Kuzul

As we move ever closer to Opening Day, the Rangers find themselves in need of a No. 5 starter. Their pursuit of another arm may very well end with the addition of either Kyle Lohse or Rick Porcello.

After the team missed out on Zack Greinke and James Shields this offseason, they were already thinner than they’d hoped in the starting rotation.

Things became slightly more pressing on Sunday, however, when prospect and projected No. 5 starter Martin Perez took a liner off his left (throwing) forearm and came away with a fractured ulna. He’s now expected to be on the shelf until at least May (h/t Dayn Perry of CBSSports).

The team has some in-house option led by Robbie Ross and Justin Grimm, but the more attractive option at this point may be to go outside of the organization.

Since the injury, the team has been linked to a pair of veteran right-handers in Porcello (h/t ESPN Dallas) and Lohse (h/t Jon Heyman via Twitter), so who is the better option?

Rick Porcello

Selected with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2007 draft, Porcello made his Tigers debut two years later at the age of 20 and went 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA over 31 starts.

He’s failed to post an ERA below 4.00 since, but he’s been a reliable arm nonetheless and he enters the 2013 season with a career record of 48-42 with a 4.55 ERA.

Last season, he went just 10-12 with a 4.59 ERA and gave up an AL-high 226 hits. However, a closer look at the numbers shows he was the victim of some bad luck, as opponents had a .347 BABIP.

Some of that comes from the fact that he is a sinkerballer who pitches to contact, as he has a 5.0 K/9 mark for his career, but it is safe to assume his numbers will improve a bit with league-average luck.

Couple that with the fact that he’s still just 24 years old, and there is plenty of reason for optimism surrounding Porcello for 2013 and beyond.

Since he’s so young and under team control through 2015, the Tigers asking price will no doubt be high, but for the Rangers he would be a long-term solution in their rotation.

Kyle Lohse

The 34-year-old Lohse was asked to step into the role of staff ace for the Cardinals last season, and he responded with the best season of his career, going 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA and finishing seventh in NL Cy Young voting.

He declined a qualifying offer from the Cardinals to kick off the offseason, but has seen very little interest this winter as teams have been unwilling to sacrifice their first-round pick to sign him.

Though last season represents the best of his career, he is far from a one-year wonder as he went 14-8 with a 3.39 ERA in 2011 and has 118 career wins under his belt in 12 big-league seasons.

He was understandably looking for a multi-year deal when he first hit the market, but at this point he may be willing to sign a one-year deal in the right situation.

He made $11.875 million last season in the final year of a four-year, $41 million deal, so if someone is willing to shell out something like $12-$14 million over one year he may be willing to sign.

Best Option

Seeing as Perez is only going to be out until May, and the team should get Colby Lewis back from flexor tendon surgery at some point in the first half, the Rangers could actually have some depth by midseason even if they don’t add anyone.

Lohse better fits the bill of stop gap option that it appears the team needs, but the Rangers may not be willing to part with their first round pick for one year of Lohse. And at the same time, they likely don’t want to sign him to a long-term deal.

If they were to bring someone aboard long-term, Porcello would certainly make more sense as he’d be a staple in the rotation for the next three years.

In the end, it would come down to the Tigers’ asking price and whether three years of Porcello for a package of players is a better deal than one year of Lohse for a first round pick and higher salary.

My personal opinion is that the team is best suited giving the job to someone like Grimm or Ross for the first couple months and hoping they can hold down the fort until Perez and Lewis are back. That said, if Porcello can be had for the right price, he’d be a terrific addition to the staff, regardless of the team’s health situation. 

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The Texas Rangers made themselves into a baseball monument with back-to-back trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. But over the last few months, the monument has been slowly chipped away.

So much so, in fact, that it now feels like only the face remains. And now that may be going too.

Yes, now. The Rangers lost their superstar when Josh Hamilton left town, but his departure didn’t leave the franchise without a face. 

Nolan Ryan is the face of the Rangers. Ever since he was first brought aboard by former owner Tom Hicks in 2008, Ryan has spearheaded the Rangers’ transformation from a decidedly “meh” organization into one of the most enviable organizations in baseball.

Now the Rangers seem to have decided Ryan’s done enough.

