Infield Depth!!
Everyone knows that Oakland needed impact bats in their lineup this offseason and the acquisitions of Hideki Matsui, Josh Willingham and David DeJesus were made with that in mind. Yet in numerous places there have been comments that the A's needed bullpen help as well. MLBTradeRumors' Tim Dierkes said in a column about unfinished business that the A's needed to sign a reliever (though he did acknowledge that the basis of that - a very ambiguous comment from Billy Beane regarding letting Henry Rodriguez go - had changed with the signing of Rich Harden). Then in yesterday's A's Inbox, Jane Lee answered a question from Joe C. of Lincoln , CA who asked what I have been screaming about to myself all winter. Joe C. asked,
"Why do the A's need more bullpen help? If anything, they already have too many with Outman and Harden in long relief, Brad Ziegler, Craig Breslow and Jerry Blevins as setup men and Devine and Andrew Bailey as closers. I realize that a bunch of injuries were among them last year, but if they stay healthy, this is a formidable bullpen."
Lee's answer was somewhat unsurprising, that there's no guarantees they all stay healthy, etc, etc. But come on now. I'd rather spend money building up infield depth which is sort of scary when you think of it. Adam Rosales, Steve Tolleson and um... anyone else? Conor Jackson can play first so there is no concern there, but really if anyone goes down in the infield, we are sort of screwed (especially in light of me advocating we rid ourselves of Kevin Kouzmanoff). While I agree with the premise of having lots of pitching and I am a fervent believer in "pitching wins ballgames", we have a ton of pitching depth. Let's assume here everyone is healthy to start the year and Bob Geren chooses to go with eleven pitchers on the roster. We know Braden, Anderson, Gonzalez, and Cahill are in the rotation for certain, so seven more spots. We can safely assume Bailey, Wuertz, Breslow and Ziegler take up bullpen spots. So three more left. One needs to be a fifth starter, for the sake of argument we say Harden wins that battle. Two more. Two more spots for: Josh Outman, Joey Devine, Jerry Blevins, Bobby Cramer, Brandon McCarthy, Guillermo Moscoso, Tyson Ross, Clayton Mortensen and Fautino de los Santos to fight over. That sounds pretty deep to me. But if Ellis, Kouzmanoff or Pennington go down, we have Rosales or Tolleson, then who? Eric Sogard (who I like but whose entire career is nine plate appearances in length)? Let's not forget it isn't as if Steve Tolleson has a wealth of experience either at the pro-level. This is for a team who allegedly competing to win the American League West against a very strong Rangers crew (even scarier if they add Jim Thome as rumored) and a serviceable Angels squad. I don't get why I am the only one concerned about this. Why aren't we adding a Joe Inglett, Jorge Cantu or Aaron Miles? Guys who aren't great but are certainly much surer bets in case of an injury than Tolleson or Sogard. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume they won't cost more than the $76M we threw at Adrian Beltre.
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Sogard and Tolleson are fine.
They’re probably already better than Inglett, Miles, and Cantu.
Starting pitching is the problem.
"We were shit, pathetic," Guillen growled early in spring training. "We hit too many home runs."
A's infield depth:
1B: Barton – Jackson, Carter
2B: Ellis – Rosales, Sogard, Tolleson, Cardenas
3B: Kouzmanoff – Rosales, Tolleson, Cardenas, Sogard
SS: Pennington – Rosales, Tolleson, Cardenas, Sogard
Bold is on MLB Roster. The rest are on the 40 man.
Infield depth is fine. If it goes even past that, we’re reaching 2006 playoff proportions.
"So, the A's new organizational philosophy involves adding Viking relievers? God save us all."
"Berserkers: the new market inefficiency."
-LonestarBall
NRI Wes Timmons might be their best backup at 3B
if Kouz gets hurt.
I would argue its Cardenas
"So, the A's new organizational philosophy involves adding Viking relievers? God save us all."
"Berserkers: the new market inefficiency."
-LonestarBall
I thought I recognized that name
He’s that guy with great plate discipline but absolutely zilch power from the Braves system. I actually thought the A’s should consider grabbing him in Rule 5 prior to 2009 when they didn’t have much infield depth. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that he would one day spend a stint in the Oakland system.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Why do you assume that Geren would go with 11 pitchers?
We need a 7th bullpen-mate a lot more than a 2nd backup infielder. Regarding picking up another bullpen arm: Why not? The bullpen was underwhelming last year. Why not pick someone up that can get 1.0 WAR or more? Jane Lee is right about health concerns. Outman, Devine and Ross probably won’t be ready for Opening Day. Harden and McCarthy have injury history and can easily get hurt in ST. Cramer needs to prove that his SSS wasn’t a fluke. There’s no way you can say that getting a proven arm will not be worth searching for.
We shouldn’t start the season like last year with 3 3rd baseman and Rosales on the starting roster.
Fair Assumption
Furyan – I just made the assumption, but going with 12 pitchers sounds like itd make good sense. I am all for picking up more arms for the bullpen, it isn’t like I am saying we don’t. But we have a bunch of money we can spread to numerous causes, when we talk about a bullpen pitcher who can get 1.0 WAR or more there are four pitchers who fit the bill left as free-agents: Rafael Soriano (1.6), Grant Balfour (1.2), Jon Rauch (1.1) and Kyle Farnsworth (1.0). I think its safe to say we can agree that giving up picks for Soriano or Balfour is out as they’re both Type-A’s. I’d be fine with signing Rauch or Farnsworth but they were paid 2.9M and 4.5M respectively last season (though I imagine they’d come down in price). Someone like Inglett who I am a big fan of had a 0.8 WAR with Milwaukee last season, nothing spectacular but he’s solid can play all outfield and infield positions except first giving us versatility (though yes, we need little versatility with the outfield and Rosales provides versatility as well). My concern is this: Ellis has been to the disabled list at least once each of the last three seasons, Rosales missed significant time last year as well. Having some money to spend it isn’t like we can’t hypothetically upgrade the pen and also add a middle infielder. I just feel like we need more solid backups there than we’ve got.
Kouz also has injury issues
As he said himself to Jane Lee: “I was unsatisfied with my season last year. It didn’t help me being hurt for three weeks with my back. I felt like I was seeing the ball really well and was going good, and then I got hurt.”
Adrian Cardenas
I assume would be next in line after Rosales, Sogard, Tolleson.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; / Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:— / We murder to dissect.
You don't want a bunch of veterans clogging up the bench anyway.
Then they’ll need to get regular at-bats so as not to rot and/or be disgruntled, screwing up playing time for the regulars. It works better to have just the one utility guy (Rosales) on the team, and a couple of AAAA type prospects ready to come up on short notice when the need arises.
If one of our regulars has a long-term injury, THEN you can think about acquiring a veteran to fill in, but no point in putting him on the roster now.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; / Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:— / We murder to dissect.
Joe Inglett is a classic AAAA type with crazy versatility.
Also he can enjoy playing with the River Cats, he’s from Sacramento!
How prescient
now that Rosales and Pennington aren’t going to open ST…
That's just what I said when I heard the news:
“How prescient.” Or it might have been “$%#@$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I’m not sure.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
I'm sorry?
Visit my blog the Todd Van Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan at tvprookiecardretirementplan.wordpress.com !
I hear Bobby Crosby's available...and that three teams are interested in him...
"We were shit, pathetic," Guillen growled early in spring training. "We hit too many home runs."
And what are the 27 intelligent teams up to?
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal





























