Taking A Look At The Competition, Pt. 1

Despite financial limitations, the Oakland A's have been one of the busiest teams this off season. After finishing 81-81 (2nd in the AL West), Oakland set out to improve the one area where they have had a glaring weakness: their offense.

However, after missing out on the big name free agent bats of Lance Berkman (signed w/ St. Louis) and Adrian Beltre (signed w/ Texas), Oakland decided to make their areas of strength, stronger. Over the last couple of days, Oakland has added two legitimate arms, signing a pair of relievers in Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes.

Balfour, a 7-year veteran, was outstanding two of the last three years in Tampa, compiling a 1.54 ERA in 2008 and 2.28 ERA in 2010. The righty also has playoff experience, having pitched in 5 different series and registering an ERA of 3.60.

Fuentes (4-time All-Star) could be an even bigger signing for Oakland. Since 2005, the left-hander has recorded 183 saves while putting up a 3.14 ERA. While he will not be the primary closer in Oakland, he will no doubt get his chances to close out a good many of their games.

The addition of Fuentes and Balfour to a bullpen which already includes the likes of Brad Ziegler (2.51 ERA in 3 seasons), Craig Breslow (2.87 ERA in 5 seasons), Michael Wuertz (9.7 K/9 over 7 seasons), and Andrew Bailey (2-time All-Star, 51 saves, 1.70 ERA in 2 seasons) means, that at least on paper, Oakland will go into the season with the strongest bullpen in baseball.
Their starting pitching appears to be every bit as talented as the bullpen. Oakland goes into Spring Training with 4 of their 5 rotation spots all but locked up, all by pitchers 26 years old or younger. The staff will be led by Gio Gonzalez (15 wins, 3.23 ERA) and Trevor Cahill (18 wins, 2.97 ERA), followed by Brett Anderson (2.80 ERA) and Dallas Braden (3.50 ERA). The 5th spot in the rotation could go to one of two former Rangers, Brandon McCarthy or Rich Harden. McCarthy, a pitcher with tons of talent, has yet to remain healthy enough to ever realize his full potential. Harden had a couple of nice seasons with Oakland in '04 and '05, but has spent much of the last 5 years on the disabled list.

Offensively, there remains several question marks. While Oakland was able to add David DeJesus (.289 BA in 8 seasons w/ Kansas City), Josh Willingham (102 HR in 5 seasons) and Hideki Matsui (21 HR, 84 RBI in 2010 w/ L.A. Angels), they traded away Rajai Davis (50 steals in 2010) and lost Jack Cust (97 HR, 300 RBI in 4 seasons) to free agency. To me, I don't see where much of any improvement was made with these additions when you factor in what they lost. No doubt the A's are hoping young players like Shortstop Cliff Pennington (.250 BA, 29 steals) and Chris Carter (123 HR, 406 RBI in 4 Minor League seasons) take the next step in their progression. They will also need veterans like Coco Crisp (32 steals) and Kurt Suzuki (13 HR, 71 RBI) to continue to produce if they are have any chance in the AL West. As it stands, Oakland may well show slight improvement offensively but will likely be looking to add another bat at some point during the season.

Overall, Oakland should be able to best their 81 wins of 2010. Their pitching should be top notch, they have a lineup filled with guys who know how to do the little things, and the additions of Matsui and Willingham should provide the team a little more pop in the middle of the order.

Padilla Struggles In First Start Back From DL, Rangers Drop Game 1 To The Yanks

It has been said by many a baseball 'insider' that Texas' current roadtrip through New York and Boston is their first true test to determine if they're truly a playoff contender. If that's true, Texas may still be a year away.

Vicente Padilla, returning from a stint on the DL for a sore shoulder struggled with his command from the beginning, allowing seven earned runs in only 3 2/3 innings.

Padilla also set off some fireworks by drilling former Ranger Mark Teixeira twice, the second eliciting a tirade of vulgarities from Teixeira, who needed manager Joe Girardi to come from the dugout to calm him down.



Derek Holland did no better, surrendering a homerun to the resurgent Hideki Matsui, surrendering two earned runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Tack on a three-run blast by Jorge Posada off Warner Madrigal in the sixth inning and you've got yourself a route to the tune of 12-3.

Texas' lone offensive output came off the bat of Nelson Cruz, who hit his 15th homer of the season, a 3-run shot in the top of the third.

Yankees starter A.J. Burnett pitched seven strong innings, picking up his second win of the year against Texas, his fourth overall.

- Just hours before the game, Josh Hamilton was placed on the 15-day disabled list for a sore groin. This is his second trip to the DL this season and it's looking more and more likely like this could end up being a lost year for Hamilton.

- Yankees short stop Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 and scored the 1,500th run of his career.

Yankees Drill Rangers, Take Series Win

Well, you certainly can't say Derek Holland showed any fear on the mound.

Holland worked quickly, threw 94 mph fastballs and challenged the vaunted New York Yankees lineup. Unfortunately, that resulted in 10 hits and 6 runs (5 earned) over 5+ innings pitched.

"It's definitely different against the Yankees," Holland said. "They have a solid lineup, every one of those guys is a tough out. I was okay with it. I was satisfied with it. There were some things I could have done better. I could have had better location."

The rookie did strike out five and pitched effectively against the Yanks left-handed hitters but it wasn't enough, especially with Texas' lineup giving him no offensive support.

A.J. Burnett managed to pitch six shutout innings, striking out seven and allowing only three hits.

"Burnett was just too tough," said manager Ron Washington. "It might have been different if we put up some runs and put some pressure on Burnett, but we didn't do that."

Much like they've done in other games where they've struggled, Texas couldn't make enough contact at the plate to ever get any sort of momentum.

Chris Davis' struggles continued as he struck out three more times, putting him on pace to whiff a ridiculous 220 times. The Rangers have tried to be patient with the young hitter but that patience seems to be wearing thin.

"We've said all along that when you go with young players who you've committed to and have had some level of success, there will be growing pains," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "But at some point, you have to look at each individual and decide what's in the best interests of the individual and the team. We're not there yet. It's obvious Chris is making a contribution with his defense, but he's nowhere near where he needs to be or can be offensively. He hasn't made the adjustments he needs to make. We're going to be patient, but he understands what he needs to do."

Chris Davis is currently mired in a 3-for-37 slump during whcih time he has struck out 18 times.

The lone bright spot of the night came in the 7th when Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer, his 13th shot of the year.

For the Yankees, Mark Teixeira continued his recent surge, hitting another homerun against his former team, a 2-run blast that got New York out to an early lead.



Hideki Matsui added two homeruns for the Yanks and is looking to put an end to the struggles/injuries that have plagued him the past few seasons.

Yankees hitting coach, Kevin Long, likes what he's starting to see from the offense.

"We're starting to see our offense click on all cylinders," Long said. "You can never be too content. You hate to be over-happy about something. ... We've got to keep moving forward, because we're in May and we've got a long way to go."