Elephant Rumblings: Spring opener on tap, sleeper candidates and more

Good morning Athletics Nation! The offseason is officially over!

The Oakland Athletics will take the field for the first time officially later this afternoon when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Cactus League opener at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona. JP Sears will get the start Saturday while J.J. Bleday will play center field and hit clean up.

Saturday’s game has a 12:05 p.m. PST start time and can be seen via the NBC Sports App or via MLB.tv. You can also follow along on the radio via A’s Cast or at Bloomberg 960 AM.

A’s Coverage

• (Gallegos): Gelof showing A’s ‘an intent to do damage’
• (Castillo): Kotsay believes Trevor May is good fit on, off field for A’s
• (Clemens): Esteury Ruiz among some sleeper hitting candidates
• (Kawahara): With clock ticking, A’s pitchers sorting out how they’ll adapt to new MLB rules
• (MLBTR): Offseason in Review: Oakland Athletics

MLB News

• Padres’ Manny Machado commits first pitch clock violation
• Padres, Manny Machado still discussing extension
• Sixto Sanchez not expected to be ready for Opening Day

Best of Twitter/YouTube

Friday’s A’s Cast was loaded with tons of player interviews.

Casey Pratt weighs in with his thoughts on the A’s stadium situation between Oakland and Las Vegas.