Young arms trying to carry A's

PHOENIX — A’s fans are curious how far they can go with a rotation that is as green as the team’s uniforms. Truth be told, so are the A’s.

“It’s hard to say if they are ready or not,” catcher Kurt Suzuki said. “But I have confidence every time they take the bump that they will do the job. ... Everyone talks about how young they are, but to me they have just as much talent and ability as anyone out there.”

With Justin Duchscherer out for at least a month after undergoing elbow surgery, the A’s are beginning the season with a rotation of Dallas Braden, Dana Eveland, Sean Gallagher, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill.

Braden and Eveland are 25. Gallagher is 23. Anderson and Cahill are each 21.

No team in baseball’s modern era (since 1901) has had five starters 25 or younger each get at least 25 starts. Only two, the 1989 Braves and 1975 Padres, had four.

“I don’t know if they are ready, but I like the fact that we are youthful,” Eric Chavez said. “Hopefully they’ll stay healthy and give us some innings.”

Anderson and Cahill will particularly be under a microscope. They rose from Class-A to Double-A to the Olympic team last year, but only Anderson has pitched at all at Triple-A.

“They are young, but extremely talented,” Mark Ellis said. “There might be some bumps in the road, but if you talk about their overall makeup, those guys are pretty impressive to watch on the mound.”

When general manager Billy Beane built this team, the idea was to help the young pitchers’ development by giving them more offensive support than the A’s have had in recent years. To that end, Beane got new hitters for the Nos. 2-3-4 spots: Orlando Cabrera, Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday.

Add with a healthy Chavez and Jack Cust, and the A’s have the potential for an interesting lineup.

“Geez, you look at that and you get excited,” Suzuki said. “Anytime you can add the big boppers in the middle of the lineup, it makes any lineup scary.”

The A’s are supporting their young pitchers at the other end with a bullpen featuring two closers (Brad Ziegler and Joey Devine, who will start the season on the DL) and three capable setup men (Russ Springer, Mike Wuertz and Santiago Casilla).

“I always said over the years you have to have two of the three main components: pitching, defense and hitting,” Chavez said. “With the bullpen and the defense and offense, I think there are some pretty good things going on here.”

A detailed look at the A’s:

OFFENSE

The A’s have clearly added some bulk to a punchless lineup. They were the first team in five years to acquire two hitters who each hit 25 or more homers in the previous season, getting Holliday and Giambi.

Now, the A’s can boast four hitters who have each hit 30 homers in a big-league season: Chavez, Cust, Holliday and Giambi.

The Big Four are not without issues. Chavez has been plagued by injuries that sapped him of his production. Cust strikes out too much. Giambi is 38 and could break down under the strain of playing first base. Holliday might not be as productive away from Coors Field.

Setting the table for those boppers will be Ryan Sweeney and Cabrera. Both have career on-base percentages of under .330, so they aren’t ideal at the top.

The bottom three in the order figure to be Suzuki, Ellis and Travis Buck. Suzuki has already become a decent offensive catcher and Ellis is not likely to waver much from the type of hitter he’s become in recent years. Buck is the one who might have the potential for a breakthrough.

The A’s have some depth this year, which they are hoping can carry them if (when?) the starters get hurt. Nomar Garciaparra and Bobby Crosby have both seen better days, but as backups they are certainly capable.

DEFENSE

The A’s infield is potentially one of the better defensive units, even with Giambi at first. Chavez and Cabrera have each won multiple Gold Gloves and Ellis has certainly played Gold Glove-caliber defense. All three figure to be declining somewhat, though, because of age (Cabrera is 34) or injury (Chavez and Ellis had shoulder surgery). As for Giambi, the A’s just want him to catch all the throws and stay healthy.

The outfield looks average defensively. All three, Holliday, Sweeney and Buck, are unspectacular, but good enough that they won’t cost the A’s much. When Cust is in right, he’ll be a liability. Look for Rajai Davis to come in late for defense when the A’s are ahead.

Suzuki is athletic behind the plate, and he’s got a good arm. Landon Powell, the backup catcher, is an outstanding defensive catcher.

PITCHING

A strength of the team in recent years, the pitching staff is going to be unpredictable because of the inexperience.

The five starting pitchers have combined for 80 major league starts, none more than Eveland with his 35.

Braden, Eveland and Gallagher are the top three starters. Of that group, Gallagher has the best pure stuff. The others are back-of-the-rotation starters on a good team.

If the A’s are going to contend, it will likely be because Anderson and Cahill turned into Scott Kaz-mir and James Shields, excelling at a young age.

The bullpen will be something to watch closely. Geren had planned to have Ziegler and Devine share the job. But then Devine hurt his elbow late in camp; he will start the season on the disabled list. Now it’s Ziegler’s job. Casilla, who has the best pure stuff among any of the relievers, figures to be the guy waiting in the wings if something goes wrong with Ziegler.

Springer and Wuertz are solid middle relievers.

MANAGEMENT

There probably isn’t a team in baseball coming off two consecutive losing seasons that has a more secure GM and manager than the A’s, with Beane and Geren. Beane is so beloved by Lew Wolff that the owner gave him a stake of the ownership, and Beane loves Geren so much that he already gave him an extension through 2010.

If the A’s are contending in July, it will be interesting to see if Beane picks up a veteran pitcher.