The Rangers announced on Friday that they had made Jon Daniels their president of baseball operations in addition to their general manager, and that chief operating officer Rick George had been promoted to president of business operations.

These decisions leave Ryan in a tricky spot. He’s still the club’s CEO, but Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star Telegram has it from sources that Daniels now has final say on baseball matters and that George has final say on business matters. That makes Ryan’s role going forward…something…

This is assuming Ryan wants to do this something role, of course. And he may not. Galloway’s sources say that Ryan could leave the team, and that it will be sooner rather than later if he does. He could be gone by the end of spring training.

The Rangers don’t want that to happen. The club was dealt a blow when Hamilton bolted Arlington for Anaheim in December, by far the biggest personnel loss in an offseason that also saw the Rangers wave goodbye to Michael Young and Mike Napoli. Losing Ryan would be an even bigger blow.

The players can be replaced. That’s true even of Hamilton. Pitching and defense can help teams win games just as much as power. That’s the direction the Rangers are going in, and it’s possible they’ll be good enough at pitching and catching the ball that they won’t miss Hamilton’s 40-homer power.

Ryan, however, is irreplaceable. Guys like him don’t grow on trees in Texas (or anywhere else).

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com argued that Ryan “might be the most famous Texan of all time,” and Rangers fans have all the reasons in the world to be grateful for what he’s done for the franchise both as a player and as an owner/operator.

The greatest gift Ryan has given the Rangers is the gift of superior pitching. As Tyler Kepner of The New York Times noted a few years back, it was Ryan who hired Mike Maddux to be the team’s pitching coach, and it was Ryan who made it an organizational goal to develop tough pitchers who could eat innings and withstand the Texas heat.

That meant hard work was in order, and lots of it. Several years later, we know it was all worth it.

The Rangers had a 5.37 ERA in 2008. Since then, the club’s ERAs have gone: 4.38 in 2009, 3.93 in 2010, 3.79 in 2011 and 3.99 in 2012 (see Baseball-Reference.com). All this has gone on while Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has remained a very good place to hit. Most impressive.

Ryan’s pitching wisdom is something that other CEOs and front-office types can’t match. He also has the advantage of having played the game. He understands players and player politics more than most.

Case in point, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News wrote that Ryan’s voice and perspective came in handy when tension had to be eased between the front office and Michael Young in 2011. Young went from requesting a trade to hitting .338 and finishing eighth in the AL MVP voting. 

So don’t think that Ryan hasn’t impacted the Rangers’ fortunes on the field, because he has. And indeed, the locals have been enjoying the Rangers’ fortunes in greater and greater numbers, as Baseball-Reference.com’s records show that attendance at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has been on the rise since 2008.

Would Ryan’s departure lead to disappointing turnouts at the gate? Probably not. Here’s Maury Brown of BizofBaseball.com:

I’d have to agree with Brown here. Fans don’t show up to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to watch Ryan, and his departure isn’t going to make the team on the field any worse in the short term.

But would Ryan’s departure foster ill will among the Rangers’ fanbase that could become a problem down the road? It certainly could. Galloway had the right of it when he wrote that losing Ryan would be a “local PR disaster,” and that’s something the Rangers don’t need.

The Rangers are already asking fans to take their word for it that they know what they’re doing after such an unspectacular offseason. Specifically, it’s now clear that they’re looking for fans to trust Jon Daniels, who Galloway wrote has been in “total charge” of baseball operations ever since November.

Daniels is not a bad GM—he’s had a hand in building two AL champions and has done wonders with the Rangers’ farm system—but he didn’t have a good winter. Beyond signing A.J. Pierzynski, Daniels did little to make up for the power the Rangers lost with Hamilton and Napoli both leaving as free agents. Similarly, Daniels failed to land Zack Greinke, and he has yet to come up with a consolation prize. The foundations of Texas’ pitching and defense direction are not as strong as they otherwise could have been.

Mind you, the Rangers are still a good team. They still have one of baseball’s best infields, which could get even better if top prospect Jurickson Profar makes his presence felt in 2013. Their starting pitching staff isn’t elite, but there are far worse trios than Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland.

But have the Rangers taken a step back with Daniels calling the shots since November? They have indeed, and that doesn’t reflect well on Daniels. Albeit retroactively, his credibility has taken a hit.

