The team lost key contributors Dave Stewart, Harold Baines, and Mike Moore to free agency; the players ended up (respectively) in Toronto, Baltimore, and Detroit.
The A's also traded Walt Weiss to the expansion Florida Marlins for Scott Baker and Eric Helfand.
The futility of Oakland's new-look starting rotation was especially noteworthy; of the team's five primary starters (Bobby Witt, Ron Darling, Bob Welch, Todd Van Poppel, and Shawn Hillegas), only one (Witt) managed a sub-5.00 ERA.
On offense, the Athletics also struggled; the loss of their two best players (Mark McGwire and Rickey Henderson) to injury and a trade, respectively, contributed to their scoring only 715 runs (10th of 14 AL teams).
Infielders Manager Coaches Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg.