It’s hard to forget the celebration or the goosebumps that took place for fans last year when the Oakland Athletics won the American League West Championship.  There was beer being poured on everyone, excessive Bernie Leans, and Josh Reddick smoking a cigar, in a Reddick yellow robe.  You couldn’t help but smile especially if you yourself were representing green and gold.  What a site and what a season for the team.

This year is putting some extra attention on the Athletics. Luckily, they have a lot of returning key players from last year in Reddick, Coco Crisp, Grant Balfour, Brandon Moss, and Yoenis Cespedes. However, with every year, changes are made.  So of course some rebuilding had to be done.

With Stephen Drew trading in green for red and heading to Boston, the Athletics were in search for a shortstop to take the starting role.  The Red Sox also snagged a clubhouse favorite who had a killer bat in Jonny Gomes.  Did you just make a sad face like I did? (We miss you Jonny)

But then, walks in a smiling Hiroyuki Nakajima (13 homeruns, 74 RBIs, and seven stolen bases last season for the Seibu Lions) who signed a two-year deal with Oakland in mid-December.  He has been recently placed on the disabled list, however, no fear, Jed Lowrie is here. A’s acquired the utility player from the Astros in exchange for Chris Carter, Brad Peacock, and Max Stassi.  Lowrie has been on a tear with three bombs and six RBIs.  He has 13 hits in his 26 at bats.  For you stats geeks, that means he is batting .500.  Houston, you have even more problems. 

Oakland's second base position was looking phenomenal during spring training with both Adam Rosales and Eric Sogard performing at the top of their game.  Sogard batted .480/.536/.700 during the spring with one bomb and eight doubles, and Rosales had this great characteristic where he could just come off the bench and hit bombs, two even in a game.

Taking a small walk to the bullpen, pen pals Sean Doolittle, Jerry Blevins, and Ryan Cook always manage to get the job done on the hill for the A’s.  Travis Blackley was recently acquired by the Houston Astros, in which “fan girls” everywhere cried harder than when they first saw The Notebook.  Sorry Matt Kemp, we tend to get lost in Blackley’s eyes easier than yours.

The A’s had a strong outfield going into the 2013 season with Cespedes, Crisp, and Seth Smith, but the one thing the A’s will come to be known for this season is depth.  Why not have the same depth in both the bully and the outfield?  Manager Bob Melvin had outfielder Chris Young on his staff in Arizona, so it was not that difficult for him to mesh with the team.  He also does a beautiful Bernie Lean. 

Oakland's starting rotation is solid as well with Brett Anderson, Tom Milone, and Jarrod Parker.  Anderson has been pitching well so far.  With 13 innings under his belt he has 16 strikeouts and a 1.38 ERA.  He is on the day-to-day due to a thumb contusion, but he should be healthy enough to get his next start.

This season Billy Beane did have to do some shopping around, but he also had a great team to start out with.  2013 may have just begun, but this is no way the end for the Athletics.  Reddick’s gold glove ceremony is on Friday, perhaps it’s a sneak peak at a certain ceremony that takes place every year.