Oakland A's: The Futile Search for the Elusive Slugger That Will 'Make' the Team

One year it was Matt Holliday. This year it was Hideki Matsui. Both were star sluggers on a previous team.

More to the point, they were supposed to give the Oakland A's the pop that was missing from the offense since the days of Rickey Henderson and Jason Giambi. Oakland tried to replace those missing pieces quite literally in the form of home runs and runs to remedy a pitching staff that was parsimonious about giving them up.

Holliday had compiled a large part of his "record" in the mile-high stadium (and thin air) of Denver's Coors Field, a notably hitter-friendly park. Hitting in Denver didn't translate into long-ball slugging in the pitcher-friendly McAfee Stadium.

Matsui was available at a cheap price for a reason—he was injured in a way that hurt his known specialties as a designated hitter.

Contrast this to someone like Scott Hatteberg, who was supposedly finished as a catcher, but displayed unexpected virtues as a first baseman (and walk-drawer). Or Michael Taylor, the "ultimate" catch in a series of trades that started with re-trading Holliday.

Taylor has a high on-base percentage, combining a large total of walks with decent power.

Jemile Weeks, brother of Rickie at the Milwaukee Brewers, is another example of the future of this team. He only made his debut this year, but showed some promise in 2011. Now great things are expected of him next year.

Oakland's pitchers aren't like those of, say, the New York Yankees' up-and-down producers that benefit from a lot of pop in the lineup. Instead, they need steady run producers day after day. With two games to go in the 2011 season, the team has given up fewer than 700 runs. But they've only scored 636. Only the Seattle Mariners are lower in both categories among American League teams.

It's possible that 2012 will be Oakland's year. But if so, it probably wouldn't be as a result of one or two spectacular signings. Instead, it would be due to what the team has been doing all along, building from within.