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Since 2012, 12 players have started at first base for the Oakland Athletics: Brandon Moss, Chris Carter, Daric Barton, Kila Ka'aihue, Adam Rosales, Brandon Allen, Brandon Hicks, Nate Freiman, Shane Peterson, Stephen Vogt, Alberto Callaspo, and Kyle Blanks. None of these players were drafted by the Athletics.
Continuing my look back at the last few seasons of acquisitions, we'll find that the A's have essentially given all of their first base acquisitions a look.
- July 31, 2011: Brandon Allen traded by the Arizona Diamondbacks with Jordan Norberto to the Oakland Athletics for Brad Ziegler.
- September 27, 2011: Kila Ka'aihue traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Oakland Athletics for Ethan Hollingsworth.
- November 19, 2011: Brandon Moss signed to a minor league deal and invited to spring training.
- April 19, 2012: Brandon Allen selected off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays. Was designated for assignment to make room for Daric Barton on the 25-man roster.
- June 7, 2012: Kila Ka'aihue designated for assignment. Brandon Moss recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.
- July 12, 2012: Matt Rizzotti signed to a minor league deal.
- March 23, 2013: Nate Freiman, Rule 5 draft selection, claimed off waivers from the Houston Astros.
- April 6, 2013: Stephen Vogt traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Oakland Athletics for cash.
- July 30, 2013: Alberto Callaspo traded by the Los Angeles Angels for Grant Green.
- May 15, 2014: Kyle Blanks traded by the San Diego Padres to the Oakland Athletics for Jake Goebbert and Ronald Herrera.
A refresher on the concept
The A's have not necessarily drafted the best player in the past, because the best player might not sign for what the A's are willing to spend. This will be diminished somewhat with the bonus money caps in place for the amateur draft in the current incarnation of Baseball's labor agreement, but it merited a mention in Michael Lewis' Moneyball, where in the 2002 draft Jeremy Guthrie was the top pitcher on Billy Beane's "if money was no object" draft board, represented by agent Scott Boras:
If the team didn't pay whatever Boras asked, Boras would encourage his client to take a year off of baseball and reenter the draft the following year, when he might be selected by a team with real money. The effects of Boras's tactics on rich teams were astonishing. . . . By finding the highest bidders for his players before the draft and scaring everyone else away from them, Boras was transforming the draft into a pure auction.
Billy couldn't afford auctions. He had $9.5 million to spend and Boras had let it be known that whichever team drafted Jeremy Guthrie was going to cough up a package worth $20 million--or Guthrie would return to Stanford for his senior year. The Cleveland Indians had agreed to pay the price, and so the Indians would take Guthrie with the twenty-second pick.
So I have taken to looking back at the last three years of player acquisitions to see how many trades it takes to find the diamonds in the rough that Billy Beane and his staff have turned up, making up for the signing bonuses the A's could not previously pay. At first base, we will find it did not take very many.
Baseball Prospectus has, behind its paywall, a way to split the advanced statistics on its website into batter handedness and into major or minor league level and rank the players according to whatever chosen statistics. Baseball Prospectus has a statistic similar to wOBA, called "True Average" or "TAv," which is scaled to batting average rather than on base percentage. Mark L. Smith of Talking Chop explains:
It is Baseball Prospectus' offensive metric. Like wOBA, TAv is a scaled metric, but instead of scaling it to look like OBP, it is scaled to look like BA. There are, however, some key differences:
Which is better? Again, TAv is likely better. It takes more into account - strikeouts and hitting into double plays are more damaging than other outs. But yet again, the difference between it and wOBA probably isn't great[.]
- It doesn't need a "+" metric because it's already scaled to league, park, and era. A .270 TAv in 2013 is the same as a .270 TAv in 1999. .260 is good, .300 very good, and anything above .330 is elite.
- It's also a bit like SIERA in that it's a bit more complicated than its FanGraphs counterpart. All outs and bunts aren't equal, and strikeouts, for example, is a slightly more damaging out than a normal out. I believe it also accounts for double plays hit into.
("Braving New Territory: wOBAddy, How Does It wRC?" Nov. 23, 2013)
Baseball Prospectus considers a .230 TAv to approximately represent replacement level.
What I have done is taken each non-pitcher the Athletics signed or traded for since July 2011 and will give you their TAv broken down into year, handedness, and classification (MLB, Triple-A, etc.), providing only those lines where a player acquired at least 100 plate appearances. I will also provide where that TAv ranks among those with at least 75 plate appearances against left-handed pitching, and 150 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, or where their TAv would have ranked if they qualified, and compare it against that season's .260 TAv.
Brandon Allen
Nico had this to say about whether Brandon Allen will save the franchise at the 2011 trade deadline, "He won't, but he might be quite good."
