Kuzul

As the A’s get ready to officially begin the 2011 season on Sunday, a few questions still circulate around this club, but the optimism remains high. With a fresh season and healed players, the A’s are starting to take the shape of a complete ball club, but as it goes for all teams, spring training is in place for a reason.

After an offseason of smart moves, from boosting the offense to bolstering the bullpen, the bar has been set high for this 2011 A’s team, but only time will tell what’s going to happen and how they can live up to their own goals.

Here’s a few things going in A’s camp so far: 

The biggest question of this time for the A’s is clearly the battle for the fifth spot in their pitching rotation, which seemed to be regarded by a few as Rich Harden’s job to lose, but doesn’t seem the case any more.

After being shut down with stiffness in his arm last Thursday and initially expected to miss two weeks, Harden is pain-free for the most part, but there is no timeline for his return.

The A’s will almost undoubtedly not rush Harden back in, but with competition for that fifth spot, it might not be a good thing, at least for Harden. 

Tyson Ross, a former Cal and Team USA star who opened last season in the A’s bullpen, commanded the attention of anyone within earshot during his side session on Monday.

“I wasn’t even there, but I heard about it,” catcher Kurt Suzuki said. “He was blowing, like, 97, 98 mph.”

Many scouts warned that Ross would have future problems with his upright delivery, but with a few changes, the results have been impressive.

Another candidate, Joey Devine, who hasn’t thrown since 2008 (42 games, 0.59 ERA), threw a 30-pitch bullpen session last week, and seemed to be making substantial progress.

“You add Joey to what we already have in the bullpen, it’s like, ‘Wow,’” coach Tye Walller said. “Talk about shortening the game.”

Josh Outman, who last pitched in 2009, seemed to still have his stuff from that injury-shortened season, according to on-hand observers, who watched his bullpen session.

“I’m ready to make the call right now. As long as he is healthy, Josh Outman will win that job, keep it, and thrive in it,” Waller said.

Whatever the outcome, the A’s have a couple of solid choices to look through, and assuming Rich Harden can stay healthy through the rest of spring training, it might be his spot, due to experience. The A’s staff is still clearly high on Harden, despite his injury-prone tenure with Oakland, and if anyone can turn a pitcher around, it’s Ron Romanick.

As highly anticipated, Hideki Matsui made his appearance at A’s camp earlier this week, and before even being introduced to the team, had a commercial to film.

Following that, while being followed by dozens of Japanese media, Matsui’s first significant interaction was with Dallas Braden, the “team clown” who had a six-foot inflatable Godzilla doll dressed in a Matsui jersey placed in front of Matsui’s locker. When Matsui saw it himself, the tension disappeared.

That wasn’t Braden’s only highlight of the week, as almost everything he seemed to do this week embodied the entire character of this team, even after last season’s disappointment.

During Friday’s intrasquad game, Coco Crisp decided to get comical and mess with Braden. How?

As Crisp took into the batter’s box for his at-bat, the laughs arose, as the team realized he had taped “A-Rod” onto the back of his jersey. In a friendly response, Braden threw behind Crisp—several feet behind him.

For those who don’t remember, Braden’s first interaction wasn’t too friendly, to say the least, with A-Rod, after he “deliberately” crossed his mound last season. Braden didn’t like it. Either way, that’s the past, and the present just involves a couple of comedians, at least in their minds, lightening up the mood around camp.

Nothing will come easy for Bob Geren this season, and with Adam Rosales still ailing from foot surgery in December, Geren will have to find another option beyond Cliff Pennington as a backup SS and utility-type player.

The main candidates at this point appear to be familiar faces Eric Sogard and Steve Tolleson, along with newcomer Andy LaRoche and highly regarded Double-A prospect Josh Horton. Top prospect Grant Green is sure to demand some attention from fans for the spot as well, but the A’s would like to start him in the minors again this year so as to allow him time to continue improving defensively.

Geren mentioned Sogard, Tolleson and LaRoche will see the majority of action at shortstop this spring while Pennington, still recovering from left shoulder surgery, continues to rehab.

Geren has expressed how impressed he’s been by Josh Willingham, and what he’s shown throughout spring workouts so far.

“He has one of the better right-handed approaches I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He has that kind of style that leads to the most consistency. If you’re going to teach a right-handed style, you’d look to his to do so.”

Other News and Notes

As expected, Trevor Cahill was announced as the Opening Day starter, but the rest of the rotation has yet to be announced.

Michael Wuertz, who sat out Tuesday due to minor shoulder problems, is likely to begin throwing again Saturday or Sunday.

Ryan Sweeney won’t likely see any time in the outfield according to Geren, giving his surgically-repaired knee more time to heal.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Those tryouts for a “sixth starter” seemed to have just gotten a lot more significant today, after Adam Wainwright was shut down with what is being called a “significant elbow injury.”

Wainwright has had major improvement in almost every season since his debut in 2005, and over the last four seasons, Wainwright has a total 17.5 WAR; compared to the rest of the league, it’s 11th among all starters.

Compared to Chris Carpenter’s 9.9 WAR in those seasons, Wainwright will make out to be a huge loss in 2011.

