Yes, Alan Embree and Mike Piazza appear to be the big A's moves of the Hot Stove 2006 (although I do think that Beane will remain true to his word and get another outfielder just in case Dan Johnson continues to flail at the outside pitch). They are because they are names that we know. But as I've mentioned many times before, it's often the under-the-radar acquistions that seem to turn out golden for Billy Beane and company.
So while Piazza will be extremely important to the A's success in 2007, chances are that some of the other players that have become green and gold property in recent weeks will have some big role in 2007. Especially given the A's tendency the last two seasons to suffer ridiculous numbers of injuries.
Get to know Jay Marshall, Scott Dunn, Ryan Goleski and Donnie Murphy. Because if the past two years are any indication, you'll see Marshall acting like a lefty Chad Bradford, Murphy acting like Scutaro and Goleski behaving like Jay Payton sometime during the upcoming year.
I'm not claiming that these players will be as good as the ones I compared them to, but there always seems to be someone who steps up for the A's that was missed during the offseason. Last season, Chad Gaudin became integral. Marco Scutaro became incredibly important for the second year in a row.
Let's look more closely at some of the acquistions that Beane has made under-the-radar:
Ryan Goleski: It's tough to call a player who is picked number one in anything "under the radar", but few A's fans had heard of the player Beane wanted so badly that he moved up to select him number one in the Rule V draft. Goleski had an impressive .948 OPS in the minor leagues last year and had a nice .362 average with RISP. The thing is that he was only graded a C+ according to John Sickels Prospect Book in 2005 (this was prior to Goleski's aberration 2005 season). I think it will probably be a mistake to rely on an unproven commodity as anything more than a fifth outfielder. So hopefully that's all he will represent. The one good news about Goleski is that he can hit right-handed pitching about as well as left-handed so he doesn't have that counting against him.
Donnie Murphy: Murphy was considered a very good prospect for the Royals as a second baseman. He has surprising pop for a smaller guy. Almost a Keith Ginteresque bit to him (which isn't intended to be denegrating). Sickels rated him a B- and he appeared to be in the mix to be the Royals second baseman of the future. He had a very average 2006, posting an OBP of only .300 and batting average of .249. He's not someone to get hugely excited about, but if he could get some of his .362 OBP that he put up in Wichita in 2005 back while retaining the pop, he could very well wind up being a good fill-in in case of injury. But for now, if Ellis is healthy, expect to see Murphy in Sacramento. Oh, he'll be 24 when the season starts. He could be another Scutaro find or he could wind up just being someone to keep things warm until another prospect is ready for the spot.
Jay Marshall: Marshall is my pick to wind up having an impact on 2007 more so than any other player here. This is a guy who is murder of lefties with his Chad Bradfordesque delivery from the left side. Lefties hit .096 off him last season and he struck out 26 and walked ZERO. He also had the Bradford-like 5.55 GO/AO ratio. Alan Embree might be a guy who isn't a true LOOGY, but Marshall defines LOOGY. He could be a Mike Myers-type, only better.
Remember these names when the 2007 season starts because the chances are that one of them very well could be an important part of the success (or failure) of the team.