MLB Preview: Oakland A's

This spring brings hope, but of a different kind than previous. Unlike past years, when hopes were based around players, this year the good feelings are more organizational. With the acquisition of Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra, the team has sent one clear message: this time, we're actually going to try to win games.

That's not a small thing. Last year, riding a spectacular bullpen and better than expected starting pitching, my chosen laundry competed until they shipped out Rich Harden to the Cubs for the Cheap Crap Platter of Matt Murton, Sean Gallagher, a Patterson to be designated later and some other sack of crap. Gallagher might be an MLB player, but the rest don't seem like more than Quad A fodder. Not since the botched Tim Hudson trade had Billy Beane gotten so little from an asset. At least when he shipped Cupcakes Blanton to the Phillies for postseason glory, they got back actual prospects.

Combine a quitting front office with the disaster years turned out by Daric Barton, Bobby Crosby, Ellis, Travis Buck and just about everyone who had a bat in their hands, and you got what last year was -- three months of found money, followed by three months of ripoff.

But by bringing in the useful old guys and playing in the weakest division in the AL, they've served notice that they think they can win the West this year. With Cabrera, Holliday and Giambi to go with Jack Cust, Kurt Suzuki, Ellis on his every other year bounce-back and (I know, I'm reaching hard here) Eric Chavez... Well, maybe they won't be the worst offense in the league anymore. That would be nice. And if nothing else, it's nice to consider an A's team without Crosby destroying them on a daily basis.

But I'm going to remain skeptical, because while the offense should be better, the pitching should be worse.

It starts with nominal ace Justin Duchsherer, who is already hurt and wildly due for a regression from last year's career year. No Blanton or Harden (or even a Chad Gaudin) means that they'll be playing Young Guy Roulette with a lot of unproven arms. And while many of those arms project well, with the usual mix of good pitchers' park and good defense behind them to smooth things along... Well, you still need to pitch on the road, too. We'll leave alone the fact that by the time you know their names, they'll be leaving town.

Which leads us to the reason why they were in a race at all last year; the bullpen. Quietly racking up some of the best numbers this side of the dead ball era were Joey Devine, Brad Ziegler, Santiago Casilas and others. Only the very hittable Huston Street, since banished to Colorado as part of the Holliday trade, failed to excel.

I'd like to imagine that the pitching will be fine, but that ignores common sense and the reality that is the rotation, especially if Duchscherer is MIA. Well, at least they are all young and (so far) cheap.

There is, however, one thing about this team that you can set in stone: if they don't get off to a hot start (historically not a strong suit for this club), they'll be thrown to the winds again, especially with Holliday looking like a rental. We're hoping to avoid that, along with the BS press conference after the fire sale where Beane promises us that everything's just peachy and as it should be in GMLand.

Prediction: 86-76, second in the West, out of the playoffs.