And that’s the thing with Ryan: Credibility is something he has in spades. He oozes the stuff.

Granted, indications are that Ryan’s not entirely deserving of the credibility he’s accumulated as one of the Rangers’ key bosses. The Morning News‘ Kevin Sherrington has said that Daniels and his people have always done the heavy lifting while most of the credit has tended to go to Ryan.

But that doesn’t look like a bad thing right now, as the Rangers should be thinking that it’s better to have a figurehead with undeserved credibility than a figurehead (i.e. Daniels) with considerably less credibility. They should want to hold on to Ryan as long as his credibility is still good.

Holding on to Ryan didn’t have to be complicated, but that’s what the Rangers have chosen to make it by rearranging their hierarchy. They had their reasons to throw Daniels and George a bone, but in doing so they effectively sent a message to Ryan that they’ve outgrown him.

It doesn’t look like the Rangers have outgrown Ryan. They were a powerhouse team under the previous status quo in which Ryan was the main figurehead and a key cog in the organization. They don’t look much like a powerhouse now under this now-official status quo.

This is not to say that the Rangers need to reverse course and make things as they were just to appease Ryan. What’s done is done. The Rangers just need to make sure they don’t lose him, and that means giving him a clearly defined role going forward and reassuring him that, yes, both his presence and his input are still prized assets within the organization.

If the Rangers do nothing and Ryan decides to leave, a man with a keen baseball mind and loads of easy credibility will be walking out that door. Good luck replacing those things.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter. 

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The Los Angeles Angels did not give much of a financial reward—or provide any long-term job security—to 2012 American League Rookie of the Year Mike Trout. The All-Star center fielder had a season that would seem to warrant an eight-figure annual salary for years to come, but the Angels renewed his contract Friday for $510,000—just $20,000 over the MLB minimum.

A report by ESPN Los Angeles indicated that Trout was disappointed with the outcome, and also documented the response that his agent Craig Landis had in the aftermath.

During the process, on behalf of Mike, I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time. In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a ‘fair’ contract and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process. Nonetheless, the renewal of Mike’s contract will put an end (to) this discussion.

Trout did indeed have an epic campaign in his first full season as a starter. The 21-year-old prodigy sported a batting average of .326, with 30 home runs and 83 RBI. In addition, he led all of baseball with 129 runs and 49 stolen bases, while only being caught five times.

Those types of numbers garnered him heavy consideration for the AL Most Valuable Player award, where he finished second in voting to Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera. Though he came up short in the MVP race, Trout did win the Silver Slugger Award to go along with his other accolades.

Trout’s defensive abilities are also among the best in the game. His speed allows him to be an extremely rangy outfielder, and it even gave him a Fielding Bible Award as MLB’s best fielder at his position (via ACTA Sports). 

He may have gotten a $10,000 bonus for his Rookie of the Year nod, but Trout deserved a lot more than what the Angels gave him for the foreseeable future.

In the same report, ESPN Los Angeles noted that Trout will be eligible for arbitration in the 2014 offseason, as well as free agency following the 2017 World Series. It will be interesting to see if the Angels’ penny-pinching weighs into future negotiations when Trout and Landis are in a greater position of power. 

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Is it time to break up the Seattle Mariners?

So far this spring, after only five games, the M’s are 4-1 while averaging nearly seven runs per game with power coming from several surprising sources with players such as Casper Wells and Jason Bay having already hit home runs. Meanwhile, pitchers Hector Noesi and Jeremy Bonderman have both struggled in brief stints on the mound.  

Granted it’s still early and the ball does have a tendency to jump a bit in the Arizona heat, but can one entirely afford to dismiss or downplay what happens in the early stages of spring training?

I suppose that’s up to M’s skipper Eric Wedge and the rest of the team’s coaching staff. 

Right now the Mariners’ current active roster (according to Mariners.com) is a long list of players both young and old, established and obscure, but at the end of the day, all of them have the same goal of making the final roster before Opening Day.

Last week when piecing together the Mariners season preview, I focused on the more established players who should get the majority of playing time this season, but today I thought it might be worthwhile to focus on the players who have something to prove in their quest to make the final roster.

