Billy Beane confuses me. A lot. He was drafted by the Mets in 1980 in the first round, as an OF. The other two OF drafted by the Mets in the first round that year? Darryl Strawberry (he turned out alright) and John Gibbons. Well, at least Beane and Gibbons have had good careers managing rosters. As a GM, he confused me even more this offseason. He trades for OF Chris Young by giving Arizona Cliff Pennington. Fine, but the A's already have 3 established OF in Cespedes, Crisp and Reddick. They had a nice 1B platoon in Moss/Carter and now are going with Moss full time, likely. Carter was traded for Jed Lowrie, who may or may not start somewhere. He also traded for C/DH John Jaso. He kept the pitching intact, allowing Brandon McCarthy to leave. Let's take a look:
Starting Lineup
CF Coco Crisp
3B Jed Lowrie
RF Josh Reddick
LF Yoenis Cespedes
1B Brandon Moss
DH Chris Young
C John Jaso
2B Grant Green
SS Hiroyuki Nakajima
I'm getting a little creative here, so let's break this down. This lineup can also change DRASTICALLY day-to-day. The outfield is probably not changing: Crisp is the clear and best option to lead off, Reddick established himself as a power threat and plays a Gold Glove RF and Cespedes looks like he's going to be worth the contract. Moss is likely the 1B/5 hitter daily. Young should probably get into the lineup, mostly at DH, likely. Lowrie is a better player than Josh Donaldson at third, and I can also see Lowrie playing second base and Donaldson at third. I like Grant Green because he can flat out hit: he's one of these 'doesn't have a position' guys. Jaso is a better hitter than Norris but Norris looks like he can develop. Nakajima is an unknown: he can be like Ichiro or Kaz Matsui. Ugh. Not to mention, Daric Barton, Seth Smith, Scott Sizemore, Jemile Weeks, Adam Rosales and prospect Michael Choice in the OF are looking for time. I'm just glad I'm not Bob Melvin.
Starting Rotation
SP Brett Anderson
SP Jarrod Parker
SP Tommy Milone
SP AJ Griffin
SP Dan Straily
So Bartolo Colon will likely take a rotation spot once he's off the restricted list, probably Straily, but this rotation is talented. Really talented. Brett Anderson's finally healthy, but label me skeptical that he'll make it through the year. Parker and Milone were very good last year. Griffin was fantastic in 15 starts and Straily came out of nowhere (he was a 24th round pick!) and is a strikeout machine. I love this rotation.
Bullpen
CL Grant Balfour
SU Ryan Cook
SU Jerry Blevins
LR Travis Blackley
SU Jordan Noberto
SU Sean Doolittle
SU Pat Neshek
Oh, and not to mention, Chris Resop and Evan Scribner, also likely bullpen candidates. Not big on names outside of Balfour and Neshek, but they're productive. Cook has future closer label all over him and made the All-Star team. Loaded, and with depth.
I love the depth Billy Beane assembled for this team, which is why I give them the AL West. The rotation and bullpen are very talented and the lineup at least offers a ton of options. This team can be scary good.
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