LHB Brandon Allen | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2010 | 24 | AAA | .327 | 90 | 19 | 67 | 28% | .301 | 207 | 37 | 115 | 32% |
2009 | 23 | AAA | .329 | 57 | 32 | 153 | 21% | .285 | 169 | 107 | 181 | 59% |
2009 | 23 | AA | .308 | 82 | 61 | 158 | 39% | .308 | 190 | 49 | 170 | 29% |
2008 | 22 | AA | .271 | 64 | 121 | 141 | 86% | .312 | 120 | 34 | 188 | 18% |
2008 | 22 | A+ | .314 | 99 | 40 | 144 | 28% | .302 | 263 | 43 | 192 | 22% |
2007 | 21 | A | .238 | 151 | 194 | 155 | 125% | .287 | 409 | 88 | 185 | 48% |
2006 | 20 | A | .228 | 134 | 186 | 140 | 133% | .216 | 286 | 277 | 161 | 172% |
Allen showed an ability to hit against both sides of the plate at the minor league level, a quality highly desirable for a first baseman. Unfortunately, it did not continue in the brief time he was up in the big leagues in 2011 before being waived and sent to the Tampa Bay Rays in April of 2012:
LHB Brandon Allen | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2014 | 28 | AAA | .330 | 82 | 27 | 156 | 17% | .256 | 293 | 212 | 205 | 103% |
2013 | 27 | AAA | .189 | 86 | 256 | 141 | 182% | .299 | 398 | 53 | 188 | 28% |
2012 | 26 | AAA | .281 | 38 | 115 | 186 | 62% | .248 | 91 | 232 | 180 | 129% |
2011 | 25 | MLB | .155 | 56 | 283 | 159 | 178% | .281 | 139 | 102 | 190 | 54% |
2011 | 25 | AAA | .282 | 118 | 94 | 155 | 61% | .300 | 301 | 53 | 196 | 27% |
Allen has continued to toil away in Triple-A, but the consistency he previously enjoyed on both sides of the plate has disappeared. He was strangely so-so against right-handed Triple-A pitching in 2014, yet impressive against left-handed pitching. Allen has not been on a 40-man roster since running out of options in 2012.
Kila Ka'aihue
The A's picked up Kila Ka'aihue at the end of 2011, and a few weeks into the 2012 season, Alex Hall had these notes on what we received:
Kila's minor league track record was inconsistent, and politely suggested "4-A slugger." He has essentially dominated at every level of the minors, but only when he was a little bit too old for each level. He killed High-A-ball pitching at 21, AA at 24, and AAA at 25+. According to that trend, he should be able to just destroy Major League pitching when he's 35. After getting jerked around by GM Dayton Moore (not like that, perv), blocked by Mike Jacobs (inexcusable), and then passed by Eric Hosmer (totally understandable), he was mercifully released and washed up on Oakland's Island of Misfit Toys.
LHB Kila Ka'aihue | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2011 | 27 | MLB | .231 | 26 | 229 | 159 | 144% | .227 | 70 | 297 | 190 | 156% |
2011 | 27 | AAA | .332 | 106 | 16 | 155 | 10% | .263 | 282 | 183 | 196 | 93% |
2010 | 26 | MLB | .258 | 47 | 174 | 171 | 102% | .227 | 159 | 304 | 188 | 162% |
2010 | 26 | AAA | .354 | 103 | 2 | 67 | 3% | .379 | 170 | 1 | 115 | 1% |
2009 | 25 | AAA | .283 | 171 | 104 | 153 | 68% | .330 | 379 | 16 | 181 | 9% |
2008 | 24 | AAA | .379 | 43 | 3 | 147 | 2% | .335 | 94 | 12 | 190 | 6% |
2008 | 24 | AA | .267 | 53 | 132 | 141 | 94% | .404 | 319 | 1 | 188 | 1% |
2007 | 23 | AA | .223 | 61 | 230 | 159 | 145% | .296 | 192 | 60 | 188 | 32% |
2007 | 23 | A+ | .221 | 63 | 203 | 138 | 147% | .305 | 186 | 43 | 196 | 22% |
2006 | 22 | AA | .232 | 62 | 197 | 153 | 129% | .222 | 294 | 270 | 175 | 154% |
Look at some of those rankings. In 2010 he was the best hitter in Triple-A, but replacement-level in MLB. In 2011, his game against right-handed pitching disappeared.
Daric Barton was actually the A's primary first baseman after Brandon Allen got shipped out, and then when Barton was optioned to Sacramento, Ka'aihue was the primary first baseman for four days before getting designated for assignment to make way for Brandon Moss.
