December 14, 2010; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane addresses the media during a press conference following designated hitter Hideki Matsui (not pictured) signing with the Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Last year the Oakland A’s entered the season as a dark horse to take the American League West. This year, though, the A’s should consider themselves lucky if they finish third in the revamped AL West. The Angels added perennial MVP candidate Albert Pujols and star pitcher C.J. Wilson while the Rangers added Joe Nathan and Yu Darvish this past offseason. That leaves the A’s and Mariners in a tough spot: the AL West cellar.

Many people around baseball see the Athletics and Mariners duking it out for third-place in the West while either the Angels or Rangers go on to capture the division crown. Bottom line is, the A’s are going nowhere this year. They’re simply not built to win this year. Anything close to a .500 record would, in my mind, anyway, be a successful season for Bob Melvin’s squad.

Last year the A’s went 74-88 and finished a whopping 22 games behind the division leading Rangers. That record was good enough for third-place in the division, but the A’s have lost a few pieces since closing out the 2011 season. Just take a look at some of the names the A’s lost this past winter.

Subtractions:

DH Hideki Matsui; OF Josh Willingham; OF David DeJesus; RHP Trevor Cahill; LHP Gio Gonzalez; CL Andrew Bailey.

While I would hardly call David DeJesus a major loss for the Athletics, I would say losing Cahill, Gonzalez, Bailey, and Willingham will have a significant impact on the team’s level of play entering the season. Willingham led the A’s in home runs (29) and RBIs (98) last year while Cahill and Gonzalez combined to win 28 games last year for the Athletics.

Losing two starting pitchers in Cahill and Gonzalez will likely have the biggest effect on the A’s this year, as their rotation now lacks a considerable amount of experience and know-how. To say Brandon McCarthy, a pitcher who did not pitch in 2010, is your number one starter says a lot about the type of depth your rotation has. Comparing Oakland’s one-two punch in McCarthy and grizzled veteran Bartolo Colon to the Angels’ Jarred Weaver-C.J. Wilson combo is, in itself, a joke.

The A’s did a nice job in getting some talent in return for Cahill and Gonzalez, but most of those young prospects aren’t expected to make much of an impact this year. Among those who might make an impact are pitchers Tom Milone, Jarrod Parker, and perhaps Brad Peacock. Milone, though, remains the most likely candidate to impress A’s fans this year as he played exceptionally well this spring in his bid for a spot in the rotation.

While the A’s relied heavily on their trade chips to restock and revamp their organization with young talent, Billy Beane & Co. did find a few ways to spend some serious dough on a few players. OF Coco Crisp, while not a new face to the team, was resigned during the offseason for a whopping $14 million over two-years. That’s some serious dough for a guy like Crisp.

The A’s also dished out another $36 million or so on Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and another $500K on Manny Ramirez. The A’s are, in essence, banking on the success of Crisp, Cespedes, and Ramirez (if he makes it through his 50-game suspension) this year. Crisp will likely hit near the top of Oakland’s starting lineup, with speedy 2B Jemile Weeks leading things off this season for the A’s.

Cespedes, meanwhile, remains the biggest question mark of them all. Sure, I’m interested in seeing what Manny can do for the A’s, but Cespedes is the real attraction this year for A’s fans. He’s got power, speed, and some nice glove-work in center field. Why else would the A’s openly dish out $36 million to the guy?

Key Additions:

OF Coco Crisp; OF Yoenis Cespedes; DH Manny Ramirez; OF Seth Smith; OF Jonny Gomes; RHP Bartolo Colon; RHP Jarrod Parker; LHP Tom Milone; RHP Brad Peacock

While some of these names may not excite most baseball fans, guys like Cespedes, Ramirez, Gomes, and perhaps even Colon, may help to drive in a few extra fans to the O.Co Coliseum this season. The A’s are waiting for a decision regarding their proposed move to San Jose, but the stingy San Francisco Giants are making things incredibly difficult for the green-and-gold to relocate. Until then, the A’s will likely rely on cheap sources of offense and star power to help rack up the wins and fill the stands with fans.

With that, here’s my quick preview of Oakland’s offense, pitching staff, and eventual place in the American League West:

February 25, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff watches a bullpen session during spring training at Papago Park Baseball Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

With the start of the season drawing near, it is safe to assume that the Oakland A’s may not get an answer regarding their request for a new stadium in San Jose before Opening Day. The A’s have been patiently waiting for MLB and Bud Selig to deliver their decision regarding Oakland’s bid to relocate to the south bay in San Jose. Unfortunately for the green-and-gold, their stadium situation may never get resolved.

Back in December, there were some rumors floating around the blogosphere that the Athletics were going to get the approval necessary to relocate to San Jose by February. Well, Mr. Bob Nightengale of the USA Today, where’s the decision? February came and went, but the Athletics are still faced with the possibility of being stuck in the confines of the cavernous O.Co Coliseum for  years to come.

