I think this guy is rebuilding the A’s.

If you’re out of the race, unload Holliday, Duchscherer, O-Cab, and Giambi for necessary parts (SS + 3B who will be ready for the 2010 Season). At that time, send Cahill and Anderson to AAA for July & August. Bring up MAC in September to finish the season, and get ready for 2010.

and is swithing Cust and Giambi in the lineup today. Cust bats third and Giambi moves down to fifth.

Buck is also in the lineup today, batting ninth.

If we look at 2010 and what positions will be open and who could potentially fill then, well… lets see.

C1 Kurt Suzuki
1B
2B Mark Ellis
3B
SS
LF
RF
CF
DH Jack Cust

Thats a lot of holes in the lineup.

Now, Filling that with guys from the Minors who could be ready by 2010 (IE: Are at AA or Above this year).

C1 Kurt Suzuki
1B Chris Carter
2B Mark Ellis
3B Adrian Cardenas
SS
LF Aaron Cunningham
RF Sean Doolittle
CF Corey Brown
DH Jack Cust

This is a bit optimistic on several fronts. We are assuming that Chris Carter will be ready for 2010, though it looks more likely that he will spend 2010 in AAA. If Doolittle is ready for the Majors in 2010, then we can still have one of Buck or Sweeney play Right Field until someone better shows up. Or, we can go on the Free Agent market and try to get someone like Jason Bay. Too bad we didn’t reaquire Swisher in the off season.

Short Stop is still a big hole. Cabrera is proving that he’s lost his bat, and he isn’t all that great defensivly anymore. Crosby is still Crosby, and he will be gone. Adrian Cardenas could possibly play Shortstop if need be for a year or two, but that will also still leave us with a hole at Third Base.

In the Low Minors, we have three SS Prospects, though the A’s appear to have chosen what to do with a couple of them.

Nino Leyja is in Extended Spring Training, and the A’s appear to be waiting for Kane County to rise above COLD. Till then, Dustin Coleman and Jason Christian are there, both hitting well, with Coleman at Shortstop and Christian at Third Base. The A’s appear to have settled on those two positions, so we could see them rise like Anderson and Cahill, together to the Majors. The question is how quickly they rise.

3rd Base: As DKNJ mentions above, the A’s might have already acquired their 3rd baseman of the near-future if they just played the cards they were dealt and drafted Brett Wallace last year (who grew up an A’s fan, is a NorCal native, wanted to be an A and was as big of a “sure thing” hitting prospect as there was in the draft)…but no, Beane tricked himself into overvaluing “athleticism”, but that’s a gripe for another day…

At this point, the A’s can either trade for a decent/unwanted/overpriced veteran 3rd baseman, or really hope to draft a Zimmerman/Tulowitski/Longoria-type rapid-riser, since those types of hitters are just not available on the trade market.

I’ll go for the former, and I’d like to see the A’s trade Gio Gonzalez, Ryan Sweeney and maybe Henry Rodriguez or Santiago Casilla for Dan Uggla of the Marlins. Uggla is a butcher at 2nd, but I bet he’d be servicable at 3rd. He’s a righty bat that hits for power and gets on base, he also stays off the disabled list, is also under club control for two more seasons and with the penny pinching ways of the Marlins, could possibly be made available.

Shortstop: I would love to grab JJ Hardy from the Brew crew, but i just don’t think he’s going to made available for anything less than the entire farm system (which would include at least one of Cahill/Anderson, which is just too big a price to pay for 1 guaranteed year of him). The Brewers seem built to win this year and next and I really think Hardy is a major cog in their system and a front-office favorite. I could see Beane make a major Furcal-esque free-agent play for him after 2010, but I don’t see him being able to grab him before then.

