A's Hope Springs Eternal

It's the first week of spring training and, as the old saying goes, hope springs eternal. Scott Sizemore has the same stats as A-Rod and Daric Barton has the same slugging percentage as Prince Fielder. It's the eve of the 45th season of this beautiful marriage of A's baseball and the city of Oakland and we couldn't be more excited.

One could say that there's a lot of negativity swirling around the A's right now, but that's another discussion for another day. Right now, all we're thinking about are the positives. The Oakland A's have the third most World Series titles of all time and the second most since they moved to Oakland in 1968. All we're thinking about is the potential of Yoenis Cespedes and Jemile Weeks, and the possibly great comeback stories of injured Dallas Braden and Oakland's own Tyson Ross.

Will Manny fit in? Can the A's replace all that young pitching they traded? Who will emerge from Papago Park as the franchise's next Mark Mulder or Eric Chavez? Who will lead this young squad? And does it have enough to shock the world and win the AL West?

All good questions. The answers? It's late February, the beauty of this time of year is we don't need any stinkin' answers. We've got Spring Training Fever and the only cure is more baseball. Anything seems possible, so bring it all on.

Let's go, Oakland ... for the past 45 years and for the next 45 years!