Open Thread - Spring Training 3/9 vs Texas

We're going to begin today's Game Thread with a non-baseball related programming note. There is a group called the Society for News Design (SND), which is (in their words) "an international organization for news media professionals and visual communicators." Their biggest task seems to be (in my words) voting on which news sites are the most awesome. Well, they voted this year, and it turns out that SB Nation is the best website in the world. Well, more specifically, it is the best-designed news website in the world (sports or otherwise). They specifically love the overall layout, which is both visually compelling and user-friendly; the site's compatibility on mutiple platforms; and the StoryStream system, which links together related stories for easy access/reference. Here is a video of a couple of the judges explaining their pick. Congratulations Blogfather Blez on starting THE BEST WEBSITE IN THE WORLD!!

Alright, on to baseball. Oakland is playing the Rangers. Remember them? They're that team which was almost good enough to make the playoffs last year. Here are the lineups:

Oakland:

Coco Crisp - CF
Chris Young - RF
Jed Lowrie - SS
Yoenis Cespedes - LF
Brandon Moss - 1B
Scott Sizemore - 2B
Derek Norris - C
Adam Rosales - 3B
Addison Russell - DH

Dan Straily (starting)
Garrett Olson
Ryan Cook
Chris Resop
Evan Scribner
Fernando Rodriguez
Brian Gordon
Pat Neshek

Oakland also made some cuts today: Sonny Gray, Bruce Billings, and Justin Thomas are headed to AAA. No big surprises there; Thomas is terrible, and Gray and Billings will be in Sacramento's rotation this year, likely to be joined by Straily and Andrew Werner at some point. I'll just assume that Lenny DiNardo will be the 5th guy in that rotation, because it seems like he's been on the River Cats for most of my life.

Ian Kinsler - 2B
Jurickson Profar - SS
Lance Berkman - DH
Adrian Beltre - 3B
David Murphy - LF
A.J. Pierzynski - C
Aaron Cunningham - RF
Leonys Martin - CF
Brandon Snyder - 1B
Nick Tepesch - SP (RHP)

Yep, that's Aaron Cunningham in Texas's lineup.

Go A's!