Last season, Jack Cust and Kurt Suzuki were probably the A’s best hitters.  Especially considering the only guys who played enough games to be considered “regulars” were Bobby Crosby, Jack Hannahan, Daric Barton, Emil Brown, and Mark Ellis.  Ryan Sweeney was on the borderline, and was stastically (percentage based numbers only) a little better than Suzuki.

So the A’s beefed up the team.  Matt Holliday replaced Emil Brown, Jason Giambi replaced Barton, a healthy Chavey replaced Hannahan, and Orlando Cabrera replaced Bobby Crosby.

The result?

The team’s two best hitters, so far, are Jack Cust (OPS .848) and Kurt Suzuki (OPS .835).  Among regulars, no one else is even above .630.  In other words, it’s not even close.  Cust is essentially the same.  His power numbers are down but his contact numbers are up.  But to his credit, Zook has jumped 120+ points so far this year and is currently on a tear. But otherwise, the offense has been nothing if not disappointing.

So what went wrong?

Well basically, the guys with the big names are hitting like the crappy guys we has last year.  Chavvy is particularly bad, with an OPS of .262.  In case you were wondering, the newly re-called Hannahan’s OPS was .647, good for worst in the league among regular players, but still more than twice what Chavez currently stands at.  Orlando Cabrera’s OPS is a putrid .525 (even WITH him hitting a respectable .286 Batting Average).  Last year, Croz had an OPS of .645.  Giambi and Holliday currently stand at .626 and .629, respectively.  Last year, Brown and Barton were at .683 & .675.

So this year’s team, with all the big names, is actually batting WORSE than last year’s league-cellar hitting team.