The Oakland Athletics will be the Giants of the 2011 season. Yes, the A's will make a run at a World Series.
Oakland finished 2010 similarly to the Giants in 2009, fourth in ERA and 23rd in runs scored.
A's general manager Billy Beane, then, went out and had his most active offseason in quite some time.
The A's added David DeJesus, Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui to help bolster the offense that scored 4.09 runs per game.
The bullpen was not considered an issue but Beane found a way to make it even more imposing.
Grant Balfour and Brain Fuentes were added to a group that already included Brad Ziegler, Joey Devine and Josh Outman.
This is not even including closer Andrew Bailey.
The continued progression of the starting rotation is the key for the A's. Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden will have to continue to anchor a staff that carried a 3.56 ERA throughout a tough American League season.
The teams in front of them?
The Rangers lost Cliff Lee and Vladamir Guerrero.
Can Adrian Beltre produce when he is not playing for a contract?
What will happen with Michael Young? Can Colby Lewis and CJ Wilson carry that team?
There are more questions for the Rangers than there are for the A's.
The Yankees have a struggling pitching staff and an aging lineup.
The Twins cannot stay healthy.
The Red Sox have a lineup that could nullify the A's rotation but you could make the case the 2011 Red Sox are the 2010 Phillies.
They are the favorite this year much like the Phillies were last year (and this year for that matter).
Oakland enters the 2011 season with the best pitching staff in the American League and, as we saw last year, pitching can win a championship.
Oakland Athletics, 2011 World Series Champions?
You never know.
Finally a good post out of you... :P BUT you left off one of our biggest studs! Brett Anderson! He was injured for a lot of last season and only got 19 starts, but did still manage a 2.80 ERA, 3.41 K/BB and just over 6K/9...!
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