Lew Wolff and the rest of Oakland’s front office have been pushing MLB and Selig for what seems like three years now to deliver a “yes” or “no” response to their team’s relocation bid. The San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, counter that the A’s have absolutely no business exploring the technologically-rich city of San Jose. The Giants have been arguing that San Jose belongs to them and that the city is protected under their so-called “territorial rights.”

The idea of the A’s playing in San Jose, then, becomes this unattainable goal. This story of the A’s desperate attempts to move to San Jose could, in some stretch of the imagination, be compared to a fine piece of American literature.

In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the novel’s central character Jay Gatsby is forever encapsulated by the ever important “green-light” that burns so bright at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock. For Gatsby, the “green-light” seems within reach, but at the same time unattainable. His every wish, hope, and dream goes, unfortunately, unanswered at the end of the novel.

Lew Wolff, the master of illusion, is much like Gatsby in the sense that he’s reaching for something he can’t quite get his hands on: a new stadium. Of course, in Fitzgerald’s novel Gatsby was chasing after Daisy and not some state-of-the-art venue in San Jose.

Wolff and the A’s are seemingly stuck in a total “wasteland,” much like the one that hindered Gatsby’s attempts at reconnecting with Daisy. A foul dust, like the one Nick Carraway describes in the Great Gatsby, is hindering Wolff’s dreams as it did to Gatsby’s. The Athletics, under Wolff, have hopes for a new stadium in the city of San Jose, but the San Francisco Giants are playing the “territorial rights” card and refusing Oakland access into San Jose.

Much like Tom Buchanan, an opposing force to Gatsby and his dreams, the Giants are highly hypocritical. As Sam McPherson so eloquently puts it in his coverage of Oakland’s new stadium bid: “the Giants are so fiercly protective of their own territory yet have the hubris  to open a merchandise store in the middle of the A’s “territory” demonstrates  that the San Francisco organization has no interest in doing unto others what  they would have other do unto them.”

Like Tom, the Giants are immensly wealthy and are bully-like figures in their respective existence. The Giants would be arrogant enough to open up a merchandise store within the boundaries of Oakland’s territory. The A’s, meanwhile, face the possibility of being shut out from gaining a stadium in the city of San Jose.

Much like Gatsby, then, Wolff’s dream will go unanswered and the A’s will continue to sit in a Valley of Ashes with the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg watching over them. Then again, Wolff may not be comparable to Fitzgerald’s greatest literary character. Unlike Gatsby, Wolff does not have many redeemable qualities.

It could be argued that Wolff is the one responsible for placing the Athletics in a Valley of Ashes in the first place. He’s put the A’s in a tough spot and has had polarizing effects on the thinning fan base.

The argument then becomes that this dream or “green-light” never belonged to Wolff, but to the Athletics and their fans. Whether or not the “green-light” is unattainable or not, though, varies among the fans.

The fans of the organization—what’s left of them—are  upset that Wolff is the one still leading the team towards an unattainble “green-light.” Others, like myself, though, are still holding out hope that the A’s (preferably without Wolff) will one day take hold of that “green-light” and never let go.

With that, I’ll leave you all with one fine quote from one fine piece of American literature:

“Gatsby believed in the green-light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run fast, strech out our arms farther…And one fine morining—” (180). F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

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Oct 5, 2008; Milwaukee, IL, USA; MLB commissioner Bud Selig celebrates after throwing out the first pitch before game four of the NLDS between the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Tom Fluegge-US PRESSWIRE

According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, MLB’s playoffs will expand from eight teams to 10 teams. According to the report, baseball’s newest game changer will take place this year during the 2012 playoffs.

MLB will be adding two additional wild-card teams to the mix, but that change wasn’t expected to occur until next season. Bud Selig, though, who apparently found time in his busy schedule, wanted the change to occur this year. It’s so great to see Selig taking time out of his busy schedule to get things like this done, isn’t it?

Rosenthal reports that while the playoff expansion is likely to happen this year, the agreement on the changes are not yet final. The final details, as noted by Rosenthal, are expected to get hammered out relatively soon.

According to the new format, the three division winners from each league will be rewarded with a first-round bye. The fourth and fifth teams in each division will help determine the wild-card. For more information on the changes, here’s what Rosenthal said about the new layout:

The final details are not known, but officials discussed changing starting times for the final day of the regular season, the one-game wild-card knockout and possibly Game 1 of the Division Series.

In the new format, each league’s three division winners would earn a first-round bye; the Nos. 4 and 5 teams would play a game to determine the wild-card, which would then play the top-seeded division winner in the first round.

The union, concerned about the integrity of competition, initially opposed expanding the postseason until baseball went to two 15-team leagues, something that will happen in ’13 when the Houston Astros move to the AL West.

What does this mean for your Oakland Athletics? Well, nothing at the moment. The A’s are not considered playoff contenders this year and will likely find continue to suffer near the bottom of the American League West until they’re able to secure a stable future in a place called San Jose. If only Selig found time to take care of that issue next.

Follow me on twitter @oaklandace75 and for more A’s related analysis, stories, and opinions, follow us on twitter @FS_SwinginAs or like us on Facebook.