As the A's started to fill out their roster this offseason with a million outfielders and first base/DH hybrids, Billy Beane felt that third base was aptly filled by Scott Sizemore.
Scott Sizemore's knee felt otherwise.
In a couple weeks, Sizemore will have knee surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He'll be out for the season.
"First and foremost, for him, I feel awful," Melvin said. "The first day he was here I told him I was thinking 90 RBIs and 85 runs. He said, 'I think you are a little short, Skip. Twenty and 100.' It was one of those years where we felt like we thought it would be a breakout year for him."
"I never had any knee issues, so that makes it that much worse that is was a freak accident," Sizemore said. "If I tried to do the same thing a million times, it would never happen again. For whatever reason it happened and you just have to deal with it."
So where do the A's go from here?
The A's face the Mariners (again) at 12:05 p.m. I'll post a game thread for you in a bit.
Internal candidates:
C/3B Josh Donaldson (stats)
Donaldson, a former prospect as a catcher, has emerged as one of the leaders to take over Sizemore's spot. So far, he's doing quite well, according to SuSlu.
Donaldson followed an error in the third with a slick backhand play near the line and a strong throw to end the inning, and he hit a three-run homer to right to give the home team a 4-1 victory at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
"That ball to right field was about as far as I've seen one hit here," manager Bob Melvin said.
He's not completely new to third base, as he played third base in winter ball in the Dominican Republic, as well as at the end of the AAA season in Sacramento. It looks like he'll get the lion's share of playing time at third base for now.
INF Wes Timmons (stats)
Though Timmons is 33 and more accurately described as organizational filler, he will also get some reps at third base. A substitute teacher in the offseason, it would be pretty cool if he makes the roster and finally gets into a big league game.
Wes Timmons is the A's lone non-roster infielder, and at 33, Timmons hasn't played in the majors after 10 seasons of pro ball. A substitute teacher at Chets Creek Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla., in the offseason, Timmons would be a real feel-good story if he ever makes it.
"You look at his numbers and you're puzzled why he hasn't gotten a shot," Melvin said. "If he looks at where we are right now and how many infielders we have, he's probably encouraged this is the best chance he's had to get to the big leagues."
Others: Adam Rosales, Eric Sogard, Daric Barton (just kidding!)
External candidates:
Miguel Tejada (stats)
Miguel Tejada misses Oakland. A lot. He also thinks he could be a mentor for friend Yoenis Cespedes and help him transition to life in America.
A's general manager Billy Beane - who declined to comment on Tejada on Wednesday - recently signed Manny Ramirez to a minor-league deal, which is what Tejada says he's looking for.
"Tell Billy to give me a call," Tejada said. "I don't want big money, I just want to play. I want to prove I can play. And for me to come back to where I started would be unbelievable."
I really don't see this happening though, but I also didn't see... well... anything that happened this offseason. Who knows? Tejada is coming off a season for the Giants where he hit .239 with a fWAR of 0.0 — exactly replacement level. According to the Fangraphs page linked above, Bill James projects Tejada to bounce back a bit, hitting .274.
Adonis Garcia
Nope.
Here's a scouting report, just for fun:
Garcia, is a right handed outfielder with a strong, athletic, although not limber body. Defensively, he is not very fast and he usually takes poor routes to chase down fly balls. When he gets to the ball he elects to field the ball the hardest way possible. Every fly ball with him is like a Stephen King novel. His footwork is awful when fielding the ball as nothing is smooth with him. He doesn't position himself correctly when fielding, so he losses a lot of time between catching the ball and getting rid of it and atop of that, his arm isn't very strong either.
The other 3B free agents that MLB Trade Rumors lists are rather uninspiring: Wes Helms, who hit .191 in 69 games as a 35-year-old for the Marlins, Aaron Miles, who has shown improved contact but is primarily a middle infielder/utility guy, and Felipe Lopez, who also didn't do so well last year.
