The Oakland Athletics

The Athletics finished with a record of 74-88, but that is bound to go down for the 2012 season. Billy Bean is up to something in Oakland, we just can't figure it out yet.

Over the 2011-2012 off season The Athletics traded Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, and Andrew Bailey. In return they received a total of 16 prospects and players. All three of these pitchers are young and have a lot of potential. The Athletics have begun rebuilding.

The Athletics did sign Cuban outfield prospect Yoennis Cespedes. Cespedes was playing in Cuba which is similar to a high AA league. In 2011 in that league he had a .424 on base percentage, 33 home runs, 99 RBI's and a .667 SLG in just under 500 plate appearances. He is ready for the MLB, scouts say, but who knows why he decided to sign with the Athletics when he had offers from The Marlins.

Another thing that The Athletics did was sign right handed starter Bartolo Colon. For the Yankees in 2011 Colon pitched to a 4.00 ERA over 164 innings. He is 38 years old and not getting any better. I think the Athletics signed him to just fill up the rotation.

The Athletics also signed Coco Crisp, but he wont make a big impact on the team. He is a center fielder and a lead off hitter. In 2011 he had a .314 on base percentage, making him a pretty bad lead off hitter. The 49 stolen bases mean nothing if he cant get on base. I would move Crisp to left and put Cespedes in center, but Coco wants to play center and he made that clear.

The Athletics are projected to finish in last place in 2012. The Athletics are trying to make a move to San Jose. That means a better stadium and maybe a bigger fan base.

The Washington Nationals

In 2011 The Nationals had an improvement from the 2010 season. In 2011 The Nationals won 11 more games than the previous season, giving them a total of 80 for the 2011 season. The Nationals made a lot of noise in the 2011-2012 off season and definitely capitalized.

The Nationals added two new starting pitchers to their staff to give them one of the best in baseball. The 2012 starting rotation for The Nationals is going to look a little bit like this:

Using 2011 Statistics

*Stephen Strasburg(23) : 2.54 ERA
Gio Gonzalez (26) : 3.12 ERA
Jordan Zimmerman (25) : 3.18 ERA
Edwin Jackson (28) : 3.79
Ross Detwiler(26)/Chien-Ming Wang(32) : 3.00 ERA/ 4.04 ERA

* Combination of 2010 and 2011 ERA

The starting rotation is looking good, with Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett and Brad Lidge anchoring the back of the bullpen, The Nationals' overall pitching is looking good. Clippard Posted a 1.83 ERA making him one of the best set up men in baseball. He has a high number of strikeouts and has a high RPC(Hayes Craze Stat.)

The Nationals started off the 2011 season without Adam Dunn, which proved to be a good thing, because Dunn would have one of the worst seasons ever. Instead The Nationals pulled through with their big sluggers. Mike Morse and Ryan Zimmerman. If these two players replicate the seasons they put up in 2011 and stay healthy, the rest of the NL East should watch out. If Jayson Werth, Danny Espinosa, and Bryce Harper can do well in 2012 The Nationals may be the wild card winners or even the winners of the NL East.

Lets not forget the two top prospects The Nationals drafted and signed in the 2011 draft, Anthony Rendon and Mathew Purke. Both of these two guys are very promising and may be just another reason not to under rate The Washington Nationals in years to come.