Bay Area Sports Notes: 49ers, A's

A lot of things are happening in the Bay Area sports world right now, from spring training picking up for the A's and Giants, to free agency and draft buzz starting to heat up for the Raiders and 49ers. Today, we're going to talk about two opposite sides of the spectrum, as we go a little 49ers and a little A's.

49ers Notes: If your a 49ers fan and have Internet, TV, or radio access then you know that the 49ers made some headlines Monday by bringing in the mercurial Randy Moss for a workout in Santa Clara. Supposedly Jim Harbough was throwing him the football, but I'm not sure, other than that, what happened in the tryout and how things went. I kind of like the idea though. Obviously, Randy Moss alone, at this stage of his career, wouldn't be an upgrade like a Dwayne Bowe or Vincent Jackson, but let's face it, the 49ers probably won't wind up with a premiere wideout this summer. If Moss impresses, and is still in good football shape, he could give the 49ers a big, deep threat, something they've lacked, really since Terrell Owens left town. You add maybe a guy like Mario Manningham to the mix too, another guy the 49ers are supposedly going to pursue in free agency, then your talking about adding two unique weapons to the 49ers offensive arsenal that they didn't have last season when they knocked on the door of the Super Bowl. At the same time, if Moss doesn't have that burst or doesn't look like he can separate, then bringing him in could become more of a problem than a help. After seeing the Braylon Edwards experiment tank last season, it has to have the 49ers leery of these type of guys with off-field reputations. Anyway, I thought it was interesting to find this out, as I thought the 49ers would be closed to the idea of Moss or Owens, otherwise they would have gone after one of them late in the season when it was obvious they needed help at wideout and Moss was free and available.

A's Notes: With all the 49ers hype and what not, we haven't got a chance to talk as much A's Spring Training as we'd like, but they sure had a positive weekend in Cactus League play these last few days. Their prize free agent signee, Yeonis Cespedes, made his debut in impressive fashion, with 3 hits, including a long home run. The A's have also gotten an excellent start out of their new right fielder and centerpiece of the Andrew Bailey deal, Josh Reddick, as he's started out his spring hitting .444 with 5 RBI in 18 at-bats. Manny Ramirez also has gotten underway in in A's uni, though he's still searching for his first hit after just 3 games. On the pitching side, A's staff ace, Brett Anderson, is making good progress in his recovery from shoulder surgery last season that ended his year early on, much like the situation with the Giants and Buster Posey. With Anderson being a pitcher and the injury to his arm though, he's going to be brought along a lot slower than Posey has been, and it's still unlikely he starts the year in the A's rotation. Also making a comeback from injury is another strong A's youngster, Tyson Ross, and he's been nails in his two outings. He's gone 4 scoreless innings, allowing just 2 hits with 3 K's in those two starts.