Baseball season is right around the corner, and the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics open their Cactus League schedule on Tuesday, when the Bay Area rivals square off in Mesa, Arizona. Both teams released their lineups and starting pitchers well ahead of time, giving their players, and fans, plenty of time to prepare and analyze. Here are the starting lineups for both teams:
In the Athletics’ lineup, there are six players who were not with the team last year. Phegley and Semien were acquired in the blockbuster Jeff Samardzija trade with the Chicago White Sox early in the offseason. Zobrist came from the Tampa Bay Rays, also being involved in a trade. Lawrie was part of the third baseman swap with the Toronto Blue Jays, as the Athletics sent Josh Donaldson as the key piece of the deal.
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Butler was signed as a free agent, and though he is more of a designated hitter, he will be manning first base as the Spring Training season opens. Canha was selected in the Rule 5 Draft from the Colorado Rockies, and must remain on the 25-man roster per the Rule 5 rules, or be sent back to the Rockies.
There are some notable players missing from the A’s lineup, including Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Stephen Vogt, and Ike Davis. The team is most likely sending those guys to Scottsdale, for the Giants’ “home” opener on Wednesday, where the two teams will square off again. On a side note, the Wednesday game is going to be relocated to Tombstone, Arizona.
The Giants’ lineup features more familiar faces, as six of their starting nine were with the team in 2014. Aoki was signed in the offseason, joining the team that his Kansas City Royals couldn’t beat in the 2014 World Series. McGehee was acquired via trade with the Miami Marlins, and become the Giants’ every day third baseman.
Maxwell was signed to a minor league deal early in the offseason, but manager Bruce Bochy expects him to get a fair share of chances this Spring, as he offers a lot of power from the right side of the plate, which is a rare commodity throughout baseball.
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Some notable players missing from the San Francisco lineup include Angel Pagan, Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Hunter Pence. Each of those four players are expected to start in Wednesday’s contest against the Athletics.
Brad Mills will be getting the starting nod on Tuesday for Oakland. Mills spent a short stint with Oakland last year, after a midseason trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. Even though Mills didn’t pitch great with Oakland (three games, 1-1 record, 4.41 ERA and 1.591 WHIP), the trade was still a bargain, as Milwaukee received one dollar for Mills.
The southpaw didn’t last long in Oakland, as he claimed off waivers by Toronto after just a month with the team. However, he resigned with the Athletics in the offseason.
Opposing Mills will be Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner. The left-hander is coming off an 18-win season, in which he posted a 2.98 ERA and 1.090 WHIP. His true stardom came in the postseason, as Bumgarner started six games, and came out of the bullpen once. He set a single postseason record by throwing 52.2 innings, and went 4-1 with a save, 1.03 ERA, and .651 WHIP.
The first pitcher out of the bullpen for San Francisco will be Tim Lincecum, who is re-joining the starting rotation this season. He will act as Bumgarner’s piggyback, as he will likely throw an amount of innings or pitches similar to the starter.
One final note, Athletics “switch-pitching” phenom Pat Venditte is listed among the bullpen arms for Tuesday’s contest. The dual-threat pitcher, who can throw right or left-handed, is typed across both the lefty and righty available pitchers columns on the lineup card for Tuesday’s game.
Tuesday marks the beginning of Spring baseball, which means that Opening Day is that much closer. Hang on, baseball fans, we’re almost there.