Filing Update – 5 p.m.

Nobody filed for election today in Lee County.

For a complete list of people who have filed here and in the other counties in our coverage area (which are Harnett, Moore and Chatham), keep an eye on The Herald.

The filing period stays open through Feb. 29.

Spring Training

It’s started. There probably hasn’t yet been a real curveball thrown or a mighty hack taken at a grapefruit-sized softball, but spring training is here. Pitchers and catchers reported yesterday, and position players aren’t too far behind.

In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be able to see (or read about, anyway) players from our favorite teams warming up with scrimmage games. We’ll see the guys we know will be starting games all year. We’ll see a mix of near-washed up veterans and green-behind-the-ears prospects battling for a place on their respective rosters. And on March 25, we’ll be watching major league baseball (if you want to get up at 6 a.m. to watch a telecast from Japan, that is. I do).

Even though a lot can change before Opening Day, as the trade market is still fairly active during February and March, and every club has a lot of unanswered questions, this is a time when I like to take a look at where my team (the Oakland Athletics, if you didn’t already know) is and how things project for the season ahead.

As a preface, I’ll point out that 2007 was the most disappointing season I can remember. In 2006, Oakland was one step from the World Series and hopes were high for the next year. Instead, injuries ravaged just about every part of the team.

So General Manager Billy Beane was faced with a choice this past offseason: Go with what he had, and hope the injury bug didn’t strike again, or blow the whole darn thing up and start over. He went with option B — with three trades, the best remaining players on the team were swapped for a whopping 10 prospects, many of whom rank among the best in the minors. Which means 2008 isn’t going to look pretty. There’ll be a lot of unproven talent on the field, but getting the kids experience should be fun to watch.

Here’s a position by position look:

Catcher — Kurt Suzuki got a lot of playing time last year and showed himself to be a decent catcher. Nothing fantastic, but he looked good behind the plate and held his own offensively. Backup Rob Bowen figures to be about the same as Suzuki, only he’s a switch hitter, giving a good option off the bench.

First Base — Prospect Daric Barton finally made the bigs last September and was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal finish to the season. In just 18 games, he had 4 home runs and got on base in nearly 43 percent of his at bats. I expect him to struggle a bit, adjusting to the league and all in his first full season, but Barton is a legit rookie of the year candidate. The backup position will be either Mike Sweeney, a veteran player who was awesome in his day and recently signed a minor league deal with the club, or Dan Johnson, a former prospect whose time seems to have come and gone.

Second Base — Mark Ellis, at 32, is one of the oldest players on the team (and probably one of just a handful that are even over 30) and he’s in his contract year, so he might be gone at the trading deadline, as Beane seems to be into the mode where unloading veterans for a haul of prospects is par for the course. Still, something tells me Ellis will be around all year, and may be re-signed after the season. Ellis is near-perfect defensively, and he can hold his own offensively as well. A veteran presence of that type can’t hurt with such a young team.

Shortstop — Bobby Crosby is a former rookie of the year who hasn’t lived up to expectations. A lot of that can be blamed on injuries over the past couple of years, but it seems that even when he’s been healthy he’s had little to offer. I’d love to see him cut loose and replaced with someone younger, but apparently there’s a real lack of prospects at this position throughout the league. Donnie Murphy will back both Crosby and Ellis up.

Third Base — Eric Chavez is another elder statesman, having been with the team since being called up in September 1998. Chavez has played through injuries for the past couple of years, hurting his offensive numbers, but he’s supposed to be healthy this year. We’ll see. Chavez is backed up by Jack Hannahan, who seems pretty capable, especially if Chavez steps up his production, increases his trade value, and is gone at the trade deadline.

Outfield — Travis Buck, who showed a lot of promise in 2007, and Chris Denorfia, another young guy I don’t know much about, probably enter spring training as favorites for starting jobs. There’s a mix of guys that’ll be competing for the third spot, and I’m most excited about Carlos Gonzalez, a prospect who came to the team in one of the big trades this off-season. Gonzalez lit up AAA ball last year, hitting 17 home runs in 130 games. Still, the word seems to be that Gonzalez will start the season in AAA ball again this year, but the odds seem to be on him being in the bigs before the season is even halfway over. Emil Brown, another veteran signing, will probably serve as a fourth or fifth outfielder.

