Oakland's "Four Aces": https://theathletic.com/1835507/2020/...

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A decade before the Moneyball season of 2002, the Oakland A’s ran one of baseball’s highest payrolls and advanced to the ALCS. And while they fell to the Blue Jays, it was a team that not only had stars in their prime like Mark McGwire and Rubén Sierra; productive veterans such as Rickey Henderson and Terry Steinbach; and a stable of young pitchers expected to carry the team for the foreseeable future.

The 1990s Oakland A’s should have been a dynasty. Instead, the franchise languished during a lost decade that ended up producing a lot of disappointment and, eventually, Moneyball.

There is a scenario where the A’s draft Mike Mussina in 1990 over Todd Van Poppel and the entire outlook of the franchise changes in the 1990s. Remember, Mussina was a regular AllStar and routinely finished in the top five of Cy Young voting. His presence in 1992 would mean Oakland could have found a better trade for Canseco.

Does this change the 1992 ALCS? Who knows. And 1993 is still a lost season for the A’s with or without Mussina. In 1995, he made 32 starts for the Orioles. The A’s gave 33 starts to Ron Darling and Mike Harkey, two players with an ERA over 6, that year. If you just straight replace those, the A’s likely win the AL West and make the playoffs in 1995.

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