MVN - Most Valuable Network

Decision 2009: Justin Duchscherer

With the losses piling up, all that is really left for the Oakland A’s in 2008 is to use the remainder of the season to evaluate players for the 2009 campaign. Over the next several weeks, I will take a look at some of the players that the A’s will have to make decisions about before the start of next season.

As promised, our next installment of the Decision 2009feature will take a look at whether the Oakland A’s should hold on to right-hander Justin Duchscherer for the 2009 season. Originally, I had planned this piece to coincide with Duchscherer’s return to the rotation this weekend. However, the news out of Kansas City yesterday was that Duke is continuing to experience problems with his troublesome right hip and will be scratched from his scheduled start. He is going to visit the doctor who performed his hip surgery last year and could possibly be done for the season.

This news dramatically affects whether or not the A’s will keep Duke going into next season. Had Duchscherer returned to the mound this weekend healthy and pitched well through the end of the season, he arguably would have been one of the more attractive trade targets for other teams this off-season, given his likely relatively low salary (compared to other All-Star starting pitchers) next season and his sub-3.00 ERA. However, his continuing hip problems figure to impact his trade value severely.

The move to make Duchscherer a starter this season was made with the thought in mind that Duke may be healthier as a starter than he was as a reliever. During his time as a reliever in Oakland, Duchscherer has missed time with a variety of ailments, including his hip problem, a back problem and elbow soreness. When healthy, he had been one of the best set-up men in baseball from 2004-2006, but he missed much of the 2007 season with the hip problem.

The move to make Duchscherer a starter this season was certainly a success from a performance stand-point. He was equally effective for the A’s as a starter this year than he was as a set-up man in ‘04-’06. In fact, in many respects, he was even more effective given that he was able to throw a third more innings as a starter than he was as a reliever.

From a health perspective, it doesn’t appear that the move to the rotation has done much to cure the ailments that have nagged Duke throughout his big league career, however. He went on the DL in April with a forearm problem that proved to be minor but cost him a few weeks early in the season. And he has been battling this hip problem reportedly since sometime in July.

There is no question that a starting pitcher who can throw 141.2 innings of 2.54 ERA baseball (especially in the American League) is a valuable asset to a ballclub. Even with all of the young pitching talent coming through the A’s ranks, it is pretty much without question that Oakland will be a better team on paper if Duchscherer is still in the rotation come April 1, 2009. But there are reasons why Oakland would look to deal Duke this off-season. For one, Duchscherer will be in his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2009. He is likely to command quite a significant raise in arbitration and the A’s may be loath to pay out another big salary to an injury risk like Duke after all of the money they have lost to the DL with Eric Chavez, Rich Harden, etc. over the past few years. Two, Duchscherer’s value - minus the injuries - would have been at an all-time high this off-season, and given that the A’s have him under their control for only one more season, it would make sense for the team to see if they can get some young talent (preferably a hitter) for him. Three, at 31 in 2009, Duchscherer isn’t likely to be part of the long-term future of the team, so throwing him out there in the rotation all of next year could impede the development of starters the A’s envision being in the rotation for the next several years.

However, as we saw with Rich Harden this season, even a pitcher with the kind of numbers that Duke put up this year isn’t going to draw as much interest on the trade market if there are significant injury questions surrounding him. It is now unlikely that Duchscherer will be able to prove his fitness beyond a reasonable doubt before the end of the season, meaning that any deal the A’s try to make involving him this off-season will come with the Rich Harden caveat that Duke may not be totally healthy. And while the two pitchers are separate and unique situations, it may not help the A’s cause in trying to deal Duchscherer that Harden is now possibly hurt again for Chicago.

It is possible that the A’s could move Duchscherer as part of a bigger package to get a hitter. However, he is unlikely - on his own - to generate a big trade package for the A’s given the injury risks and the fact that he doesn’t throw a sexy 95 MPH fastball like oft-injured, but oft-coveted pitchers such as Ben Sheets and AJ Burnett do. In addition, some of the A’s brightest pitching prospects (Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Vince Mazzaro and James Simmons, to name four) are likely to need at least a half of next season at Triple-A, meaning that Duchscherer could be a good candidate to keep the rotation spot warm for one of these top prospects until mid-season. A half season like the one he put together this year could make Duchscherer a hot commodity at the deadline in 2009. For those reasons, I believe that it is more likely now that Duchscherer stays with the team, at least through part of next season.