In other words, hot prospects like Mike Zunino and Taijuan Walker may have an outside shot at making the final roster, but realistically speaking we’re looking at the competition between established veterans like Bay and Bonderman seeking one last shot going up against players like Wells and Noesi who simply want another chance.  

So who are these fringe players? 

Let’s take a few minutes to take a look…

Begin Slideshow

The Seattle Mariners have finally started playing baseball. They did drop their spring training opener (via MLB.com) by a score of 9-3 to the San Diego Padres, but it is good to finally get things started.

Position battles have begun, and it was not a good start for Hector Noesi. It is only one game, but Noesi surrendered six runs and a grand slam in the first inning. He only retired two batters before being pulled, and he was rewarded with a 54.00 ERA for his efforts.

Not exactly a good first impression for a guy that will be likely be battling for the fifth spot in the Seattle rotation.

Greg Johns of MLB.com tweeted the summary:

Hector Noesi hit hard in 2/3 inning, allows 6R, 4H, 4BB and one sun error on Ibanez in LF, lifted with bases still full after 11 batters.

— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) February 22, 2013

Based on his performance in 2012, Noesi was going to be facing a tough battle anyway. Noesi finished 2012 with a dismal 2-14 record and an ERA of 5.82 for the year. He had a WAR of -1.1 last season.

Not exactly overwhelming statistics.

Obviously this is one game. Noesi will pitch again, and there is no guarantee that everyone else will dazzle.

Blake Beavan may be unspectacular as well as he fights for a spot in the rotation. Erasmo Ramirez may not continue to show the promise that he displayed at the end of 2012. Jon Garland and Jeremy Bonderman may prove to have nothing left in the tank. The hot young prospects may be sent to Tacoma for a bit more seasoning.

Lots of maybes.

This is just the start, but it is fair to say that Noesi did not impress the people around the table at his first interview. For the sake of argument, it may be fair to suggest that Noesi will have to look pretty sharp in his next outing. He will at least have to show a good deal of improvement.

As noted by Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, “He was already facing a steep, steep climb trying to make this rotation and did not do himself any early favors here.”

Noesi may be the first name penciled onto the cut list in manager Eric Wedge’s head.

Starting pitcher is not the only position battle in camps. The other big battle will be in the outfield, and Casper Wells got out to an early lead with a two-run home run in the ninth inning. Again it is early, but every at-bat counts in the spring.

Perhaps Noesi could find a spot in the bullpen, but there are a number of young, talented throwers who will likely be ahead of him. He may be left without a chair when the music stops.

Maybe this was Hector Noesi’s one chance to prove that he deserves to be on this team. If so, his prospects are not looking good.

The good news is that baseball has finally begun. Hope springs eternal.

Follow @tpheifer

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While the Oakland A’s had a successful season by all means in 2012, the infield is bound to be a lot better in 2013. 

The A’s went out and got Hiroyuki Nakajima and Jed Lowrie, and they will return formerly injured Scott Sizemore in 2013. Brandon Moss hit .291 in 2012, and Donaldson hit .284 in his last 225 at-bats (for the regular season). Sizemore doesn’t have too much on his resume, but he is a talented player who may start at second base.

Lowrie has some pop, as he homered in 4.71 of his at-bats in 2012. He is a good middle infielder, and while he might not start, I see him improving on his stellar .331 on-base percentage (OBP) and seizing a starting spot eventually.

Right now, however, the leading candidates appear to be Sizemore and Jemile Weeks, who broke out and had a spectacular 2011 season before regressing significantly and getting sent down to the minors. Weeks hit .303 in 2011, but in 2012, his .158 well-hit average placed him among the 10 worst players in the league at making hard contact.

Weeks has speed, however, and while he isn’t a great defensive second baseman, he can play defense. However, it’s going to take a lot from him in the spring, as his numbers were appalling last year. It’s hard to post a horrific minus-one wins over replacement (WAR) and bounce back so significantly the next spring to win the starting job.

And, unfortunately for Weeks, that’s the position he is in.

Sizemore, however, is also in a tough position. He tore his ACL in 2012 and was forced to watch Oakland’s magical playoff run from the dugout. Due to his injury, his chances of starting in 2013 have significantly decreased. Sizemore is only a career .239 hitter, so it’s not like he’s automatically penciled in as a starter.

