MLB Season Preview: No. 27 Oakland Athletics

(As the countdown to No. 1 continues, check out No. 28, the Seattle Mariners, here.)

The Oakland Athletics have had a busy offseason. They’ve had a lot of turnover on their roster and it will be interesting to see if all the new pieces can gel and the team can improve off their 74-88 season last year.

The most interesting move by the A’s was signing Manny Ramirez. Ramirez hasn’t been relevant in a couple of years and he turns 40 less than two months into the season. The main reason for signing him is to increase ticket sales with the hope that he can give you 15-20 home runs.

Signing Manny wasn’t the only big move of the offseason for Oakland. The A’s signed Jonny Gomes, Bartolo Colon and received Seth Smith in a trade with the Rockies.

All those moves look great, but the A’s did lose some key pitchers that kept the team relevant in the past few years. Closer Andrew Bailey and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez were traded to the Red Sox and Nationals respectively. Relief man Craig Breslow and starting pitcher Trevor Cahill were both traded to the Diamondbacks.

All those trades took place in 19 days. And by the end of those two and a half weeks, the A’s went from having one of the best, young pitching staffs to having to rely on Bartolo Colon to give them quality innings. (Moral of the story: It sucks to be a small-market team.)

Reason(s) for Optimism: The lineup is way better than last year. The additions of Gomes and Smith, along with the signing of Yoenis Cespedes, makes this lineup a lot stronger than it was last year when the A’s finished 20th in runs and 24th in batting average. Second baseman Jemile Weeks has the chance to turn into a star after a breakout second half of 2011.

Reason(s) for Concern: The pitching rotation. It’s Brandon McCarthy, and then a bunch of question marks. Bartolo Colon is the projected No. 2, but it’s hard to believe the 39-year-old can keep up his play from last year. After Colon and McCarthy, it gets downright ugly. (Tom Milone? Jarrod Peacock? Brad Peacock?) If Oakland can figure out the back end of the rotation, they could be in good shape.

Best Possible Scenario: Manny does more than sell tickets. He has 20 home runs by All-Star Break and the rest of the lineup hits well. The powerful lineup takes pressure off the starting rotation and the A’s sneak into the Wild Card spot. (Or maybe, one of the two Wild Card spots?)

Worst Possible Scenario: The lineup hits well, but not well enough to make up for the terrible starting rotation. Even with the presence of Manny, the A’s still can’t sell tickets and the A’s finish last in MLB in wins and attendance.

Chance of seeing the Athletics in the playoffs: Four percent. Only slightly above the Mariners, but still way behind the Angels and Rangers.