Compiling this piece as Billy Beane’s tenure in Oakland reportedly draws to a close, I could not help but wonder what his career would have looked like had Jeff Lunhow never come to Houston. The rest of that division has not been formidable these past few cycles. Do the A’s win the division and skip the Wild Card game every year? Does that help them get over the hump? I realize this sort of speculation is all but useless to the functioning of a society, but when we were tallying up the tab on trashcan gate, I don’t think we stopped to measure the cost of that scandal on the memory of Billy Beane. We didn’t know his days in baseball were numbers in the hundreds at the time, but now that we do, I’m thinking his legacy was more impacted by the banging in Houston than just about anyone’s. Makes me think a lot of fans, myself included, would like to see this team catch all the lucky breaks some October, is all I’m saying. 

Perhaps these prospects can help.