methodized madness

Today is the first day of Spring Training and hopes are high in Phoenix. Mark my words: this is our year. I felt the same tremors in 2006, when Beane made moves to add Milton Bradley and Mark Kotsay to the lineup (we didn't win a pennant, but I'll take an ALCS appearance any time). The embers of hope began flickering in Novemeber when we landed Matt Holliday in the blockbuster trade with Colorado. They began to grow with the news of Giambi and Russ Springer. Rickey Henderson's HOF induction got A's fans even hotter, and current rumors of Garciappra and O-Cab joining the squad do little to temper the glow. Honestly, that's the best word I can summon for the 2009 preseason: glow.

The buzz is glowing. The smiles on the players faces are glowing. The media coverage is glowing and Oakland is no longer the bastard child of the AL West. Our new face is much more becoming: contenders.

Favorites? Perhaps. Detractors would grant that honor to the Angels on principle, but to me that's shortsighted. No one can argue that Oakland's offseason was more productive and impressive than any other team in the division. We cleaned up. Also beyond debate is the fact that our offense has been substantially upgraded. The best part? We aren't done. Orlando Cabrera's options are looking slimmer by the day now that The Dodgers landed Orlando Hudson and Edgar Rentaria is a Giant. He still wants the $5MM but I think Oakland's $3MM offer is becoming much more attractive, considering there are no others.

Buck. Ellis. Giambi. Holliday. Cust. Chavez. Cabrera. Garciaparra. Suzuki. That's a lineup to respect. Especially considering the lackluster rotations we will face from Seattle and Texas. Yes--the average age of our starting rotation is 23. Yes--that is our biggest question mark, and yes--that's an important component of team; perhaps the most important. But these young guys can throw, and success is chemical. We lost 25% of our games by 1 run last year. That will not happen in 2009.

If there is one thing i have learned from watching the A's this decade it is to trust Billy Beane. The man has a plan, whether it makes sense to me or not. When we traded Dan Haren for 6 guys, there was a goal. Two of those players landed us Matt Holiday. When we traded Rich Harden, we landed us a much healthier/dependable Sean Gallagher, and guess what, Harden is hurt and won't pitch this spring training. When we traded Nick Swisher, we unloaded one of our biggest contracts and landed Gio Gonzales and Ryan Sweeney who are both legit contenders for starting jobs. I dont even need to mention how much stronger these moves made our farm system, because our Sacramanto RiverCats team are defeding AAA champions. These moves over the last 3 years have had one goal in mind: 2009.

This is our year.