Minor league tidbits: Lansford, Barton, Pennington

A couple interesting things from the world of men-aspiring-to-be-A's today:  

• According to Susan Slusser, the A's are close to signig their 4th pick of the draft -- Carney Lansford's son Jared, who is a RHP out of St. Francis HS.  Per Baseball America, Carney had wanted his son to be drafted as a second baseman rather than as a pitcher, otherwise he was going to nudge Jared towards college this year rather than let him start his pro career now.  The A's generally distance themselves from signability-issue picks, so by taking Jared as a RHP in the 2nd round, they must have been pretty confident in Carney's trust in his old team.  Seems they have made a good gamble, but I'll keep my fingers crossed until the deal is done.
• Also from Slusser's column is the first response I've seen from the A's on Gammons' assertion that Daric Barton would be moved to the outfield:  "According to assistant general manager David Forst, first baseman Daric Barton has played one inning in the outfield at Stockton, but the team believes the converted catcher has the ability to play there. For now, though, Barton primarily will play first."
• This one is no biggy, but just a nice little thing:  Cliff Pennington had his first good day at the plate in pro ball yesterday.  DH'ing for Kane County, he was 2 for 3 with an RBI, a BB, and 2 SB.
• Here's the link to the Slusser article:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/29/SPGKVDFOMM1.DTL