Sports Illustrated AL West spring preview

[marmar]

[font size="1"]Lance Berkman will be asked to help make up for the loss of Josh Hamilton's bat in the Rangers' lineup.
Brad Mangin/SI[/font]


Oakland Athletics

The Big Question: Have the A's put too much stock in Brandon Moss?

Okay, the really big question is "Can the A's contend again?" but the quality and depth of their young pitching, both in the rotation and bullpen and the superstar potential of Yoenis Cespedes are very positive indicators that they can. So, too, is the fact that the Angels and Rangers treaded water, at best, this winter. What the A's success, or lack thereof, in 2013 seems likely to come down to is the strength of the lineup around Cespedes, and in 2012 no member of the A's posted a higher OPS than Moss's 160.

The concern is that Moss did that in a mere 296 plate appearances in his age-28 season with a troubling 3.75 strikeout-to-unintentional walk ratio after hitting .236/.300/.382 across 749 PA over parts of five previous major league seasons, then went 2-for-15 in the postseason with seven strikeouts. Moss's volatility wasn't a major concern when the A's had 26-year-old slugger Chris Carter around to platoon with or replace Moss, but now that Carter has been shipped to Houston for injury-prone middle infielder Jed Lowrie (a career .250/.326/.417 hitter) Moss has lost his safety net, potentially leaving the A's understaffed at a key offensive position.

The Big Battle: Fifth starter

Bartolo Colon has five more games to serve on his performance-enhancing-drug suspension from last year, so, with the A's playing seven straight games without an off-day to start the regular season, A.J. Griffin and Dan Strailey could take this competition right into the first week of April. Thereafter, one of them will likely be headed back to Triple-A (Colon will prepare for the season with the rest of the team in spring training).

Both righties made their major league debuts last year and both pitched well for Oakland. Straily, now 24, had four quality starts out of seven and struck out 16 Angels and Rangers in 13 1/3 innings across two road starts in September. Griffin, now 25, went 6-0 with a 1.94 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 4.8 K/BB ratio over his first 11 major league starts, a run capped by eight scoreless innings against the Angels. He suffered some correction in his final four starts, though he did rebound with a solid effort against the Tigers in the Division Series (5 IP, 2 R, ND). ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130213/al-west-spring-training-preview/index.html

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. That sucks for Astros fans... who will have to see him in the enemy's colors

after hoping against hope that Crane would open that wallet a little bit wider...