I know people are going to bring up Simmons' 5

Breslow did an admirable job as the A's most frequently called-upon reliever for much of 2009. A pitch-mixer with five solid pitches, the lefty should return as the No 1 southpaw reliever in the bullpen.. This hefty lefty was near-unhittable at Triple-A and the majors in 2009, and should take some pressure off Breslow as the full-time second lefty in the Oakland relief corps in 2010.. With more Triple-A experience than Trevor Cahill or Vince Mazzaro, Simmons is better suited to open (not necessarily finish, of course) 2010 in the majors than they are. The 23-year-old had a solid 3.99 FIP last year and pitched well in the Arizona Fall League.

His solid command and flyball tendencies should make his transition from Sacramento to Oakland smoother than Cahill's or Mazzaro's.. Armed with an excellent changeup, Benacka was stellar between Midland and Sacramento in 2009; he didn't allow a homer all year. He's a lefty with four pitches, solid control, and good groundball tendencies. Middleton is also faring much worse (7.22 ERA) in winter ball than Cramer.Henry Rodriguez needs more command to be trusted in the bullpen.I gave consideration to Jerry Blevins and Jay Marshall for Kilby's slot, but both failed to impress in the majors last year while Kilby dominated.Anyone else you think should have made it Make your case in the comments.. ROTATION:1: Brett Anderson (L)2: Dallas Braden (L)3: Gio Gonzalez (L)4: James Simmons (R)5: Bobby Cramer (L)BULLPEN RIGHTIES (IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE)Andrew BaileyJoey DevineMichael WuertzBrad ZieglerMike BenackaBULLPEN LEFTIES (IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE):Craig BreslowBrad KilbyThe only spots I feel I have to really "defend" my choices for are Benacka, Kilby, and the back two spots in the rotation.I find it hard to argue with Kilby's success in the majors last September (0.59 ERA).Benacka has dominated every level of the minors, and shows good polish. He's also 27, so it's not like rushing him up after only two months in Triple-A is actually going to damage him like it could, say, Henry Rodriguez.I know people are going to bring up Simmons' 5.72 ERA last year, but his FIP (3.99) showed this to be wildly unlucky, and he's more polished than Cahill or Mazzaro is.

He's a flyballer, which plays well in the Coliseum, and he kept his homers to a minimum last year despite his flyball tendencies anyway.Cramer's something of an off-the-wall pick, but like I said, I'd rather have him struggling in the bigs than Cahill or Mazzaro, who are a big part of the future. Besides, Outman should be back after 15 starts or so to take the spot. None of the other Triple-A guys (Dana Eveland, Jerome Williams, Shawn Chacon, Clayton Mortensen, Edgar Gonzalez) showed much promise in 2009, so I'd rather go with an unknown than a proven failure And, like I said, Cramer's FIPs were excellent.. Every league strives for that magical term "parity." This does not mean .500 teams across the league, but rather a degree of competitiveness that allows sportswriter and sports fan alike to keep bouncing infinitehypotheticals around to determine who will ultimately take home a championship.In the face of a historic 46-2 possible record among the NFL’s three powerhouses (including a pair of undefeated teams), that parity looks to be quite intact. Indianapolis, New Orleans, and Minnesota have all had dominant games, but there have been plenty of games where they have looked beatable.When New England steamrolled the regular season in 2007, they appeared unstoppable. That season likely cemented New England’s image afterwards as the NFL’s variation of an evil empire. Minnesota, with two losses already, leaves that avenue of the debate by default.