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reliever Ryan Cook.

Weakness: An all-or-nothing offense. Although the A's finished eighth in the AL in runs scored -- thanks to 195 homers -- they were 13th in average, 12th in on-base percentage and led the AL with 1,387 strikeouts.

Outlook: While this year's team might be stronger with OF Yoenis Cespedes, above, in his second year, a healthy Brett Anderson at the top of the rotation and acquisitions of Young, Lowrie and Jaso, repeating will be difficult. Oakland might not be able to count on the same late-inning success that led to a major league-leading 14 walk-off wins.

Projected lineup

CF Coco Crisp (.259, 11 HR, 46 RBI, 39 SB)

2B Jed Lowrie (.244, 16, 42)

or Jemile Weeks (.221, 2, 20)

LF Yoenis Cespedes (.292, 23, 82, 16 SB)

1B Brandon Moss (.291, 21, 52)

RF Josh Reddick (.242, 32, 85, Gold Glove)

DH Chris Young (.231, 14, 41)

or Seth Smith (.240, 14, 52)

3B Josh Donaldson (.241, 9, 33)

C John Jaso (.276, 10, 50)

or Derek Norris (.201, 7, 34)

SS Hiroyuki Nakajima (.311, 13, 74 for Seibu Lions in Japan).

Projected rotation

LH Brett Anderson (4-2, 2.57 ERA in 6 starts)

RH Jarrod Parker (13-8, 3.47)

LH Tommy Milone (13-10, 3.74)

RH A.J. Griffin (7-1, 3.05)

RH Bartolo Colon (10-9, 3.43, 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs with 5 remaining this season)

Closer

RH Grant Balfour (3-2, 2.53, 24/26 saves)

TEXAS RANGERS

2012 season: 93-69 (second, AL West; lost in wild-card round)

New faces: DH Lance Berkman; C A.J. Pierzynski; RHPs Jason Frasor, Joakim Soria, Josh Lindblom.

Strength: Even without Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and Mike Napoli, this is a team that can score plenty of runs. They might not need to score as many if the pitchers produce a sub-4.00 ERA as they did in 2012.

Weakness: Uncertainty where confidence once was. What effect did choking the AL West title away on the last day of the season and then losing the one-game AL wild-card playoff have?

Outlook: There's talent but some big questions that need to be answered. Can Mitch Moreland be an everyday first baseman? Is Cuban CF Loenys Martin ready for an everyday role? How much do veterans Berkman and Pierzynski have left?

Projected lineup

2B Ian Kinsler (.256, 19 HR, 72 RBI, 21 SB, 105 runs)

SS Elvis Andrus (.286, 3, 62, 21 SB)

DH Lance Berkman (.259, 2, 7 in 32 games for St. Louis)

3B Adrian Beltre, above, (.321, 36, 102)

RF Nelson Cruz (.260, 24, 90)

LF David Murphy (.304, 15, 61)

C A.J. Pierzynski (.278, 27, 77 in 135 games for Chicago White Sox)

1B Mitch Moreland (.275, 15, 50)

CF Leoyns Martin (.174 in 24 games) or Craig Gentry (.304, 1, 26 in 240 at-bats)

Projected rotation

LH Matt Harrison (18-11, 3.29 ERA, 4 CG)

RH Yu Darvish (16-9, 3.90, 221

strikeouts in 191.1 innings)

LH Derek Holland (12-7, 4.67)

RH Alexi Ogando (2-0, 3.27 in 58 relief appearances)

RH Nick Tepesch (6-3, 4.28 at Double-A Frisco)