In 2011, Sizemore posted a .345 OBP with the Athletics, which is good by all means. Sizemore has a career .958 fielding percentage as a second baseman, a mark that needs to improve. However, he seems to be a better and more proven option than Weeks, which gives him a slight edge.

Lowrie is expected to get time everywhere, backing up Nakajima, who was projected by scouts to hit .270 or .280 in the big leagues. Lowrie, who doesn’t hit for average, is predicted to be a utility player, although he piqued interest from teams as a trade target and should see significant time at lots of positions.

Lowrie won’t be playing first base, however. Moss did a great job in 2012, hitting .291, and Daric Barton is a capable backup. He isn’t great, but he has posted a .360 OBP over his career. Unfortunately for him, he will need to build significantly on his .204 batting average for 2012 if he wants to work his way into a platoon.

Luckily for Barton, he should be on the roster, unlike some players. The A’s cannot afford to carry eight infielders, and presumably, they will keep Weeks, Sizemore, Lowrie, Nakajima, Donaldson, Moss and Barton. Guys like Andy Parrino and Adam Rosales have an outside chance of making the team, but they don’t bring anything special.

Donaldson locked down third base due to his great end-of-year performance, as he almost hit .300 over a span of 225 at-bats. Moss and Barton have first base under control, and a strong start from Nakajima will give him shortstop.

Second base is the only position that appears to be in doubt, and while I believe Sizemore will start on Opening Day, we will see if Weeks can rebound from his sophomore slump and if Lowrie can make a good first impression on manager Bob Melvin.

It will be interesting to watch how the infield works together, who plays when, where and how often. Any of these guys can play designated hitter, especially someone like Weeks, who isn’t an exceptional defensive player.

The infield is set in terms of which guys will make the 25-man roster, but the mess is yet to be sorted out. Melvin will have a difficult task at hand, and he will have to decide a lot of things. While I think he’s fairly confident about all four positions and how the infield can help the A’s, he has to be worrying about how to shuffle everyone around.

Spring training will be vital for all second basemen and just infielders in general, so everyone can prove that they’re ready to contribute in 2013. Oakland has enough depth and talent at each position that they are completely set in the infield, a place where they had lots of trouble in 2012.

What does that mean for the A’s? It means they are ready to embark on a legitimate championship journey, and every man in the infield will play a vital role in the team’s fate.

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Remember Kyle Seager?

Third baseman for the Seattle Mariners? 

It’s strange, for a guy that led his team in a handful of key offensive categories last year, you’re not hearing too much about him so far this spring. 

With all of the excitement surrounding Felix Hernandez’s contract extension, the additions of Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales, and the questions surrounding the young trio of Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero, and Justin Smoak, Seager seems to be a bit of an afterthought.

I myself am guilty of this oversight given the fact that I lumped Seager in with the rest of the M’s youngsters during my 2013 season preview earlier this week. 

Yet when you really think about it, it seems ridiculous to ignore a player who in his first full season as a professional hit .259 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI as the M’s starting third baseman after he barely made the team’s opening day roster.

As we look ahead to 2013, the big question is whether Seager can build upon last year’s breakthrough performance or will he end up like Mike Carp?

Remember Carp and his breakout performance in the second half of 2011? 

On opening day in 2012 he was the team’s starting left fielder in Tokyo, but before most of us were even awake to get the final score, Carp was on his way to the DL after spraining his right shoulder.  From there things only got worse and just this week Carp was shipped off to Boston for either cash or a player to be named later. 

Could the same thing happen to Seager?

It’s possible, but I have my doubts. 

Looking back to last season, what impressed me most about Seager was his consistency.  Beyond a rough stretch at the end of June/early July, Seager made contact from April through October.  Every time you thought he would fade, he would go out and deliver a clutch hit to drive in two runs. 

While I doubt he will lead the M’s in home runs and RBI in 2013, it will be interesting to see how additions like Morse and Morales in the middle of the order will affect Seager‘s numbers.  Right now the current projections from Fangraphs have him hitting roughly .270 with 15 HR and 70 RBI. 

By themselves those numbers won’t quite amaze anyone, but if you add them to a reasonably healthy and more consistent lineup, perhaps the Mariners offense will actually start to frighten opponents?

