Oakland Athletics

Well A's fans! Better late than never. Did this blogger over-extend himself? Possibly. But, our good friend The Bomb is going to be co-piloting this trip around the MLB so look for his contributions in the coming weeks. But anyway, here we are in Oakland.

Losses: 2B Adam Kennedy, IF Nomar Garciapara, SS Orlando Cabrera, IF Bobby Crosby, P Santiago Casilla, OF Scott Hairston

Gains: P Ben Sheets, OF Coco Crisp, 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, P Justin Duscherer (Injury), OF Gabe Gross

Analysis: This seems like a pretty easy one to call. The A's didn't lose a lot. APT has never been the biggest Adam Kennedy fan. He's a scrapper, but not much of an asset anymore. Nomar is past his time, Bobby Crosby rarely plays thus has never regained his rookie of the year form,, and Santiago Casilla got cut, so I doubt they'll miss him. The two losses with some substance are Orlando Cabrera and Scott Hairston. They are gamers. Cabrera is consistently on winning teams, enough now that he has to take some of the blame for the success. He'll be sufficient at the plate and provide an excellent glove. Hairston's a scrapper, a pretty clutch guy and a good one to have around the clubhouse. The Gains are huge for Oakland. If they can get a healthy Ben Sheets, they have an ace at the top of their staff. Combine that with a potentially healthy Justin Duscherer and the young pitchers they started with and this could be a very formidable rotation. The bats are nice additions but nothing Earth-shattering. Coco Crisp is a nice player. He is better than he was treated in Boston, and had a real nice year in KC. Kouzmanoff is a guy who will hit lefties and play solid Defense at third, so when Eric Chavez inevitably doesn't play yet again, the A's will have a major league player at 3rd. Gross is a nice bench addition.

More moves: Small if anything. The A's aren't typically big movers. They do their major work around July 31, when they pick a new pitcher to decide not to pay. Look for the possibility of Ben Sheets on the move in July if the A's struggle and Sheets regains form.

2010 Thoughts: The line-up is okay at best. They really don't have any umph in there. The A's are counting on Jack Cust to provide a hell of a lot of pop in the middle of the order and whoever is playing 3rd to join Kurt Suzuki in protecting Cust. That is not a lot of protection. They have a couple of lead-off candidates in Crisp and Rajai Davis, who could be nice in the 1-2 or 9-1 slots. But even with a healthy Mark Ellis and Eric Chavez, I don't have a whole lot of hope for run production. The strength of this team lies in the arms. If they are going to surprise anybody, it is going to be by shutting teams down. If the A's are lucky enough to be blessed with health their Starting Rotation could line up Ben Sheets, Justin Duscherer, Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, Trevor Cahill. That is a formidable 5. It would easily be the 2nd best in the division top-to-bottom (as the Mariners are empty after the big 2) and has a chance to challenge Anaheim (though not too likely). The bullpen is solid too. Rookie stud closer Andrew Bailey returns. This lets Brad Ziegler and Michael Wuertz take care of righties, which is solid, and Brad Kilby and Craig Breslow should do a decent job from the left.

Prediction: The A's need A LOT of luck in the health-department if they are going to compete. Even if all of their health dreams come true, they might still struggle to get out of the basement. Unfortunately it seems like the choices are either a competitive 4th or a distant 4th.

~~APT~~