The Skinny:
The Athletics are a rebuilding franchise with aspirations of improving in 2010, mainly because their youngsters are growing up.  The minor changes they've made should lead to at least a minor improvement provided that Ben Sheets proves to be healthy and even 80% of what he once was.

Second baseman Mark Ellis is the longest tenured A besides Eric Chavez.

Photo by Kimberly*, used under creative commons license.

Athletics Supporters:
IF - Adam Rosales (Trade from Reds)
IF - Steve Tolleson (Waiver claim from Twins)
IF - Jake Fox (Free Agent from Cubs)
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff (Trade from Padres)
OF - Coco Crisp (Free Agent from Royals)
OF  - Gabe Gross (Free Agent from Rays)
RHP - Ben Sheets (Free agent, unsigned last year)

No Longer Protected::
IF - Nomar Garciaparra (Free Agent, unsigned)
IF - Adam Kennedy (Free Agent signed with Nationals)
OF - Scott Hairston (Traded to Padres)
LHP - Dana Eveland (Traded to Blue Jays)
RHP - Brett Tomko (Free agent, unsigned)
RHP - Santiago Castilla* (Released, signed with Giants)

* Signed minor league deal

Strengths:  Loads of young talent, Starting pitching (maybe), bullpen.
A's general manager Billy Beane is a master when it comes to finding young developing talent, and trading veterans for that kind of talent whenever he gets the chance.  That has allowed the A's to have a strong developmental pipeline both in terms of pitchers and position players.

If pitchers Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill can take another step forward and Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer can stay healthy, the A's could have the most formidable starting rotation in the AL West.  That's a big if, as Sheets is coming back off of shoulder surgery and both he and Duchscherer have a reputation of being fragile.  The youngsters are likely to have some growing pains too.

The bullpen looks to be one of the team's great strengths as the pen will feature a ton of young talented arms with a lot of upside including Joey Devine, Andrew Bailey, Brad Zeigler, Brad Kilby, Craig Breslow, Gio Gonzalez and Michael Wuertz.   Because of the overall youth they will struggle at times, but it's a solid core that the team can grow with for years to come - or until Beane trades them for role players to fill specific needs.

Weaknesses:  Offense
While the A's are loaded with speed for the upcoming season, the lack of big bats in their lining is glaring.  Aside from Jack Cust there simply isn't a big bopper anywhere in the lineup.  The abundance of lightweight hitters will force the A's to play small ball and run a lot - something Beane has been loathe to see his teams do in past years.  There are plenty of retreads who could rediscover some of their old mojo, but if guys like Coco Crisp or Eric Chavez can't find at least some magic the A's will dive into their farm system and hand jobs to guys like Cliff Pennington and OF Michael Taylor (arguably their top prospect).

Either way, runs may be very hard to come by.

Potential Lineup
LF - Rajai Davis
CF - Coco Crisp
C - Kurt Suzuki
DH - Jack Cust
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff
RF - Ryan Sweeney
1B - Daric Barton
2B - Mark Ellis
SS - Eric Chavez / Cliff Pennington

Rotation:
Ben Sheets
Justin Duchscherer
Brett Anderson
Trevor Cahill
Dallas Braden/Gio Gonzalez

Closer:
Andrew Bailey

One Question which Needs Answering:
How far can the A's pitching carry the team?   Without the offensive firepower boasted by the Rangers and Angels the A's will rely heavily on their pitching staff to keep them in games and carry them through a long season.

Prediction:
The A's will be a contender, but not in 2010.  There simply are too many growing pains that the young core pitchers are likely to experience over the course of the season.  Couple that with a dubious offense and the A's aren't likely to improve that much in 2010, especially since both the Mariners and Rangers made some serious improvements over the offseason.

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