Spring Training Update 2

To start things off, let's do a quick roster check. The A's let Joey Devine go from their active roster. That leaves 35 men on. These 35 are:

C Kurt Suzuki
1B Daric Barton
2B Mark Ellis
SS Bobby Crosby
3B Jack Hannahan
RF Travis Buck
CF Ryan Sweeney
LF Emil Brown
DH Jack Cust
BN Mike Sweeney
BN Dan Johnson
BN Donnie Murphy
BN Jeff Fiorentino
BN Rob Bowen
SP Joe Blanton
SP Rich Harden
SP Justin Duchscherer
SP Dana Eveland
CL Huston Street
SU Alan Embree
LR Lenny DiNardo
RP Santiago Casilla
RP Andrew Brown
RP Keith Foulke
RP Fernando Hernandez

RP Dallas Braden
2B Brooks Conrad
IF Gregorio Petit
OF Chris Denorfia
C Justin Knoedler

3B Eric Chavez
SP Chad Gaudin
RP Kiko Calero
OF Carlos Gonzalez
OF Todd Linden

The top is my original list, -Dan Meyer and Chad Gaudin, but +Fernando Hernandez and Jeff Fiorentino. Hernandez was a Rule 5 Draft pick. For those not in the know, every year the MLB teams have a draft of players stuck in the minors to give them a shot on another team. If a player was drafted when he was 18 or younger, and has been in the minors for 5 years, he can be rule 5 drafted. If the player was drafted over 18, and has been in for 4 years, he also is eligible. It's to allow talented players who are stuck behind superstars to get their chance. Johan Santana, Roberto Clemente, and George Bell are among a few high profile names given a shot by this procedure. Anyways, one of the rules is that if you draft a rule 5 guy, he must remain on your major league roster all year. Fernando Hernandez was given this shot, so he'll open the year at least on the roster. Jay Marshall was this guy last year, if you ever wondered why he went straight from AA to the majors.

The 2nd column are guys on the Japan Roster, which can go up to 30 people. These guys will go to Japan, but probably not make the Opening day 25 man roster.

The 3rd column are guys who are still in Major League Camp, but won't make the trip to Japan. The first three in that list are nursing injuries, and need to hang with the doctors to make sure they can get back to shape when the team needs them back in the States. They will probably take the places of Jeff Fiorentino, Lenny DiNardo, and Dan Johnson when they're needed, though those spots are certainly up for grabs depending on what is needed at the time or who is or isn't doing well.

Carlos Gonzalez is still in camp, but also nursing an injury. I don't think he'll make the majors out of camp though, since I imagine the A's will want to take him slow and let him get a little more AAA work at CF before he comes up. Todd Linden is in camp, uninjured, but has been told he won't make the opening day roster. He called in sick today to his game, take that as you will.

After looking at the schedule, I advise A's fans not to get discouraged if the A's start off on a losing track. They begin with four games against he defending World Series Champion Red Sox, three games against the ALCS contending Cleveland Indians, and the underrated-ly strong Blue Jays. While the A's get their new roster on its feet, it's gonna be a rough April.

The A's will play four games in Japan. Two of them are exhibitions, which will be started by Dana Eveland and Justin Duchscherer, against the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers respectively. Unfortunately it will be a duel of my favorite MLB team vs. my favorite NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) in the second game, but I think this will be the one time in my life I'll have to choose sides (Go A's!) After those, the A's will face off against the Red Sox for the first two games of the regular season in Tokyo. Joe Blanton will take on Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first, and Rich Harden will face Tim Wakefield in the second. Josh Beckett is injured, and Curt Schilling will be out a good while, so it'll be interesting to see how these matchups shake up.

The A's are on their planes as I write this I believe, so you can keep up on the action at http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/mlb/events/opening_series/y2008/index.jsp and I'll try to keep tabs on what's going on.