It’s all part of a domino effect that will hopefully take hold this season, but even if it doesn’t I doubt Seager will embarrass himself.  

Deep down I believe Seager will remain a key fixture in Seattle as one of the team’s more productive players at the plate for this and several years to come.

Feel free to doubt him, as Kyle Seager is the kind of gritty player that is easy to underestimate, but in time I like to think both fans and foes alike will come to realize that he’s a keeper. 

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While the Oakland Athletics didn’t have any legitimate stars last year, they managed to strike some magic, win the AL West and come within one win of the ALCS. However, this year the A’s won’t need a supply of magic to bring out the big-boy bats and pound opposing pitchers.

Last year, the A’s ranked 14^th in the MLB in offense, with 195 home runs and 713 runs. While the A’s hit just .238 as a team, they were able to hit a lot of home runs and avoid letting their strikeout woes bury them. At least until Game 5 of the ALCS, when Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers overpowered the A’s to put an end to Oakland’s magnificent run.

Yoenis Cespedes was clearly the best hitter on offense, while Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss and Stephen Drew put together very good numbers. While Drew, Cliff Pennington and Chris Carter, all of which started games, are gone, the A’s are ready to bring out the bats in 2013.

Billy Beane and the front office made sure to be active in the offseason, filling gaping holes in the infield with pure talent. The outfield was stacked and improved over the offseason, as the A’s snatched power threat Chris Young from Arizona in a trade that included Pennington.

Cespedes, who hit .292 with a .356 OBP (on-base percentage) in 2012 is poised for an even better 2013 campaign. He has the whole package, as he is a power threat who hit a home run in 4.72 percent of his at-bats. Cespedes is also a speed threat (80 percent success rate for steals) with a heavy dose of defensive talent.

Coco Crisp is another great defensive player, and we’ve seen Josh Reddick lay out and make some great catches as well. Young can play some great defense in his own right, so the A’s will be in great shape when it comes to outfield defense.

On offense, the A’s will also be in good shape. Crisp isn’t much of a power threat, but he has speed and can hit the ball well. Reddick hit 30 home runs in 2012, and while he strikes out a lot, he makes up for that with big, clutch hits.

The outfield is stacked, but the infield can’t be overlooked either. Last year, the A’s barely had anything in the infield, but Beane made some moves to bolster the unit. Among those moves was the signing of Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, who hit .297 or better in all of his years in Japan.

Nakajima is projected to be a .270 or .280 hitter in the big leagues, according to FOX Sports. That would completely change the dynamic of the whole offense: for the better.

Jed Lowrie also has the potential to change the dynamic of the offense, at another position where the A’s received nothing in 2012: second base. Cliff Pennington started in the playoffs and didn’t do much. Lowrie, on the other hand, got on base about one-third of the time while hitting a home run in 4.7 percent of his at-bats.

Second base lacked power or any sort of intimidation factor in 2012, and the same goes with shortstop, as Stephen Drew was hurt and didn’t do a ton on offense. If Nakajima can get on base, presumably at the top of the order, Cespedes will have tons of opportunities to drive in runs.

I can also see Lowrie in the middle of the lineup driving in runs. If not, Brandon Moss and Josh Reddick—both players which can whack the ball out of the park at any time—will be. Both strike out a lot, but both have power. In addition, Moss hit .265 in 2012.

At the bottom of the lineup, the A’s will have John Jaso, who will start at catcher. In 2012, Jaso posted a whopping .394 OBP with five more walks than strikeouts. I think Jaso can set up opportunities for someone like Young, who is powerful, but won’t be at the top of the lineup. Jaso will get on base and he can drive guys in while providing a power threat.

The batting order is stacked because of the tinkering the A’s did in the offseason. Oakland let go of Chris Carter, but reeled in Lowrie in that deal. Nakajima will get on base at the top of the order, and Jaso will do so at the bottom of the order. Cespedes will do part of the cleaning up while providing more opportunities for power threats such as Moss and Reddick, who will finish the job.

There is no position that the A’s are weak at on offense, as every player is capable at the plate. Even Scott Sizemore, likely the starter at third base, owns a career .329 OBP. Having a complete offense built around a star (Cespedes) is always good, and that offense will take the A’s far in 2013.

