Oakland Athletics 2010 Spring Training Preview

Last year the Oakland Athletics unveiled a host of young pitching talent. This year will see the debut of a number of young position players. The A's pitchers will need to build on the success they achieved last year and become a cohesive rotation. If the Athletics are going to compete in a very tough American League West they will need to overachieve offensively as well.

Oakland added Ben Sheets over the winter, giving their staff a potential true number one starter. Sheets missed all of 2009 recovering from elbow surgery and his one year $10 million dollar contract is a gamble. How well Ben Sheets performs may, to a great extent, determine how much success the Athletics enjoy. And while we're speaking of gambles, the Athletics also resigned starter Justin Duchscherer to an incentive-laden one year deal. Duchscherer missed half of last year recovering from elbow surgery, only to have his rehabilitation interrupted by a diagnosis of clinical depression. Both Sheets and Duchscherer have proven they can be dominant starters when they are right, but how much they accomplish this year is anybody's guess. If they both reach their potential this could be one of the best staffs in the American League. The young guns that fill out this rotation are Dallas Braden, Brett Anderson, and probably Trevor Cahil. Braden was the opening day starter last year and put together a decent 2009 campaign. Anderson, the number four starter, also had a standout rookie season last year.

The Oakland athletics boast one of the best bullpens in the American League. Andrew Bailey will be handling the closer duties after saving 26 games with a miniscule 1.84 ERA and taking home the Rookie of the Year award in 2009. With his stuff there is no reason to think he can't do it again. Setting up Bailey will be Michael Wuertz, arguably the best setup man in the American League last year. Wuertz put together a season that included a 2.63 ERA to go with 102 strike outs over 78-2/3 innings. Joey Devine is also a very good late innings pitcher when healthy, and Brad Ziegler had a nice year himself as a closer a couple of years ago. This is a very deep bullpen that will not waste a lot of save opportunities.

Offensively the A's finished last in the league in 2009 in both HR's and slugging percentage. Oakland acquired Kevin Kousmanoff from the San Diego Padres over the winter and recently settled on a one year $3.1 million dollar contract to avoid arbitration. Kousmanoff should be a nice upgrade at third base for the Athletics and should help them with their power shortage. The A's also have acquired infielder Adam Rosales and outfielder Willy Taveras from the Cincinnati Reds for Aaron Miles and a player to be named later. Rosales is a good young utility infielder that will see some playing time spelling Cliff Pennington at shortstop and provide some much needed depth in the infield. Taveras was immediately designated for assignment to clear a roster spot, but will be used as a backup outfielder if the A's are not able to dump him and his pricey salary. Jake fox will be the new starter at first base and has the potential to greatly improve the Oakland power numbers. As of now it is just potential, but it should be fun to watch what Fox can accomplish with a full year of playing time after a storied minor league career. Although there is the prospect of increased power, the Athletics are mostly a light hitting lineup that can run very well. They will need to prove very effective at manufacturing runs to be successful.

Overall, Billy Beane has worked his magic again and given Oakland's ballclub a chance to compete in 2010. If things fall just right, and with a little luck, this is a team that could easily finish ahead of Seattle or Texas, but not both. An argument can be made that the American League West is the best division in baseball this year. The Oakland Athletics would then have to be one of the best teams in baseball to finish near the top of the division, and they have not come that far. They simply do not have the bats, and too many questions remain in their starting rotation. Still, they should have a nice season, and the present roster should be fun to watch. The prediction here is 77 wins and 4th place in the division.