Designated Hitter — I have all the confidence in the world in Jack Cust, a castoff who was signed mid-season in 2007 and absolutely clobbered the ball (26 home runs in 134 games). I just hope he doesn’t have to play the field. I might be better than him at playing the field.

Starting pitching — This is really the big question for the year. Joe Blanton figures as the #1 starter for the year, but he’s almost sure to be gone by midway through the season. Blanton isn’t an awesome pitcher, but he’s better than average and reliable to pitch more than 200 innings. I’m a lot more interested in Rich Harden. Harden, when he’s healthy, is simply one of the best pitchers in the game. Notice I said “when he’s healthy.” Harden made a combined 16 starts over the past two seasons, and I’m waiting for the story to come out of spring training that he’s strained some obscure muscle and will be out for the season. That said, I can’t believe that he’s going to be injured his whole career, and I have to be optimistic about it. Harden isn’t a good bet to get traded, either, since his health issues probably have his trade value in the toilet. If Harden can have a decent year, things won’t be too ugly. He’s really the key. Rounding out the rotation will be Chad Gaudin, who had a great first half last year after moving into the rotation from the bullpen but fell off toward the end of the season, and some combination of other youngsters. One of those is another Gonzalez acquired in a trade this offseason, Gio Gonzalez. Like Carlos, Gio probably doesn’t figure to start the season with the big club, but he’s likely to come up at some point during the season. He’s a highly rated prospect who I could see making a fast impact.

Bullpen — This looks like one of the most solid parts of the team, with closer Huston Street more than capable of finishing things off. Veteran Alan Embree had a good 2007 and there’ll be any number of starters who didn’t make the rotation getting chances to pitch out the ‘pen.

All in all? With the Los Angeles Angels still an offensive powerhouse with pitching out the wazoo and the Seattle Mariners improving hugely by winning the Erik Bedard sweepstakes, there’s no chance Oakland makes the playoffs this year. But we’re better than the Texas Rangers, so I can’t see any less than a third place finish. I’d like to see a near-or-at-.500 finish, but I don’t know how feasible that is.

My keys to the season are as follows, in no particular order (except for the fact that the final one is probably most important):

1. Does Rich Harden stay healthy and dominate?
2. Do the two Gonzalez prospects make the big club early in the year and live up to expectations?
3. Do young players like Travis Buck and Daric Barton build on their early success or fail to adjust?
4. Does Eric Chavez have the offensive year he’s capable of when playing without injuries?
5. Who else does Billy Beane unload? That’s the biggest question for obvious reasons, and if you know anything about Beane (I highly recommend Michael Lewis’ “Moneyball,” which followed Beane through much of the 2002 season, to any baseball fan) you know that you can never know what to expect.

There are already a lot of prospects in the pipeline (besides the ones I mentioned) that figure to help the team in 2008, 09, and 10. But Beane probably won’t fail to bite if the right ones are dangled in front of him.

In any case, I absolutely can’t wait to see what happens this season. Knowing that World Series hopes are nearly non-existent, it actually takes a lot of pressure off me as a fan, as I’ll get to relax and see how the new pieces work.

Play ball!

*Alex: Let’s see you do this on your blog with the Cubs.

Great Blog Post

Sanford’s own Joe Jon Bryant wrote a great piece on his own blog about the growing number of bloggers we have here in Sanford/Lee County.

I guess he’s a little bit ahead of the curve than many of us here at the Herald, having kept a blog since 2003, but he really hits the nail on the head about how this whole blogging thing creates an interesting network for the local area, even if it is just people writing about their TVs or favorite baseball teams or whatever else comes to mind.

He also had some nice things to say about The Herald, so I’m a little biased.

Anyway, just thought I’d share.