And if everything goes into place, the A’s could even be the last team standing once the season concludes.

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Ever since the news first came out that Grant Balfour would have surgery that would deactivate him for four to six weeks, it has been all good news for Balfour and his rehab.

First, he was back on his feet and walking around the A’s clubhouse within 24 hours of going under the knife.  

Then the news came out that just five days after his surgery that he was trowing at the A’s spring training complex in Arizona with the rest of the pitchers as if it were business as usual.

When the timetable was first reported to be four to six weeks, there was reason to be concerned about the closer’s health come April 1 when the A’s host the Seattle Mariners to begin the 2013 MLB regular season.

However, since the surgery took place, the “Mad Aussie” has been reminding the baseball world about just how tough he really is and how much he wants to play ball.

As if he didn’t show enough passion for the game in the 2012 regular season finale when he forced his way into the game despite a massive lead, Balfour is showing even more passion and desire to pitch now after his surgery.

If Balfour is showing this much heart and working this hard so early in the spring, then there is no way, barring a setback during his rehab, that Balfour will not be in the A’s bullpen on opening night.

I expect to see “Balfour Rage” at full strength by April 1.

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Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton has the game on the field pretty well mastered. He has tremendous natural talent, and he can look like the game’s best player when he’s in a groove.

It’s the game off the field that Hamilton needs to work on. He may be a natural on the diamond, but he handles baseball’s public relations game with the savviness of a silverback gorilla.

Hamilton’s latest remarks are just the most recent example of his questionable media skills. He had some things to get off his chest about Texas Rangers fans and the Dallas-Fort Worth area in an interview with Gina Miller of the DFW CBS television station, and he took the occasion as an excuse to break out his all too familiar two-face act.

“There are true baseball fans in Texas, but it’s not a true baseball town,” said Hamilton, via ESPNDallas.com. He added that Dallas has “always been a football town.”

In and of themselves, these are harmless statements. The Rangers may have finished behind only the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees in attendance in 2012, but there’s no denying that Dallas is a football town first and a baseball town second. That’s not an insult. That’s the truth.

The real insult came when Hamilton spoke more specifically about the fans themselves. 

“They’re supportive,” said Hamilton about Rangers fans, “but they also got a little spoiled at the same time pretty quickly.”

He added: “You think about three to four years ago (before two straight World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011). It’s like, come on man, are you happier there again?”

Calling Dallas a football town? That’s telling it like it is.

Saying Rangers fans are spoiled? That’s downright condescending.

And that’s Hamilton for you. Ballplayers who are really good at the PR game always know where the line between acceptable honesty and too much honesty is located, but Hamilton has always displayed a complete lack of understanding that such a line even exists.

Hamilton’s bigger problem is that it’s easy to mistake his ignorance for arrogance. That’s something much worse than ignorance, not to mention much harder for fans to forgive.

It’s even harder for fans to forgive arrogance, be it real or just apparent, if a player has a history of it. And once again, that’s Hamilton.

It was just about a year ago, for example, that he was telling Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com that he didn’t feel he needed to make the Rangers a hometown discount in contract negotiations:

The Rangers have done a lot for me, but I’ve got a question for y’all: Have I done a lot for the Rangers? I think I’ve given them everything I’ve had. I don’t think anybody can say I haven’t. When it comes down to it, people don’t understand, fans don’t understand, this is a business, this is an entertainment business.

Hamilton followed this up by saying: “I love Texas. I love my fans. I love fans of the Rangers. I love the organization. I love my teammates. I love everything about it. But I’m not going to sit here and say that I owe the Rangers. I don’t feel like I owe the Rangers.”

Hamilton wasn’t out of line in saying that he didn’t owe the Rangers a hometown discount. Such sentiments aren’t all that rare in today’s game, and they can be forgiven by people who totally understand that baseball is a business.

But by playing the “I’ve given them everything” card, Hamilton downplayed the sacrifices the Rangers made for him over the years. 

Those sacrifices weren’t insignificant. The Rangers traded one of their top prospects (Edinson Volquez) to the Cincinnati Reds to get Hamilton in the first place, and they made special arrangements—such as keeping Johnny Narron, Hamilton’s handler, on staff—in order to accommodate him. They also stuck with him through not one, but two relapses in his ongoing recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. 

