Perez, anything to see him go.

Kielty, I do not agree with. I would much rather keep Goleski and his potential than go with Kielty who we already know has limitied abilites.

I do like Melhuse, but I'd be just as happy seeing Merloni go.

I would, however, hold on to Melhuse. Besides being a good backup catcher, his bat has pop (and is more effective if opposing pitchers aren't too familiar with him), plus can fill in at 3B in an emergency...and I like his bat a lot better than Perez', regardless of how Perez may have hit with the Dodgers. I thought his stance was awful at the plate last year. As for not hitting much being and excuse? Melhuse played even less often than Perez, yet looked (and hit) much better.

The key will be how well Kurt Suzuki performs in ST. Now, the plan is for Kurt to play full time in AAA but it's possible that he could show enough that management will decide that Suzuki is next in line for the starting gig should anything happen to Kendall. In this case, Melhuse is sent packing and Piazza is the defacto back-up C. Since Kendall never sits, this won't really mess with Piazza's experiment at DH. Suzuki plays everyday in AAA and has his bags packed for immediate deployment to the Show if necessary.

Two more factors come into play as well. The first is the A's will not have the luxury to sit a slightly injured Kendall for 2-3 days, he either plays or he goes on the DL. I can see Piazza make a spot start on occasion but he shouldn't be placed in a situation where he has to be catching the staff on a regular basis. This is going to have a ripple effect on Kendall. He's probably going to want to tough it out instead of going to the DL and playing with an injury could hurt his overall performance and this is his FA walk year. It's one thing to ask him to sacrifice for the team, asking him to hurt his future earning potential is too much. The A's may have to secure Kendall's financial future by offering him an extension before going through with the One Catcher Plan.

The second factor is what happens should Kendall go down for an extended period of time? Suzuki may be Plan B but he shouldn't be expected to be an iron man and play everyday. If Suzuki becomes the starting Catcher the A's will need to have a veteran back-up to share the load. Jerking Piazza around doesn't seem like a good idea (although it is possible that Piazza will miss the tools of ignorance and be eager to go back behind the plate) and the A's brought him to Oakland because of his bat. Neither Baker or Brown have the big league experience that would be preffered from the back-up spot so it will be necessary for Beane to scour the AAA rosters and identify which backstops he'd want to put on the Oakland roster should the Suzuki Scenario come to pass. He needs to know exactly how much it will cost to get one of these guys on a moments notice.

Luckily, most veteran catchers who are on AAA rosters have it in their contracts that the parent club will allow them to be bought out of their minor league deals if they receive a big league offer, so the A's would probably only have to part with a cash package to get the guy they want.

Point is, it might be possible to go into 2007 with only 1 Catcher (Kendall) on the roster but it is a lot more complicated than it sounds.

But carving out a spot for the extra OF/DH hopeful is only worthwhile if the A's actually let hitters #12-14 hit once in a while.  Not a management hallmark in recent years.

Judging by his numbers in the Mexican League, he is healthy again. Now, I'm not going to quote those numbers or put much stock into them because it's the Mexican League, but Durazo has a track record of being a very good major league hitter.

Most of the optimism around here concerning the A's offense centers around the idea that Piazza plus a healthy Chavez/Crosby/Bradley etc etc will make up for the loss of the Big Hurt, and I certainly hope that happens. A healthy Durazo getting regular PAs, however, would get me excited about this offense.

If there's a roster spot to be squeezed, it's Perez...Scutaro could play third and so could Melhuse, who was a 3b at UCLA. That frees up your extra bench bat for Durazo (until he inevitably breaks down) and then for Goleski (after he miraculously recovers from his "mysterious injury" which landed him on the DL when the season started.

But it's unlikely Durazo hits well enough to earn a spot. I hope he's the hitter he was in his late 20's, but the reality is he hasn't a good major league season in a few years. And he isn't the type of athlete/body build that ages well. There's a reason he's a NRI, and those guys rarely make rosters.

I'd rather use that open roster spot to keep 12 pitchers (hello, Jay Marshall?), keep an additional situational lefty, and make our pen that much more versatile.
The easiest Rule V pick to keep on your roster for an entire year is a situational lefty.

That roster looks like this:
Kendall, DJ, Ellis, Croz, Chavez, Swisher, Kots, Bradley
Bench: Melhuse, Scutaro, Kielty, Stewart.

Harden, Harden, Loaiza, Blanton, Kennedy
Pen: Witasick, Jay Marshall (L) Gaudin, Embree (L), Calero, Duke, Street.  (7 relievers)

"DL": Goleski

Of course if one of the P's needed to start the year on the DL, Flores and Halsey could make the big league roster. But both also have the options and can shuttle from Sac to Oakland all year.

I'm pretty sure Gaudin has options remaining, too. With all the off-days in April, and less pitching needed, we could keep Marshall as the 11th pitcher and have Gaudin start in AAA and still keep Perez.
I'd say the only way Perez gets dealt back to the NL/unloaded is if our infield is incredibly healthy in ST (unlikely) and one of those guys you mentioned really forces our hand.
But Melhuse can't get ax. We still need an in-game back up C.