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		A's preview for 2011 By Jerry Feitelberg March 30, 2011

	The Oakland Athletics open the 2011 season Friday night against the Seattle Mariners. They have made moves that they hope will improve the offense and have brought in pitchers to bolster the bullpen. The A's finished last year with a record of 81-81. The A's starting pitching was terrific. Their ERA was the lowest in the majors. However,they suffered from a lack of production from their hitters. They were 11th in the American League in runs scored and second to last in home runs. The A's Pitching is a strength for the A's. Trevor Cahill will pitch the opener for the A's. He led the team with an 18-8 record last year and had an ERA of 2.97. Lefties Gio Gonzalez,Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson will be back. The fifth starter is Brandon McCarthy. The A's signed him as a free agent. Rich Harden is also in the mix but Harden has had a tough time of staying healthy. If healthy, Harden could be a big plus for the A's. The A's also signed 4 time All-Star Brian Fuentes. Fuentes could be the closer until Andrew Bailey returns from the DL. They also obtained RHP Grant Balfour from the Tampa Bay Rays. Balfour will be a plus as a setup man in the bullpen. Michael Wuertz,Craig Breslow,Brad Ziegler and Jerry Blevins return for another season in the bullpen. The A's brought in 3 players that they hope will provide more punch. They obtained outfielders Josh Willingham from the Washington Nationals and David DeJesus from the Kansas City Royals. They signed free agent Hideki Matsui who was with the Los Angeles Angels last year. The A's hope that Matsui and Willingham will provide enough power to win a few more games. David DeJesus doesn't provide a lot of power but if he hits 10 or 12 home runs that will be helpful. Ryan Sweeney and Conor Jackson will be the reserve outfielders. The A's infield remains the same as last year. Daric Barton is at first, dependable Mark Ellis at second,Cliff Pennington at short and Kevin Kouzmanoff at third base. The A's hope that Kouzmanoff will hit over 20 homers this year. Reserve infielders will be Eric Sogard or Andy LaRoche. Adam Rosales is on the DL and will be back in May. The catching chores with be handled by Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki had a tough year last year with two stints on the DL. He worked hard in the off-season to improve his conditioning and hopes to be stronger this year. Landon Powell will again be the back-up. The A's have a lot of good,but not great players. In order to contend , they must have everyone in the lineup contribute. They have the pitching to win the division but the hitters must come through. In many ways, the A's resemble the team across the bay, the San Francisco Giants. The formula for winning will be strong pitching,good defense and timely hitting. It's now time to play ball and let's hope that the A's will return to the playoff for the first time since 2006.