Instead, I think the A’s should turn back to the old standard Miguel Tejada. Despite his continuously-advancing age, Miggy is showing that he can still swing a pretty potent bat and he really hasn’t been all that terrible in the field the last few seasons (although I admit that in the small sample size this year, the metrics think he’s been awful). But I think that even with reduced range, Miggy can provide sure-handedness and some pop for the position for one more year. He likely won’t get offered arbitration this off-season lest he accepts and costs the Astros (or whatever team may trade for him) over $10 million. So he will likely be available without draft-pick considerations, and I could see him being lured back to the Bay for a 1-year + 1 year attainable option deal at like $6-8 mill per season, just to finish his career.

Center Field: I think the A’s should really monitor the free agent market next season for a possible CF deal. One guy I know you particularly like Nico is Chone Figgins, and he can certainly fill both the CF and leadoff hitter hole for the next few seasons. The only problems I see with Figgins is that the Angels will surely offer him arbitration after this season, and if the A’s finish with a record better than 15 other teams in baseball, then it will likely cost the A’s their 1st round pick next season to sign him. If the A’s finish in the lower-half of the league in record, then it won’t cost a 1st rounder and I think the team should go after him, if he can be had for a reasonable deal (maybe like 2 years/$14 million).

If Figgins out-prices himself, gets a better offer, doesn’t want to be an A and/or the A’s just don’t want to forfeit a draft pick for him, then I could really only see the team try internal options next season. One out of the box idea would be to get Corey Brown up next year to take over center AND to leadoff. He’s raking in Midland right now, but still strikes out a lot and walks a lot, so he’s not a prototype leadoff hitter, but he can run and he’s a legit CFer.

If all goes according to plan, this is what I’d like to see next season as a “bridge team” to the 2011 team that will, in all hope and likelihood, be rid of Chavez and GEren:

Lineup:
CF – Figgins
LF – Cunningham
DH – Cust
3B – Uggla
C – Suzuki
1B – Doolittle
SS – Tejada
RF – Buck
2B – Ellis

Cardenas and Brown in AAA ready to call-up…

At some point, in this era of the game we’re going to have to spend some bigger money to get this team respectable. Wolfie doesn’t seem to be interested in doing that so I’m afraid we will experiment with the same strategy as before – an over-the-hill vet here and there mixed in with a conga line of AA/AAA/AAAA “prospects”. We need a core and that will cost. I thought Holliday might endear himself enough to inspire Wolfe to sign him and that may still happen.

One option I still like at 3B is Atkins in Colorado who is slumping and seems out of favor there.

P.S. I agree on the poor 1st round picks – they’ve been first round but not first rate.

They are benching him for a series for slumping. Ortiz is an expensive guy to have on the bench. But, the Red Sox believe winning is more important than forcing a very expensive player who is struggling into the lineup. Although, it did take them until now to do it. SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE A’S. Our problem is our bats, right? BATS, Right? BATS——HITTING COACH….. We have some proven bats in our lineup…. season long slump… no way. We just need to get hot. I see Mark Ellis up there in those lineups….. where is his bat? Why aren’t people excited about seeing Adam Kennedy in the lineup? I think Mark Ellis is an excellent 2nd baseman, but, his bat has slowed to a crawl. I don’t see this Adam character competing with Mark for 2nd base. Do you want to win? We sucked last year. We suck this year. Why the loyalty? Didn’t they spend the offseason at the batting cages…. or perhaps, know any pitchers that wanted to practice against each other so they wouldn’t suck so bad at the beginning of the year. I guess not. But, every one of our position players right now has ability and major league career numbers. Screw bring up more rookies and making it worse. Make those struggling at the plate take mandatory batting practice with real pitching on their days off until they start hitting. If they don’t want to come, put them on the bench for 3 games. I bet when all is said and done they will thank you. No one wants to suck!!

Each were high draft choices out of high school (T-Long, first round pick; Sweeney, second round pick). Each had extensive and mediocre minor league careers (T-Long, .774 OPS in 2,800 ABs; Sweeney, .756 in 1,900 ABs). Each were promoted up the chain in spite of those numbers because “they looked good.”

Isn’t the definition of insanity repeating the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result?