Preview/Prediction

For the second time in three years, the San Francisco Giants will enter spring training with the feeling of being World Series champions. 

However, there are still some questions that need to be answered and some concerns about the defending champions.

As we all take our guesses on whether or not the Minnesota Twins will improve on their back-to-back last place finishes in the American League Central, the 2013 Twins already look very different from the team that took the field in 2012.

With another descent to the bottom of the AL Central, there's reason to believe that the 2014 team will look even more different.

But how different, exactly?

For a number of years, the New York Mets have had the distinction of having one of the worst farm systems in Baseball. Between poor drafts and unwisely trading away prospects for washed-up Major Leaguers, the Mets have not had the luxury of tapping into homegrown talent.

The arrival of spring training marks both the unofficial beginning of the spring season itself, and the unofficial end of baseball's offseason.

Teams don't know what their Opening Day rosters are going to look like yet, but by now they're all stocked with enough players to pick and choose from over the next few weeks. The free-agent market, meanwhile, is almost entirely dried up.

The small-market Cleveland Indians have been one of the most active teams in Major League Baseball this winter.

Major League Baseball went 46 seasons between batting Triple Crown winners.

Miguel Cabrera took the honor last year and was the first player to lead the league in batting average, home runs and RBIs since Carl Yastrzemski did the trick in 1967 with the Boston Red Sox.

The Oakland A's had a busy winter stocking up on talent in order to defend their AL West title.

This series will evaluate one team per day, starting on Jan. 23, 2013, and ending on Feb. 22, 2013 (the first game of spring training). It is based on last season's performance, offseason changes since and the author's outlook for the team in 2013. Please keep in mind that rosters can, and will, change before Opening Day. We started in the AL East, worked across to the NL counterpart, and now, tackle the Central divisions in alphabetical order.

After a busy offseason for the Oakland A's, they will fight to retain their standing on top of the American League West.

During said offseason, the A's have moved around a lot of infielders through addition and subtraction.

Gone are the days of Cliff Pennington at shortstop or second base, after he was traded to Arizona. Stephen Drew is gone as well after being the A's shortstop down the stretch.