LHB Kila Ka'aihue | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2013 | 29 | AAA | .213 | 72 | 234 | 141 | 166% | .396 | 158 | 1 | 188 | 1% |
2012 | 28 | MLB | .288 | 39 | 95 | 165 | 58% | .233 | 100 | 271 | 184 | 147% |
2012 | 28 | AAA | .338 | 79 | 19 | 186 | 10% | .285 | 226 | 93 | 180 | 52% |
Ka'aihue moved on to play baseball in Japan. He finished his second season with the Hiroshima Carp this year.
Brandon Moss
By the numbers alone, Brandon Moss was just minor league filler when he was signed after the 2011 season, with Kila Ka'aihue, Daric Barton, and Brandon Allen expected to compete for the first base job. Someone that never turned it on in his chance at the Big League level, yet showed inconsistent flashes of power, especially against righties, in Triple-A.
LHB Brandon Moss | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2011 | 27 | AAA | .314 | 138 | 31 | 155 | 20% | .307 | 317 | 34 | 196 | 17% |
2010 | 26 | AAA | .221 | 96 | 110 | 67 | 164% | .282 | 244 | 69 | 115 | 60% |
2009 | 25 | MLB | .223 | 62 | 242 | 168 | 144% | .235 | 362 | 279 | 190 | 147% |
2008 | 24 | MLB | .274 | 71 | 140 | 186 | 75% | .244 | 192 | 236 | 181 | 130% |
2008 | 24 | AAA | .250 | 44 | 177 | 147 | 120% | .327 | 137 | 14 | 190 | 7% |
2007 | 23 | AAA | .283 | 184 | 88 | 143 | 62% | .290 | 372 | 80 | 196 | 41% |
2006 | 22 | AA | .300 | 197 | 82 | 153 | 54% | .292 | 413 | 73 | 175 | 42% |
Then a funny thing happened, from Albert Chen's May 30, 2014 profile on Brandon Moss in Sports Illustrated ("In Oakland, Brandon Moss emerges as unlikely star for Athletics"):
Moss found out that it was assistant general manager Farhan Zaidi who was his impassioned advocate in the Oakland front office, pushing for the A's to give Moss a shot. "For someone to stick out his neck for a 28-year-old who had done nothing with 600 at-bats in the majors, that's bold," Moss said. What Zaidi had seen were Moss' numbers at Triple-A Sacramento. "The difference in flyball rates, walk rates, isolated power, there was an obvious change," Moss said. "Those numbers changed because there was an obvious change in approach over a two-year period. It's something I did work on. I felt that what gave me the best chance to succeed was to hit the ball in the air."
The rest is history.
LHB Brandon Moss | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2014 | 30 | MLB | .297 | 101 | 88 | 170 | 52% | .286 | 479 | 87 | 183 | 48% |
2013 | 29 | MLB | .244 | 88 | 215 | 175 | 123% | .345 | 417 | 9 | 190 | 5% |
2012 | 28 | MLB | .280 | 62 | 113 | 165 | 68% | .349 | 234 | 6 | 184 | 3% |
2012 | 28 | AAA | .269 | 84 | 146 | 186 | 78% | .353 | 140 | 5 | 180 | 3% |
Matt Rizzotti
Matt Rizzotti is the only one in this group that did not get to the Major League team, and he retired from baseball after spending 2012 in Midland, his third season in Double-A. Rizzotti's previous Double-A numbers suggest he should have been at Triple-A at some point in his career. So what happened?
Rizzotti was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 2007, the penultimate year of Pat Gillick's tenure as general manager before handing the team off to Ruben Amaro Jr. Amaro, in turn, basically gave Rizzotti no clear path to the major leagues as soon as he gave fellow left-handed first baseman Ryan Howard his monstrous extension that will take Howard through 2016 or 2017. Besides Howard, Jeff Larish and Cody Overbeck were ahead of Rizzotti in Triple-A at the end of 2011.
LHB Matt Rizzotti | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2011 | 25 | AA | .381 | 168 | 3 | 148 | 2% | .314 | 419 | 29 | 195 | 15% |
2010 | 24 | AA | .356 | 41 | 7 | 112 | 6% | .360 | 174 | 1 | 133 | 1% |
2010 | 24 | A+ | .281 | 42 | 71 | 106 | 67% | .356 | 53 | 5 | 155 | 3% |
2009 | 23 | A+ | .180 | 36 | 264 | 143 | 185% | .296 | 364 | 65 | 186 | 35% |
2008 | 22 | A | .308 | 93 | 47 | 142 | 33% | .306 | 339 | 37 | 185 | 20% |
2007 | 21 | A- | .271 | 68 | 18 | 23 | 78% | .303 | 181 | 33 | 93 | 35% |
Matt Rizzotti was granted his release from the Phillies, and signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins at the end of 2012 spring training. He got as high as Triple-A before he was released, and then signed with the A's on a minor league deal.
