![\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__26\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-81722962-1270569804.jpg?ymM9O8CD4yaBervb\"](\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__26\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-81722962-1270569804.jpg?ymM9O8CD4yaBervb\")
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OK, I thought it was pretty remarkable that the Mets allowed Alex Cora<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> to bat leadoff in their opener on Monday. He’s a career .245 hitter with only modest speed. His lifetime on-base percentage is just .313. <\/p>\n But then I saw the A’s opening day lineup, and realized that Oakland is fielding an entire team of Alex Coras<\/em> this year. Check the box score<\/a>:<\/p>\n That’s really a civic embarrassment. The 3-4-5 hitters in the A’s lineup have career OPSs of .727, .741 and .726. It should not surprise you to learn that Oakland had the American League’s lowest team slugging percentage last year (.397). They can’t seriously expect to score enough runs to be competitive in 2010, right? <\/p>\n As a bewildered Jack Cust<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said after he was designated for assignment over the weekend<\/a>, "It’s messed up. … The fact is, this team has no power and they’ve just released a guy who (averaged 28 homers) the last three years. That’s amazing."<\/p>\n It really is amazing. I cannot explain why the A’s have put themselves in this predicament, but I know a fantasy opportunity when I see one. Here are all the starting pitchers who are likely to face Oakland this week:<\/p>\n Tuesday – Ian Snell<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Dallas Braden<\/a>(notes)<\/a>)<\/span> Most of them are available in standard mixed leagues. Stream as needed. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Photo via AP Images <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK, I thought it was pretty remarkable that the Mets allowed Alex Cora(notes) to bat leadoff in their opener on Monday. He’s a career .245 hitter with only modest speed. His lifetime on-base percentage is just .313. But then I saw the A’s opening day lineup, and realized that Oakland is fielding an entire team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__26\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-965843768-1270569928.jpg?ymI_O8CD4c3Ui_CU\"](\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__26\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-965843768-1270569928.jpg?ymI_O8CD4c3Ui_CU\")
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Wednesday – Ryan Rowland-Smith<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Justin Duchscherer<\/a>(notes)<\/a>)<\/span>
Thursday – Doug Fister<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Brett Anderson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>)<\/span>
Friday – Matt Palmer<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Gio Gonzalez<\/a>(notes)<\/a>)<\/span>
Saturday – Jered Weaver<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Ben Sheets<\/a>(notes)<\/a>)<\/span>
Sunday – Joe Saunders<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (vs. Dallas Braden)<\/p>\n