the glorious World Series Championship of 1989. It has been twenty years since. Twenty years filled with dynamic players that just could not make it to the next level and become champions for our beloved Athletics. The closest that they have come to the ring in recent years would be 2006, with the likes of Danny Haren, Barry Zito, Joe Blanton, and Rich Harden in the pitching staff in addition to Nick Swisher and the infamous Milton Bradley leading the way. At the time, Oakland General Manager Billy Beane got sidetracked from his rebuilding plans after shipping off two of the Big Three to Atlanta and St. Louis, respectively. After watching the Athletics making a run for the playoffs, Beane traded then top outfield prospect Andre Ethier for hothead Milton Bradley and a flawed infielder in Antonio Perez. At the time, the deal looked like a good one. Nobody, not even mastermind Billy expected&...