Oakland A's: 5 Reasons the A's Failed in 2011

The 2011 Oakland A's have been a disappointment.

As harsh as it sounds, I don't know of any other way to put it.

The A's were supposed to contend for the AL West title.  They were supposed to improve their lackluster offense and the pitching was going to be even better than the previous year.

Of course, none of this really came to fruition.

Following are a few things that I think went wrong.

Trevor Cahill's Struggles

Trevor Cahill was 18-8 in 2010 with a 2.97 ERA.

When the season began, I think most fans figured that the sky was the limit for this kid.  I know I sure did.

It's 2011 and Cahill sits at 9-13, losing seven of his last 10 starts. 

With injuries to two of his counterparts you can't place all of the A's problems on Cahill's shoulders, but one would have to wonder where they might be if he at least lived up to last years performance.

Cahill is a young pitcher with a lot of talent. Something tells me that he will figure it out and this season will not define him as a pitcher.

Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham Waited Too Long

Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham were brought to Oakland to bolster the offense.

Willingham is hitting .244 with 79 RBI and 23 home runs. The 23 homers is about what most would have expected, but he didn't seem to start to hit them until it was too late. His average is a bit below where it should be as well—his lifetime average is .262.

Matsui is hitting .260 with a 11 home runs and 64 RBI.  Again, this is not bad, but like Willingham he waited until August to wake up.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't have been nice if these guys were consistent all year long?

Bob Melvin Was Not in Oakland for the Entire Season

Even though the Oakland A's are 10 miles back in the AL West, they seem to still have fight in them.  This can be traced directly back to Bob Melvin.

The team is 33-40 under Melvin and I know that's nothing to boast about.

Give this guy a whole year to do his thing and he'll turn things around in Oakland.

Melvin is a former NL manager of the year, so give him the full arsenal of pitching he was supposed to have—minus maybe Brett Anderson—and time to work with some of the new kids and let's see what happens.

The A's May Have Waited Too Long to Pull Trigger on Prospects

This is a tough one to speculate on.

The grass is always greener in the minor leagues when things are not going well.

Should the A's have brought up Jemile Weeks a bit earlier? Maybe, but who knows. Yes, Mark Ellis was having some struggles, but it's hard to cut a guy loose, or bench someone who has been a mainstay in Oakland for years.

The A's kind of caught a break with Ellis getting hurt, it gave the club no choice and they had to take a look at Weeks.

Brandon Allen is a different story and probably should not be mentioned as a prospect the A's waited too long to call up. I'm going to touch on it anyway, I know he just arrived after the trade deadline, however, the way he has looked it still makes you think: Wow, if only this guy was here all along!

Key Pitchers Were Injured

Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson both had season ending surgery in 2011.

There really isn't much more to say about this.

These two guys are half of the "Big Four," which a lot of analysts picked as one of the best staffs in baseball.

If the A's would have had the full gang in 2011 things would have been different, plain and simple.

Is it an excuse? Maybe.

What do you think A's fans, would the A's be contenders if they had all four projected starters for the whole season.