Q. How is it that the Oakland Athletics are playing so well? Has Billy Beane pulled off another miracle?
Frank Bilbao, San Mateo, Calif.

A. The biggest aspect of Beane’s offseason moves was dealing away veterans for not-ready-for-big-league talent, with the goal of restocking a weakened farm system. But when you look deeper, there was much more to the A’s roster turnover, and some of those other moves are making a positive difference.

Let’s take a look at Beane’s busy winter:

Dan Haren and a minor-league were dealt to Arizona for Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Chris Carter and Aaron Cunningham. Eveland and Smith — both relative unknowns — have been key performers on an overachieving staff that has the benefit of pitching in a spacious home ballpark.

Nick Swisher went to the White Sox for Ryan Sweeney, Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos. Sweeney has been a solid contributor as a platoon outfielder.

Mark Kotsay went to Atlanta for Joey Devine, who has been excellent in a setup role.

Marco Scutaro went to Toronto for minor-leaguers Kristian Bell and Graham Godfrey.

Emil Brown was signed after Kansas City let him go. Mike Sweeney and Keith Foulke were signed as free agents, and in-season, Frank Thomas and Rajai Davis were signed after being let go by other teams.

The A’s also have been able to succeed without contributions from expected key performers Eric Chavez and Travis Buck, and Rich Harden has just returned from another disabled list stay.

That said, I’m not so sure their offense continuing to score runs at its current pace. Through Wednesday, the A’s were fourth in the league in runs scored despite also being 10^th in batting average, last in slugging percentage, 13^th in homers and 12^th in total bases. The reason, of course, is they lead in walks and are 4^th in on-base percentage — long the organization’s offensive calling card.

I don’t think the A’s can hang long-term with the Angels and other AL playoff contenders, but it sure appears as if they will be much better than expected this spring, when a .500 record looked real optimistic.

Q. Which team has the best chance of winning the National League West?
Jack Murphy, Beijing, China

A. It’s nice to know that you’re reading this column halfway around the globe, Jack. It’s funny, late in March I asked Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin how important it was to get off to a good start, given how tough everybody was expecting the NL West to be this season.

He thought about it for a minute, and said every game counts the same, and that considering how the Rockies finished the 2007 season (by winning 13 of their last 14), sometimes teams succeed when there is a greater urgency down the stretch. In other words, he didn’t feel as if a good start was vital, but that avoiding a bad one was. But I bet if I asked Melvin now, he’d be real happy with the way his team has jumped out to the best record in baseball.

Three-quarters of the season remains, and I’m not ready to count out the Dodgers, or even the Rockies. But you have to be impressed with several aspects of the D-Backs’ start: The maturation of many of their young hitters, the development of Micah Owings, the health of Randy Johnson, the solid job by the bullpen, and of course, Melvin’s excellent in-game work.

The Dodgers still are sorting through issues at third base and in the outfield, and the recent loss of Rafael Furcal likely will hurt. But don’t expect them to fold down the stretch under Joe Torre as they did last season.

The Rockies have deeper issues right now, especially with their entire rotation besides Aaron Cook, and the loss of Troy Tulowitzki is critical. There still is time, but they have to begin to turn it around real soon, or they could be the next in a line of recent pennant winners to fall off big-time the following season.

Q. Where can I get fielding range statistics for major league players? Is there a particular stat that is better than others for judging defensive prowess?
Chuck Meike, Reston, Va.

A. In a game driven by numbers, quantifying players’ defensive capabilities has been one of the last areas to experience a breakthrough, Chuck. But things have improved dramatically in recent years, especially through the work of The Fielding Bible and the Bill James Handbook. Specifically, two recently developed measures are the plus/minus system, and range factor.

In the former, a player gets a plus for a play he made that at least one other player at that position didn’t make, and gets a minus if he misses a play that at least one player made. Last year’s big-league leaders by position were Albert Pujols (+37), Aaron Hill/Chase Utley (+22), Troy Tulowitzki (+36), Pedro Feliz (+27), Eric Byrnes (+28), Carlos Beltran (+24) and Franklin Gutierrez (+22).

Range factor is calculated by the number of successful chances (putouts plus assists) times nine, divided by the number of defensive innings played. Keep in mind that more range often equals more errors committed. But the big-league leaders last season included Ian Kinsler, Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Church, Coco Crisp and Corey Hart.

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