Oh, what has happened to the AL West? The years when Oakland and Seattle dominated the rest of the AL have become a distant memory.
In May, the AL West owns the bottom three lowest batting averages.
Angels - .190
Mariners - .213
A's - .215
The A's have played just about the worst baseball I've seen them play in recent years. Yet, they still stand only five games back because the AL Worst is a hurting division right now.
I imagine tomorrow might be an interesting day around A's headquarters.
Decisions up for grabs could be:
- Closer: Do the A's turn it over to Street and slide Dotel into the set-up man role for now? Dotel excelled as a set-up man for years before becoming a closer last year. After beginning the season nearly flawless, he's reverted to the cardiac kid again.
- Call-ups: Do the A's call up Dan Johnson or Jack Cust or Matt Watson while sending down Charles Thomas and Jermaine Clark? Do the A's consider bringing up Rheinecker to take over Saarloos' spot since he is barely making it through five innings right now? I also like the idea of Justin Duchscherer as a starter as well, despite the kid's excellent work out of the pen. Saarloos could make an excellent one inning reliever because of his sinker. He could be used to try and induce double plays.
- Trades: It's tough to get a handle on this team right now because of the injuries to players like Calero, Swisher and Crosby, so it's early to consider this option. But I'll reiterate again, I think Mike Sweeney or Austin Kearns would be perfect fits for this team, despite past injury histories. Kearns would be more a move building toward the future, Sweeney is a pronouncement that the A's are going for it this season.
