Welcome to Out With The Crowd, a series of interviews with fans of each of the 30 MLB teams about their hopes, frustrations, and predictions for the 2012 season.

In the leadoff spot is an Athletic supporter (…hee! I regret nothing) — Aaron Cameron, self-proclaimed “last one left on the Blogspot network” and frequent money-finisher in my annual postseason pool. You can follow him on Twitter as @ThatBootlegGuy, and if you enjoy bone-dry tweets about Little-League coaching, you should. I spoke to Aaron on Friday, April 27.

Sarah D. Bunting: Aight, let’s get to it. What’s your team’s best acquisition from the off-season?

Aaron Cameron: Yoenis Cespedes. And the hyperbole that follows him everywhere!

And the spittle, as well. Who’s the worst/your least favorite pickup from the off-season?

Ooh…let me think about that one. …Worst pickup: Seth Smith. My A’s seem hell-bent on cornering the market on OFs with middling power and platoon issues. It’s like we need a team of Ryan Sweeneys to replace the one we traded.

Nice segue to my next question: Who were you happiest to see go?

Segue indeed! Ryan Sweeney! Most A’s fans loved him for his (empty) batting averages and decent, but overrated, defense. But he’s clearly a fourth OF who had no business seeing a southpaw. So, of course, we got Josh Reddick as the short-term centerpiece in the deal that sent Sweeney and Andrew Bailey to Boston. Reddick’s off to a Sweeney-esque start in Oakland, but he’s quirky, hairy and watches WWE so he’s still in the honeymoon period for casual A’s fans.

Anyone you were sorry to see go?

Trading Gio Gonzalez to Washington hurt. The A’s didn’t draft Gio, but he spent some time in their system before making his debut. Watching him blossom into an AL All-Star last year — after years of watching his colossal meltdowns, emotional immaturity and unfulfilled promise — is one of those things that longtime fans like me really root for. I had to wait until I could take my son out for pizza before telling him we traded him.

GG is one of the only things about my fantasy team that doesn’t make me want to kill myself. My condolences to your family. …What’s your biggest worry or concern about the team in 2012?

Y’know, I made peace with the fact that this wasn’t a good team. In a morbid way that helps me enjoy their games, as I can root for player development even if the wins aren’t there. So, I guess the whole “where will they play” conundrum is my biggest concern. As long as they’re left twisting in the wind by Bud Selig and his inertia on the whole San Jose stadium matter, they’ll be a team without a plan, without a future and without the one thing every fan base wants: a modicum of hope.

Just as a side question, what’s the basic timeline on that right now? Does someone have to pull a trigger by a certain time? Or is it kind of in committee?

The hold up is the SF Giants, who hold these ambiguous “territorial rights” to the San Jose market. They’ve refused to allow the A’s entry, essentially.

So there’s no deadline for the ambiguity, then. (Or “inertia,” your word is better.)

Nope. Just lots of rumors that a deal is imminent and that’s followed by furious press releases of denial from all parties.

Ugh. Well, let’s move on to some predictions then. Where do you see your team finishing, wins-wise?

This is a 72-win team that’ll likely, unfortunately, finish in fourth place. Especially if the Mariners can get some of their blue-chip minor leaguers to the bigs in the second half. They’ll be competitive, but that offense is unwatchable at times.

What about your division — who do you see taking that?

Oh, it’s the Rangers and it’s probably not going to be close. I don’t think Ron Washington is much of a manager, but he might finally stumble ‘n’ bumble his way to a World Series win if Texas can stay healthy and Ron can stay out of the way.

So you don’t think the Angels are going to make a horse race out of it.

The Angels aren’t as bad as their April record would indicate, but that’s already a lot of ground for them to make up. Plus, as God-like as Pujols is (or, I guess, “eventually will be”), that’s not a great offense around him. Torii Hunter is in decline, Vernon Wells is a smoldering corpse and Mark Trumbo’s .290 OBP is the stuff of 1960s middle infielders.

So you think the Rangers can win it all this year? Is that your prediction for who takes the big prize?

They’re the best team right now, but there’s a lot of unpredictability about that team. Josh Hamilton could crash into the outfield wall and miss six weeks at any time. Nelson Cruz’s legs could burst like water balloons. Yu Darvish could be the next in the long line of Japanese pitchers who start out hot but can’t adapt to the six-month season of five-man rotations. That said, if they’re healthy in October, I wouldn’t bet against ’em.

Any pleasant (or unpleasant) surprises so far this season? On the A’s or elsewhere.

Bartolo Colon would be the obvious answer in Oakland. I know he had a hot start with the Yankees last year, but yowza. Plus, for a guy who weighs a metric ton, he actually looks effortless when he pitches. Second biggest surprise is how much I enjoy Yoenis Cespedes’s at-bats. From pitch to pitch, he can get fooled on a slider so badly that you’ll be shaking your head. And then just when you’ve covered your eyes, he hits one 500 feet on the very next pitch

If you could tell the A’s’ manager one thing, what would it be?

He’s supposedly a player’s manager, so I’d tell him to call 2B Jemile Weeks into his office, close the door and say something to the effect of “One, quit doing that goddamn ‘glove flip’ to the shortstop on potential double-play balls. Two, you weigh 155 lbs. Quit trying to hit every fifth ball into the bleachers. Three, if you’re trying to steal and get tagged out after sliding into and past the base just one more time, I’m going to be very unhappy.”

Ha!

It has to be seen to be believed.

That could relate to my next (and last) question… What’s your pet MLB peeve right now? Can be an A, an announcer, a trial, an ongoing story. What’s buggin’ ya. (What’s bugging me: Ron Darling pretending Daniel Murphy’s defense isn’t repulsive.)

…!

“Better than Lucas Duda” is still bad, pal.

Well, let’s see. I’m more annoyed by the return of the cartoon Orioles logo than I thought I’d be (so much white on their batting helmets!). And I’m always irked by writers who read any-thing into the slow/fast starts of usually good/bad players. But, really, there are few things that bug me more than the breathless in-game reporting and/or tweets that include the phrase “[Player X] is just a triple away from the cycle!” A triple. The rarest of the four offensive options, on average. And it’s not close. Also, a cycle! Eric Byrnes hit for the cycle. So did Mike Lansing. And Eric Valent. This is not a feat, people!

Hilariously, Scott “No, The Other One” Hairston hit one on behalf of the Mets that very evening…in the losing course of an 18-9 shit-stomping courtesy of the Rockies.

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