A Flash in the Pannahan?

We're all pretty much agreed that Jack Hannahan has been a classic Beane "it fell off the back of a truck" acquisition: picking up someone else's undervalued overstock on the cheap.

While no one will mistake Supermannahan for Chavvy, Brooks Robinson, or Michael Jack Schmidt out there at the hot corner, he's definitely been an upgrade over Scutaro (both with his glove and, especially, his arm), and shows potential to improve with a commitment to regular playing time.

And with a .288/.393/.449 batting line and classic Moneyball plate discipline, he's added a surprisingly productive element to the bottom third of the lineup. (Compare that to Chavvy's .240/.306/.446 locked in to the #3 or 4 slot all season until his disabling. Heck, compare it to Chavvy's career line of .269/.347/.486.)

The one thing that doesn't get discussed much with regard to Hannahan is the fact that, while he's been more than capable at third, he was spending the bulk of his playing time at Toledo playing second -- which gives the A's flexibility and multiple infield options for '08 and beyond. If Chavez, for example, is able to successfully recover and rehab to reclaim his starting slot at third next year, Hannahan could conceivably slide over to start at second, allowing the A's to either decline Ellis's option or (the more likely and pragmatic choice) exercise Ellis's option and then trade him. And with Hannahan, Murphy, and Furmaniak, the soon-to-be-disproportionately-expensive Scutaro becomes entirely expendable.

Then again, it's only been half a season of Hannahan. While he's got the career minor-league numbers to support a projection close to what he's provided thus far, we've seen plenty of AAAA A's fail to support their projections.

So: what are your guesses for Hannahan's productivity and role going forward?

A's take on the Indians at 4:05 Pacific Time.