A’s vs. Giants: What Are The Chances Of A Bay Bridge World Series?

Oakland A’s 

Additions:

2B – Jed Lowrie.

OF – Chris Young.

SS – Hiroyuki Nakajima.

C – John Jaso.

C – David Freitas.

LHP – Hideki Okajima.

Subtractions:

RHP – Brandon McCarthy.

LF – Jonny Gomes.

3B – Brandon Inge.

SS – Stephen Drew.

RHP – Tyson Ross.

1B – Chris Carter.

Mar 5, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (right) reacts after Kansas City Royals catcher Brett Hayes (left background) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Though Oakland will definitely miss McCarthy, the team has more than enough pitching depth to accommodate his leaving.  Bartolo Colon, on the other hand, has been one of their worse pitchers this spring, owning an ERA of 13.50 through only four innings of work.  If this continues, it looks like Dan Straily – who isn’t doing that much better than Colon at this point – would likely start the season as the fifth starter.

Andrew Werner is also in competition for a starting role, but with five quality arms in Anderson, Parker, Milone, Griffin, and Straily, he might be the odd man out, as Colon would most likely wiggle his way onto the roster.

A welcome surprise this spring has been that of non-roster invitee catcher David Freitas, who is batting .600 with one double, an RBI, and one homerun through six games.  Trade acquisition John Jaso will have to pick it up if he wants to be the Opening Day catcher, as both Derek Norris and Freitas are strides ahead of the veteran backstop so far.

– San Francisco Giants –

Additions:

LF – Andres Torres.

SS – Wilson Valdez.

LF – Cole Gillespie.

2B – Kensuke Tanaka.

2B – Tony Abreu.

RHP – Ramon Ramirez

Subtractions:

CL – Brian Wilson

2B – Ryan Theriot

LF  – Melky Cabrera

RHP – Guillermo Mota

1B – Aubrey Huff

LF – Xavier Nady

With both teams staying virtually intact, it seems as though we know who will be where on the field.

But what about their division rivals?

For Oakland, Texas and Anaheim are not only two of the better teams in the American League West, but in all of baseball.  And both wasted no time in upgrading in one way or another:

With the additions of A.J. Pierzynski, and Lance Berkman, the Rangers are that much stronger.  Even without Josh Hamilton, Oakland will have a tough time getting through this stacked lineup.  However, the A’s did power right through them in the final three games of the 2013 season to clinch their division.

Over in Anaheim, the Angels made a huge splash when they went all in on Josh Hamilton.  So the A’s will still have to deal with him on a regular basis.  Only this time, he has Mike Trout and Albert Pujols (respectively) hitting in front and in back of the mighty slugger.  Sixteen times in fact.

Now, one major similarity between both San Francisco and Oakland is their pitching.  And good pitching, beats good hitting.