Don't Forget Pitching!

For good reason, much of the discussion on this board has centered around hitting given the A's anemic 2008 offense. However, during glory years, the A's have always had solid, not spectacular offense and really great pitching. From Catfish, Vida, Holtzman and Rollie to The Five Aces of the Billyball years to Stew, Welch, Moore and the Eck A's teams to the Big Three and revolving good closer years of this decade. Though I've seen a few posts that have discussed pitching, let's tackle the issue head on. Gone in the Holliday trade is Greg Smith, who despite a few flashes of brilliance last year that may presage a solid future, will not be sorely missed. However, his slot in the rotation is now open. Who else do we have? Though the scouts are high on Gallagher, he hasn't shown much at the major league level yet. Gio, like his surname-mate Carlos, was brilliant at Sacramento, and not so much at Oakland. Of course there is Duke, who is as good as they come when healthy, but we all know the story there. I would put Eveland in the same category as Smith. Overall it sounds like a pretty thin rotation. What do you guys think is a best case scenario here? I know someone blogged that Derek Lowe would be a good free agent catch, and though that does seem to make sense, it still doesn't sound very confidence inspiring. Am I wrong?