LHB Matt Rizzotti | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2012 | 26 | AA | .175 | 63 | 239 | 136 | 176% | .319 | 223 | 23 | 177 | 13% |
Rizzotti may have been a year or two too old for Double-A, but the A's might have given him more time in 2013 if he wanted. Of course, by that point, the A's had already found their left-handed batting first baseman in Brandon Moss, and were developing another in Stephen Vogt.
Rather than find another club, however, Rizzotti returned to his old high school, Archbishop Molloy in Queens, New York, as assistant coach after the legendary baseball and basketball coach Jack Curran passed away.
Nate Freiman
Six-eight Nate was a double castoff. Not good enough for the San Diego Padres to protect him from the Rule 5 draft after making the Texas League All-Star Team, and not good enough for the Houston Astros to retain on their major league roster in a year where they played Chris Carter, Brett Wallace, and Carlos Pena at first base.
RHB Nate Freiman | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2012 | 25 | AA | .387 | 129 | 3 | 136 | 2% | .299 | 452 | 52 | 177 | 29% |
2011 | 24 | A+ | .361 | 141 | 10 | 142 | 7% | .272 | 477 | 133 | 174 | 76% |
2010 | 23 | A | .293 | 86 | 30 | 52 | 58% | .277 | 261 | 89 | 132 | 67% |
2009 | 22 | A- | .231 | 72 | 36 | 28 | 129% | .336 | 249 | 8 | 83 | 10% |
Nate Freiman was always going to be, in 2013, used only against left-handed pitching, but you can see that given time he could still be acceptable against right-handed pitching.
RHB Nate Freiman | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2014 | 27 | AAA | .269 | 100 | 132 | 170 | 78% | .329 | 264 | 12 | 183 | 7% |
2013 | 26 | MLB | .293 | 162 | 83 | 175 | 47% | .150 | 46 | 344 | 190 | 181% |
And in Triple-A, Freiman was remarkably good against right-handed pitching. Can that be sustained? Where do the A's want him to figure that out? Freiman has two option years left, which means he'll likely be in Nashville to give it another go.
Kyle Blanks
The Daric Barton Experience finally ended on May 15, 2014 when the A's shipped Daric Barton to Sacramento to become a legendary River Cat and acquired Kyle Blanks from the San Diego Padres. In Blanks, they picked up a big right-handed batting first baseman and corner outfielder that had demonstrated an ability to hit against both hands of pitching at every minor league level, but had trouble adjusting to Major League righties.
RHB Kyle Blanks | Age | Class |
TAv
v. LHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
75 PA)
|
% |
TAv
v. RHP
|
PA |
Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
.260 Rank
(min.
150 PA)
|
% |
2013 | 26 | MLB | .294 | 118 | 81 | 175 | 46% | .232 | 190 | 280 | 190 | 147% |
2011 | 24 | AAA | .425 | 39 | 1 | 155 | 1% | .338 | 113 | 9 | 196 | 5% |
2011 | 24 | AA | .336 | 74 | 22 | 148 | 15% | .246 | 127 | 250 | 195 | 128% |
2010 | 23 | MLB | .354 | 31 | 14 | 171 | 8% | .208 | 89 | 328 | 188 | 174% |
2009 | 22 | MLB | .237 | 46 | 215 | 168 | 128% | .330 | 126 | 16 | 190 | 8% |
2009 | 22 | AAA | .392 | 66 | 4 | 153 | 3% | .335 | 209 | 13 | 181 | 7% |
2008 | 21 | AA | .242 | 111 | 184 | 141 | 130% | .354 | 448 | 8 | 188 | 4% |
2007 | 20 | A+ | .307 | 131 | 52 | 138 | 38% | .309 | 430 | 35 | 196 | 18% |
2006 | 19 | A | .282 | 92 | 104 | 140 | 74% | .273 | 254 | 116 | 161 | 72% |
Blanks, however, has been plagued by the injury bug. After impressing for several weeks with the Athletics, Blanks experienced a calf tear. He was looking good in a rehabilitation assignment before experiencing a further injury that shut down his year for good. Blanks is still under arbitration, and he's out of options, which means spring training is a make-it-or-break-it time for him.
Conclusion
As for left-handed batting first basemen, the A's floundered a bit with Brandon Allen and Kila Ka'aihue after realizing Daric Barton was not going to return to his 2010 form. Brandon Moss and to a lesser extent Stephen Vogt filled in that hole and will do so for awhile longer. Vogt's primary position is catcher, of course, and Moss plays corner outfield as well, and they could make way to allow John Jaso to play first base if he decides the dangers of concussions as the backstop is too great. Once they're gone, the next great hope is home grown Matt Olson, fresh off his 37 home run campaign in the California League.
For right-handed batting first basemen, the jury is still out. Can Kyle Blanks stay healthy? Will Nate Freiman turn his minor league success on both sides of the plate into Major League success if called upon?