The Cardinals will now have about five weeks to find a replacement and Tony La Russa has already declared that the solution for their rotation will come from within, which most likely won’t involve a current low-end free agent such as Kevin Millwood.

One likely candidate could be Kyle McClellan who, despite being a reliever through his Major League career, was already going to be tried as a starter this Spring and that chance seems to be a lot higher now.

McClellan has all the makings of a quality starter, with four pitches, including his fastball, that ranked at 3.5 runs above average. McClellan’s projected FIP for 2011 is a respectable 3.96 and if it could translate as a starter, the Cardinals would benefit more than expected.

On the prospect side, Shelby Miller and Lance Lynn are possibilities if the Cardinals are willing to stretch. Despite being the Cardinals No. 1 prospect, Miller seems more likely to begin the season at low-A for the Cardinals, with a lot left to accomplish. Miller has a high-quality fastball that can run up to 98 mph with improving command.

In his 104 innings last season, Miller also held left-handed hitters to a .194 average. Miller reached single-A last season and looks likely to be back there as I said, but if something clicks, Miller could see a couple starts come August or September. 

Lance Lynn, who came into 2010 as the Cardinals No. 1 prospect, slid down to No. 7 this offseason, and the fact that he seems to be changing in a negative way won’t likely draw any confidence from the Cardinals.

Lynn’s FIP rose to 4.43 in his full season at Triple-A, which was a significant increase from his 3.47 in his 2009 season at the Double-A level. Either way, Lynn will have a chance with the Cardinals, because of the fact that he has significant experience as a starter.

Another name worth mentioning is P.J. Walters, who amassed a 3.87 ERA in 18 starts in Triple-A last season, despite having a 6.00 ERA in seven games last season with the Cardinals, but most of the runs given up were as a reliever, not a starter.

His threestarts seemed to be a story of extremes, as he started by throwing five shutout innings against San Diego, then lit-up by the Reds for seven runs in four innings. In his last outing against the Pirates, he only had to throw 80 pitches through seven innings, and didn’t surrender a run.

Adam Ottavino was also another player who made his debut in 2010 for the Cardinals. Despite posting a 8.46 ERA in 22 innings, Ottavino, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, had also made some real progress at Triple-A as well, as he had increased his strikeout rate while more than halving his walk rate from 2009. He only threw 47.2 innings in Memphis, but as a first-round pick, Ottavino seems to have a legit shot at getting a chance with the Cardinals.

If nothing from within can make an impact, the Cardinals might have to look outside and go after someone like Jeremy Bonderman or possibly Kevin Millwood.

Bonderman posted a 5.58 ERA in 29 starts with the Tigers last season, but if limited, he could have an impact and is currently projected to have a 4.58 ERA in 2010. In 31 starts with the Orioles, Millwood had a 5.10 ERA, but despite that, is also projected to improve, to a 4.63 ERA.

Despite where the Cardinals go for starts, beyond innings, no one can replace Adam Wainwright. Shelby Miller seems to be the future for the Cardinals, but between now and then, the Cardinals must find someone or find themselves in fourth place come July.

FIP = Fielder Independent Pitching on an ERA scale

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Like most people, as soon as the season ended, I made my free agent predictions for the top free agents from Cliff Lee, to Aubrey Huff.

My predictions are not wild, or bold, but were based on which teams needed key players, and which teams would retain some of these players.

Throughout the 2011 Off Season, we’ve seen big free agent acquisitions from teams we would never guess would be in the running, and some teams who seemed to have been hibernating through the Winter Meetings, and beyond that.

The season hasn’t started, but the main part of free agency is pretty much over, so I decided I’d look back at my Free Agent Predictions, my justifications, and what actually happened.

Also, as a bonus, I’ll give my projection for that player, along with a grade for the acquisition.

Some top free agents are not on this list, as I couldn’t make predictions for everyone at the time.

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The biggest off-season talk so far in the AL East has clearly been about the Red Sox big moves. Around the division, beyond Boston, the Yankees have made little improvement from last year, losing out on Cliff Lee, and signing Rafael Soriano, all while waiting on Andy Pettitte.

As of recent, the Yankees have been most active, in signing veteran pitchers Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, and Freddy Garcia, all to minor league deals. According to sources, Pettitte has a $12M offer waiting for him, if he decides to return for another year.

The Rays have now countered their mostly young roster, by adding veterans Johnny Damon, and Manny Ramirez. Damon last played for Detroit in 2010, and Ramirez split the season between Los Angeles and Chicago. They both played in Boston, and as most remember, were apart of the historic 2004 team.

Clearly, this piece is not to discuss the moves of the AL East, but to preview the 2011 Tampa Bay Rays, from player projections, to possible impact rookies, and overall record and division finish.

To see my complete preview and projections for all the AL East teams, feel free to become a fan as they’ll all be written soon

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With Vernon Wells being traded over from the Blue Jays for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera, the instant reaction follows something like this:

“Why?”

To the average observer, Vernon Wells is just another overpaid outfielder who puts up above-average stats, but nothing worth the mighty contract he received.

The Angels made somewhat of a desperation move after losing out on both Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre.

Despite the enormous amount they’ll have to pay Wells, he should pan out to be an impact player in the middle of their lineup and in the outfield…right?

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