Baseball

In a flurry of last minute roster moves, the A's set their Opening Day roster after the Giants-A's Spring exhibition finale.

Despite a reportedly healthy camp, several players will start the year on the DL. But thanks to all the depth the A's stockpiled over the offseason, the stand-ins stand to fill in admirably.

Over the next few slides, I will break down the A's roster by position and offer a few predictions at the end.

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The New York Mets will start the 2010 baseball season with two of their most influential hitters on the DL.

Carlos Beltran will not resume any baseball activities until April 10 at the earliest, and even then it could be anything between four and eight weeks until he's back in the everyday lineup.

Jose Reyes, meanwhile, will be on the sidelines until at least April 11, after the Mets put him on the DL retroactive to March 26.

Give FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal credit—before reaching for the Chicago White Sox as his prediction to win the 2010 World Series, he prefaced it with (probably real) editor guidelines.

The first two essentially prohibited him from tabbing either the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

Fine, the powers-that-be wanted him to zig when everyone else zagged.

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: (92-70)

The Los Angeles Angels lost several major contributors this past offseason and their streak of three consecutive division titles is clearly at stake.

Plenty of talent remains in Los Angeles, though, and some acquisitions of their own will certainly keep the Angeles in the running in the AL West.

Losing John Lackey was inevitable—the Angels didn’t want him—but also removes a clear ace from Los Angeles’ rotation.

Originally published at TwinsMVB.com .

I participated in a Twitter debate last night that spanned several hours.

The topic? “Who should start the season as back-up catcher: Wilson Ramos or Drew Butera?”

While very intense, it also cast an illuminating light onto how badly the regular season is needed so we can all move on to more meaningful discussion topics.

MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom reported that Cubs skipper Lou Piniella had this to say following the team's win over Arizona is the final game of the preseason on Saturday:

"I think the Cubs, their time is coming to win the World Series. Hopefully, it's very, very, very soon."

As someone who's been waiting for 40 years, I sure hope it's soon, too, Lou.

I actually like Lou's World Series chatter. For too long, the club has been careful to avoid that talk, saying instead that the goal is to "win the division" or "have a winning season."

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim had what may seem like a less-than-stellar Spring Training.

They finished two games under .500, good for middle of the pack in both the American League and the Cactus League action.

Batters swung at collectively mediocre .274 clip with 27 combined home runs, at or below the halfway mark in the AL.

The brief preseason series between the Dodgers and the Angels, known as the "Freeway Series" featured a little bit of everything.

Good pitching and strategic "small ball" dominated the first game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Friday night.

Saturday, however, both teams exhibited their offense to the fullest at Dodger Stadium.

Fans were treated to games that lived up to the expectations, although Dodgers fans may be disappointed with dropping both contests to the boys in red.

The A's always seem to have a surprise up their sleeve when announcing the Opening Day roster. Usually the big news is some hotshot rookie made the team.

This year that hot shot is Tyson Ross. Not bad for a starting pitcher who was only drafted in the June 2008 draft. Ross will make the club trying to help out a rather depleted bullpen.

I am not trying to be a buzz kill.

I am not anti-Heyward.

I am not doubting the Braves' decision to start the McDonough Manchild out in right field.

I am, however, saying what I think needs to be said.

Jason Heyward is a rookie .

Not so dramatic there, was it?

There is zero doubt that Jason Heyward earned his spot on the Opening Day roster with his more-than-solid Spring Training.

How could you deny an .846 OPS and more hype than that movie with all of the blue people (you know, Avatar )?