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63 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PLAY BALL SonnyGray Themanatthetopofthispar- ticular pyramid is starter Sonny Gray. No t o nly is the rig ht- han der Oakland's top starting pitcher, he is coming off the worst year of his career and needs to re-establish hims elf in th e hi er arc hy of ba se- ball's best pitchers. It's well within his grasp to do it, since he's healthy and there is good evidence that his 5-11 2016 season was an outlier. During his time at Vanderbilt, in the minor leagues and in his first 2½ seasons with Oakland, Gray was among the best at his craft, and only last year was that not true. "I'm ready to be myself," Gray said. "Last year, with getting sick on opening day and being injured a couple of times, it was one of those seasons where things just escalated. That was last year. Now it's this year, and I feel strong, 100 percent." He'd better be, because any hope the A's have of being com - petitive begins with being able to send Gray out every fifth day with the expectation that the club will win. The rotation will be composed of five pitchers aged 27 or younger, so if experience matters, it will have to come from Gray, who has more career starts (96) than the rest of the projected rotation – Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton and, possibly, Andrew Triggs, who've combined for 87. Gray says there were times last year when he went to the mound "maybe when I shouldn't have" because of injury. KhrisDavis After a breakout 42-homer, 102-RBI season for a team that didn't have any excess offense, the left-fielder comes into 2016 as the pivot around which the Oakland offense is built. He spent the first month of 2016 adrift, then five SECOND TIME A CHARM? RajaiDavis,SantiagoCasillaandAdam Rosales have all been brought back into the fold. All have aged, but the A's are betting that those players — known as good clubhouse presences— have something important to offer. Having been through Oakland once, each is plenty familiar with how the organization works. And that's a good start. DOES A CLUBHOUSE MAKE A CLUB? It's no secret that the A's were happy to rid themselves of third baseman Danny Valencia and designated hitter Billy Butler. Neither embodied the team-centric attitude of the A's recent past. The additions of Matt Joyce, Rajai Davis, Adam Rosales and Santiago Casilla were made largely because the A's believe they can help breed that feeling again. ROTATION MUST GROW UP QUICKLY No starting pitcher is over 27. There is talent in the top four, at least, a group that includes Sonny Gray, Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea and Jharel Cotton. And perhaps Jesse Hahn will pitch back to his form of two years ago, or Andrew Triggs, Raul Alcantara or someone else will step up. This is a group that is going to have to grow up on center stage — not an easy job to pull off, but essential if the A's are going to be a competitor in the A.L. West. WHO IS GOING TO SCORE? Oakland proved a long time ago that base runners – hits and walks – combine to produce runs. The A's don't look much like a Moneyball team. They've been at or near the bottom in both on-base percentage and runs scored the last two seasons and the players they've added, while filling needs, don't come with histories of big on-base percentages. YOUTH MOVEMENT PERCOLATING As long as the A's are competitive, they'll likely stick with a roster that isn't terribly old but has a group of 23-and-under players knocking at the door in the minor leagues. If the A's stink, those floodgates will open. Up will come shortstop/second baseman Franklin Barreto, third baseman Matt Chapman, first baseman Matt Olson and pitcher Frankie Montas. THE A'S Five players to watch and plotlines for the season PLOTLINES months as one of the toughest outs in the game. The difficulty will come in duplicating the feat this time around. MarcusSemien The 2016 season was a break- out for a shortstop who'd only been known for bloated error totals. But he broke through with a 27-homer, 75-RBI season on offense that nicely balanced a 40 percent dropoff in errors. Outgo - ing third base coach Ron Wash- ington proclaims that Semien is ready to fly on his own. The microscope will be on him. SantiagoCasilla It's too soon to know whether Casilla, late of the Giants, will be the closer or will work mostly in the eighth inning doing setup work. What is known is that how good the A's bullpen will be depends largely on Casilla and whether his fastball is an impact pitch or if the Giants' decision to drop him from the closer role was a realization that he's past it. RajaiDavis A significant portion of the A's difficulties the last two seasons was a lack of production at the top of the batting order. Most of the leadoff work was left to Billy Burns and Coco Crisp and over time that formula didn't work. Davis, who is on his second tour with the A's, has been brought back to fix the problem. He's nev - er been a huge on-base guy, but if he can walk some, hit some and score some runs, then perhaps the A's have a chance to pull their offense out of the cellar. TRADEBAIT The A's are stacked with first basemen, both on the roster and in the minor leagues. That spells possible trouble for first baseman Yonder Alonso, who is in his last year before testing free agency. Whether he stays or gets an early exit may well depend on how the season goes. The better the A's play, the lower the probability of Alonso being dealt. Ryon Healy and Mark Canha could serve time there, and the A's have high hopes for former No. 1 dra pick Matt Olson. Jed Lowrie is in much the same position as Alonso. In his case, Franklin Barreto is the man waiting in the wings. Sonny Gray has been subject to trade rumors for a couple of years, but the given his age (27) and talent, the club would be loath to trade him. — JOHN HICKEY Above:Shortstop Marcus Semien cut way down on his errors last season, and broke through BY ANDREW BAGGARLY ANDA CHU/STAFF