Nolan Ryan.  The best player on the Oakland Athletics
team.  The A's used their #1 Ammy pick last year on
Nolan Ryan.  Since being aquired at mid-season 1998
Nolan Ryan has put up very good ratings.  On what has
been the #1 or #2 worst team in the league, Nolan Ryan
has 14 wins and only 9 losses on one of the worst teams
in the league.  He has put up a 2.07 era with 229
strikeouts in only 186.2 Innings Pitched.  The league
is batting only .212 Over all.  Out of his 26 Games
Started he has 21 Quality Starts.

One of the best
at what he does !!

Defensive Greatness

Cal Ripken has hit 7 homers this year which leads the
team.  But,He only has a .186 average.  He has made up
for his bat with his defense though.   He hasn't made
an error this season.  He has played every single game
this year and hasn't made an error.  Cal Ripken was
also aquired about midway through the season in 1998.
He was going to be an FA that year but was protected
by the A's.

The A's have made a couple key trades this year.  The
A's have built up their 2 weakest positions, second
base and pitcher.  The A's aquired 2B Todd Walker from
the Twins along with a 2nd round FA pick for Andres
Galarraga.

Rick Aguilera was also aquired from the Twins.  He has
a 1.29 era with 8 saves, taking the role of Wendell
when he was traded.  In 35 innings pitched he has 30
SO's and a .177 OAV.

A's also aquired Kent Mercker from the Padres.  Mercker
has pitched very well this year.  He has a 2.36 era.
In 53.1 IP's he has 40 SO's this year.  The league is
only batting .221 Overall against him.

Curt Leskanic was the last recently aquired pitcher
that has pitched well.  He has a 1.96 era and a .114
OAV in 23 IP's.

Key bench Player

        Stan Javier has been a good person to come off of the
        bench this year after being traded over from the San
        Francisco Giants.

                                                                                               
The A's have also really suffered from injuries this year.  The 2 biggest injuries are Nolan
Ryan and Ron LeFlore.  Nolan Ryan was out for 3 weeks this year and Ron LeFlore has been out
for awhile and has another 3-4 months of healing.  Bosio, Santiago, Hoiles, Prieto, Mercker
were all injured for about 2 weeks.(most of them all got injured in 1 week).

The A's have made a big turnaround after they Aquired Ryan and Ripken, when Erick Grady
became the GM last year.  They were by far the worst team in the league.  Then last year
they went from last to 3rd-to-last.  Now this year after being last again in 1 sim they went
on a 3 game winning streak (then lost the most recent one) they went from worst to 5th worst
which was a big achievement for the former worst team.