Hamilton made things worse by involving the fans in the discussion, as he accused them of being blissfully ignorant one minute and professed his love for them the next. Just like with his latest comment about them being spoiled, Hamilton was being condescending towards Rangers fans.

It was the same old story after the Rangers were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Wild Card game. Hamilton struck out twice and grounded into a double play in that game, and was booed loudly by the home crowd.

“Personally, myself, it never would matter how high I was — if I went to a sporting event, I would never boo somebody or I would never yell obscenities at somebody,” said Hamilton, via ESPNDallas.com. “That’s just me.”

The message to the fans: I’m holier than thou. That one always goes over well.

Hamilton further insulted Rangers fans by casually telling the press that the fans who were booing during the loss were essentially whining over spilled milk:

You hate to have it happen possibly the last game ever here, but at the same time, it’s one of those things. I gave it my all every time I went out there. Hopefully, (fans) appreciated it more than they didn’t. I think they do. It’s one of those things, hey, we didn’t get a win, but you can’t win them all.

One second, he was telling everyone how much he cared. The next, he was trotting out the old “you can’t win ’em all” cliche, which made him sound decidedly like a man who actually couldn’t care less about what had just happened.

Such is the Hamilton two-face act. Its roots go deep, and that may make fixing it pretty tough.

Now, the Angels obviously care more about making sure Hamilton stays productive on the field, as well they should. But they should also care about getting his microphone skills up to speed, as they don’t want Hamilton stirring up any unnecessary controversies.

That’s something his two-face act has the power to do, and goodness knows he won’t be facing any fewer microphones in Southern California than he was in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thanks to all the big spending that’s gone on in SoCal recently, it’s become a baseball hot spot that’s under both a local and a national microscope. And because Hamilton is a beneficiary of the big spending, his words are going to be subject to more scrutiny than ever before.

The Angels should propose two different solutions for Hamilton’s microphone problems. One is to have him tighten up his brain-to-mouth filter and never say anything of any substance. The other is to have him finally ditch his two-face act by learning how to control the arrogant demon inside of him.

For the first solution, Hamilton could just take to speaking only in cliches. He already knows how to use cliches, to be sure, but he needs to take after other ballplayers and not let anything else slip out. A handful of players are pretty good at generating quotes, but most of them are dull robots who churn out nothing but filler.

Even superstars like Hamilton can avoid giving reporters headline material. A good example would be Derek Jeter, who ESPN’s Rick Reilly recently called the greatest question dodger in history. Jeter has always had an understanding that his words have the power to do damage, but he has rarely let them do any damage at all.

The more complicated solution for Hamilton’s two-face act would be for him to learn how to tell people what they want to hear, which would work against whatever instinct he has that urges him to be condescending. He needs to choose his words more carefully, especially when the going gets tough.

He can look to one of his own teammates for guidance. When Albert Pujols was getting booed early in the 2012 season, he didn’t make like Hamilton and play the “holier than thou” or “you can’t win ’em all” cards. 

Pujols told USA Today:

If I could boo myself, I’d boo myself, too. But I know better than to just get myself down. My message to the fans is that they have a reason. They have a reason to boo. I’m not performing the way that I can. But just the way that I’m patient, they need to be patient in knowing that I’m going to be here for 10 years.

In the industry, they call this “accountability.” Whereas Hamilton wagged his finger at fans for booing him last season, Pujols told fans that he sympathized with the boos while also assuring them that things would get better.

Whether he adopts a much tighter brain-to-mouth filter or makes an effort to learn how to tell people what they want to hear, simply making a change will require Hamilton to put things in perspective. He needs to realize just how much weight his words carry, and he also needs to realize that the media is not going to protect him or make excuses for him.

If Hamilton is going to maintain a positive public image, he needs to be responsive to any and all suggestions made by the Angels about how he handles himself in front of a microphone. The idea would be to make people want to root for him not just with his play on the field, but with his words as well.

Since everyone knows all about the personal hell he went through before becoming a star in the major leagues, I believe that everyone truly wants to root for Hamilton. But if he doesn’t shape up his media skills, rooting for him is going to be a lot tougher than it should be.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter. 

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