assuming Crosby comes off the DL and Petit gets sent down, Sacramento will have a middle infield log jam. My guess…Petit goes back to short, Pennington goes to 2B and Patterson moves to the OF. It looks as if Sac. is already prepared for some changes when their 2nd half begins. IF – Mike Affronti was sent back to Midland, OF – Denorfia was sent to Stockton for some unknow reason (maybe to make room for Patterson in the OF or keep Denorfia in CALI because he is close to being activated – which will cause more rosterbation problems) and Buck and Guzman are MIA.

I assume that R. Sweeney will be ready to go…so Murton gets sent back down and Bankston comes back up.

And, shameless plug, I have five photos I took of him here.

Billy Beane highly values depth right now, as well he should, and Patterson has the potential to give the A’s a lot more of it.

Tony Clark

Sexon

Assuming the deal is completed, he’ll be in the lineup Saturday against Oakland.

First of all, they’ve had numerous opportunities over the past decade to utilize players in that way (either players who were “naturally” adept at multiple positions or those who showed obvious transferrable skills, especially under the potential tutelage of Wash)—and they never have.

Second, the few players they have tried this with were really stupid choices (often borne out of the “necessity” of not having planned enough redundancy in the roster)—Kotsay at 1B, Scutaro in the OF.

Third, how “versatile” is a guy who can’t really play 2B and is just learning how to play the OF … at the age of 25?

Fourth, if the team builds its “depth” on one “rover” like this—what happens when he catches Sales-Davis Syndrome and misses 6 weeks with pulled hammies/quads?

Fifth, OBP, which is his supposed strength, ain’t the A’s biggest weakness. Yes, Patterson relies more on AVG for his OBP than many current (and projected) A’s hitters, and there’s a value to that—but it also could mean that Patterson won’t be able to hit MLB pitching at a .300+clip, which could turn him into … yet another .270/.350 batter, which is precisely what we have an abundance of.

Can someone please explain the unicorn references that occur when Mark Ellis’s name comes up?

I find all the hate for “he’s not Corey!” puzzling. He can flat-out, straight up hit, and has hit his entire minor league career. He’s not just a hitter, either, he’s a polished and patient hitter. I look forward to seeing him in the green and gold, or in the bigs in general if he gets flipped. I watched him a quite a bit in spring training, and he was fun to watch. No joke pop in his bat.

personally I think a lot of folks get a bit too caught up in age, which is an important predictor but also can be highly circumstantial. Some players emerge late (David Ortiz), some are pegged incorrectly as filler after a bad season due to injury (Jack Cust), some are blocked and are denied opportunity with their parent organization (Andy LaRoche seems victim to this), some are not appreciated by their parent club and are passed over unnecessarily, and so on. 25 may be "old" by prospect standards, but it’s not old and plenty of players have had their first good major league season at the age of 25 or 26.