Everything is Mossome! (Or Should Be, Anyway)

So this happened yesterday.

Alberto Callaspo will be the A's first baseman on days the club faces a left-handed starter this season. Manager Bob Melvin confirmed as much Tuesday morning and said he felt confident putting the versatile infielder out there, despite his limited experience at the position.

So I saw Alberto Callaspo play first base in person last weekend. Let's just say that I would feel more confidant in my ability to pick a throw at first base than his. Granted, I do play first base, and I am good at the pick, and nothing against Callaspo, who, in my opinion, has some of the best at-bats on the team, but first base, he is not.

And don't get me wrong, no one wants him to succeed at first more than I, but not at the expense of Brandon Moss. This was next in the article:

This means Brandon Moss and Daric Barton will share time at first base against right-handed starters, though Moss will most likely draw several starts at designated hitter -- at least in the early going. Moss has proved to be a reliable defender at first base, but Barton is still considered better with the glove.

No one on the team is a better defender at first base than Daric Barton, but I think the A's are making a mistake if they are suggesting a Moss platoon. Moss clearly agrees with me; he hit a homerun off a lefty yesterday just to underscore that point. To me, Brandon Moss is an every day, every game player, with the exception of a handful of elite left-handed pitchers, and it's not even really close. I do know his numbers against lefties, but as we don't have a great right-handed option, I very much would like to see Moss in the lineup the majority of the time.

As long as I'm on a roll, I start Sam Fuld twice a week. I DH Coco Crisp once, and Cespedes once. I'm fine with Punto, Callaspo, Sogard playing second base and spelling short and third. In additional to Moss as my first baseman, I would use Derek Norris--who had a great second-half last year and a red-hot spring--as a 4-day-a-week player rather than a platoon catcher, even if it means starting both catchers in the game. Seriously, what's the worst that could happen? You lose the DH for a couple of innings until Vogt can be called up for the next game? Fine by me. We ran all the scenarios at Spring Training, and with the options currently available to the A's, Barton makes the team over Vogt for late-inning defensive reasons, and the fact that he is out of options, and Vogt is not. Also, it's likely that the team wants Vogt to have the regular at-bats in AAA, and this is baseball; he'll be up soon enough.

So in conclusion, Moss should play more.

In other A's news, Jarrod Parker had a successful surgery, and the A's play the Angels at noon, in the very last game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. We'll have all the action here on AN!