With the long, cold offseason coming to a close, the excitement for baseball fans is finally heating up again. Bay Area fans have a good reason to be excited for the anticipated Opening Day and beyond.

Oakland A’s

The A’s are coming off of  a disappointing 2015 campaign featuring one of the worst bullpens in the MLB and inconsistencies on both sides of the ball. But newly appointed A’s GM David Forst and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane made a variety of small to medium scale moves during the winter to address these concerns.

As a result, A’s fans will once again see an abundance of new faces this spring, along with numerous young prospects trying to make good impressions at spring training.

Spring training games began this month with the A’s playing in the newly renovated Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. The A’s returned to playing spring training games in the stadium for the first time in 37 years last season, leaving their previous stadium in Phoenix.

Although most of the top prospects in the A’s system aren’t expected to make the Opening Day roster, many, including top prospect Franklin Barreto and No. 2 prospect Sean Manaea, have been given non-roster invites to spring training regardless.

A majority of the players in the A’s farm system are young, and not expected to contribute until 2017, being saved for some midseason or September call ups.

Last year, the A’s learned the hard way that spring training success doesn’t necessarily translate into regular season success. The team went from first place in the Cactus League with a 22-11 record to dead last in the entire American League.

Billy Burns will be a player to watch for the 2016 season, coming off a great rookie season, hitting .294. His speed and aggression at the plate makes him a fantastic leadoff man if he can keep putting up similar numbers in the coming years.

Mark Canha is also coming off a very promising rookie season in which he slugged 16 home runs over 124 games as primarily a left fielder or first baseman. With the additions of Yonder Alonso and Khris Davis filling these positions,  it’s unclear where exactly he fits into the equation as of now.

Recently acquired Khris Davis provides some much needed power to the A’s lineup, as well as providing an easy answer to the LF question that has plagued the team since Coco Crisp’s extensive DL adventures.

Also joining the fold is versatile infielder/outfielder Chris Coghlan, acquired from the Cubs in exchange for pitcher Aaron Brooks on Feb. 25. The addition of Coghlan leaves the roster a little crowded, so another move could be coming.

Billy Butler has remained a huge question mark for the team after underperforming last season. But after a long offseason of workouts, it remains to be seen whether he shows any signs of improvement over spring training.

The AL West is a division packed with talented ball clubs, but the A’s might be one of the biggest upset candidates for 2016 if the moves made during the offseason fully pay off and help a solid core of veterans consisting of staff ace Sonny Gray, right fielder Josh Reddick and catcher Stephen Vogt.

San Francisco Giants

Photo courtesy of The Davis Enterprise

Following a largely forgettable 2016 season (except for a no-hitter by Chris Heston), the Giants decided to give their aging rotation a facelift by making a splash in the free agent market with the signings of starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija.

The Giants, who will play spring training in the recently renovated Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz., committed $220 million to these two players over the next six years.

Samardzija, 31, will be one of the more interesting new additions to the team after his horrible 2015 campaign with the White Sox.

Cueto, 30, is also coming off of a lacklaster second half after being traded from the Reds to the World Champion Royals.

On paper, it might seem like the Giants overpaid these players, but the Giants front office is banking on the fact that both pitchers will return to their dominant 2014 forms.

Luckily, these two are getting all the help they can get, with a pitcher-friendly ballpark in front of a star studded infield led by catcher Buster Posey and shortstop Brandon Crawford, both 2015 All-Stars.

The Giants are also counting on at solid seasons from veterans Matt Cain and Jake Peavy.

Even though Cain is only 31, his struggles in 2015 raise the question of whether he’s already past his prime. Although all signs seem to be pointing toward yes, Cain has worked hard over the offseason to recover from the bone chip surgery that sidelined him for almost a full year.

The young talent on the Giants, however, will be something to look out for during spring training his year.

Coming out of a breakout rookie season in which he hit .295, Matt Duffy finished second in Rookie of the Year voting and has provided an easy answer to the Giant’s third base question after Pablo Sandoval and Casey McGehee.

A familiar face will be back on the diamond for spring training as well with Joe Panik returning from a back inflammation that had him on the DL to end off the 2015 season. Panik had an excellent first half with  with the young second baseman being named an All-Star.

If Panik can remain healthy, a middle infield of Panik and Crawford could wreak havoc upon the NL West, both defensively and offensively.

The bullpen and defense will continue to be a major strength for the Giants. So long as injuries don’t become too big of a problem, the Giants seemingly improved rotation, along with an ever solid defense and bullpen, should make them at least able to compete with the Dodgers and Diamodbacks in for the NL West title.