BARELY KNEW HER!

I find it hard to believe that Powell really needs ABs. Regardless of the reason, I’m excited for the non-stop Recker jokes and seeing how he hits MLB pitching.

Those fans are saying, more or less, Powell is meh so give the new guy a chance and see what he’s got. Is it not possible that this is exactly what the A’s are doing? Or even if deep down it’s not, is it not a perfectly plausible answer to any official or unofficial accusation that it was done for the service time reasons? Calling up Recker may or may not be a good move, but it isn’t blatantly unwarranted, so I don’t see how any charge that this is service-time-inspired roster manipulation could stick.

Any chance Recker will face Fister some time?

As far as I can tell he still hasn’t played a game this year.

Super-Two status is for players who are performing well enough to be on the ML roster with the “big boys.” He’s obviously not cutting it with the bat.

Here is how a player acquires it:

[…]To qualify, a player must:
    have at least 2 years of service, but less than 3, and;
    have accumulated at least 86 days of service in the previous year, and;
    rank in the top 17% of all 2-year players in service time.
 
The cutoff point generally falls between 2 years, 128 days of service and 2 years, 140 days.

According to the reasonably well informed Cots’ Contracts, Landon had 1.153 years of service time before the start of the season.

One year of service time is equal to 172 days of service time, although players who play a full year acquire a few days more. This year has 182 days, which means that Powell would have ended the year with 2.163 years of service time and been a sure Super 2 player. However if he spends the remaining 36 days in the minors, he will only have 2.127 years of service, which is historically just short of being a Super 2.

I’m not aware of any rule that says you can’t demote a guy just for his arby clock. Is there one?

I mean, suppose the A’s were to come right out and admit it. Something like, “Yes, that’s true. We do what we feel is best for the organization. In this case, either guy would mostly just sit on the bench, and on the few occasions that the back-up catcher actually plays Recker and Powell are about equally promising. That being the case, we decided to do it the way that probably preserves our control over Powell for one more year. Powell at ML-minimum salary is a valuable asset for us which we’d prefer to preserve into 2012.”

Of course I realize the A’s don’t want to say that, because it makes them look like shitheads, and they’ll want to instead spin it in some way that sounds more positive about Recker’s bat. But even if they did admit to that, what rule is there in the CBA or in general labor law that says they can’t do that?

Most of the MLBPA grievances I can remember have to do with injury or disciplinary suspensions where the team has to show cause and the MLBPA can argue that they failed to show sufficient cause. Does a team have to show cause for demoting someone, or can they just send down anyone they want as long as they meet the various service time and option years requirements? The CBA does have plenty of service-time-related rules saying who can be optioned down, but the A’s wouldn’t be violating those here. Indeed, they’d be following the natural consequences of them.

I hope Anthony Recker starts five or six times a week just to see what we may have with him, but it won’t happen.

but deferred to its proper owner.

then calling up Recker instead of Donaldson would tend to argue against that.

Donaldson has been on a 25-man roster before, so his minimum salary status would remain unchanged. Recker has not, so by calling him up they would bump his minor league minimum salary from $32,500 to $65,000. (Those are pre-COLA 2010 figures; I believe it went up in 2011 but don’t have the numbers on hand.)

Note that’s his minimum for minor-league service. For as long as he’s in the majors, he gets the major-league minimum of $400,000 (again, pre-COLA). But as soon as he’s sent down again he’s now locked in to the $65K minimum instead of the $32.5K minimum.

@Buster_ESPN
Buster Olney
Rich Harden was pulled back from waivers after being claimed. Cleveland, the team awarded the claim, couldn’t work out a deal.
17 minutes ago via web

2 HR’s tonight

It might also be that the A’s are ready to deal Powell and send him off.

We must remember that Powell does have a lot of health issues himself that will prevent him ever becoming a full time catcher (knee issues, and an auto immune disease).

Athletics
#Athletics select Anthony Recker from Sacramento; transfer Trystan Magnuson to the 60-day disabled list.