September Quirks

I’m certainly not the first person to ruminate on this topic, nor do I expect to be the last, but with the calendar now turned to September, it reminds me how odd it is that Major League Baseball changes its roster rules for the pennant stretch drive every season.

As you are all aware, on September 1, Major League teams are allowed to expand their rosters from the customary 25 men to 40. This September “call-up” period coincides with the end of the minor league regular season and serves as a reward for minor league players who have worked hard all season and deserve a late-season audition at the big league level. It also serves as a good try-out period for losing teams to take a longer look at some of their young players as they head into the off-season and begin to analyze the make-up of their roster for next year. For fans of bad teams, September is often the most fun month of the year, as fans get introduced to the bright future of their clubs and are subjected less to the regular players who have given the teams their losing records.

All of the reasons for the September call-up period that I have stated above are certainly good ones. As someone who follows minor league baseball closely, I know how important it is to the development process to have a September call-up period. However, from a competitive stand-point at the Major League-level, it strikes me as a little unfair.

The baseball regular season is a long marathon and the final leg of the race can often be both the most exciting and the most exhausting. Players are almost completely spent by the final month of the season, worn down by the grind of playing 28 out of every 30 days and by the frequent hot and humid nights and long plane rides. What often separates the good teams from the great ones is the ability of those great teams to keep their best players fresh and able to push through to the end of the season. Managers such as Tony LaRussa have carved out Hall of Fame careers based on their ability to utilize their entire 25-man rosters to keep their players fresh (or relatively fresh) in the final weeks of the season.

In addition, the restriction of having only 25 men on a roster is part of what makes the game of baseball such a chess match. Only in baseball can a 16-inning game come down to the pitching changes or pinch-running decisions that a manager made in the 7th inning.

A lot of that strategy is changed when the rosters expand to 40 in September, however. No longer does a team have to worry about running out of pitchers in an extra-inning game or about using up all of its pinch-runners early in a contest. In addition, teams that have tired bullpens can suddenly call on fresher arms and clubs no longer have to make decisions about whether to DL slightly injured players. Playoff races can now suddenly be decided by players who spent the first five months of the season in the minor leagues. And the fact that teams don’t have to call-up 40 players means that for the first time all season, teams with different sized rosters can square off against each other in a regular season game.

It strikes me as odd that MLB would change rules so fundamental to the outcome of the game right when the games mean the most in a season. I do see the importance of allowing teams to look at more than 25 players during a season, so I would propose tweaking the roster expansion rules rather than eliminating them altogether. Here are two suggestions for how the rule might be changed:

1) Make the roster expansion gradual: Rather than having the rosters go from 25 to 40 overnight, why not gradually allow teams to add to the 25-man roster? How about allowing teams add two players to the roster at the end of each month (May 1, 27 players; June 1, 29 players; July 1, 31 players; August 1, 33 players) and then have a slightly bigger jump in September to 40 players? That way, it isn’t such a change in the competitive landscape come September. This gradual increase may also help baseball fight injuries, lost salaries to DL trips and banned substance usage. If teams had extra players on their rosters throughout the season, they would be able to rest their star players more frequently, which could potentially cut down on injuries and discourage players from taking substances designed to get them through the grind of the season. In addition, it would help in situations where a player strains a muscle and is going to be out for more than a day but less than 15 days (i.e. Ryan Sweeney when he hurt his big toe a few months back for Oakland). Teams would be able to avoid sending that player to the DL since they would have an extra body on the bench to fill in.

2) Make teams declare a 25-man roster before a game: Baseball could take something from football when it comes to expanded rosters. Rather than allowing teams to use all of their expanded rosters in any given game, teams could be forced to declare an active 25-man roster before the start of each game. That way, the strategy of the game doesn’t change with the expanded rosters. Baseball has already set a precedent for this with their games in Japan this season. The A’s and Red Sox were allowed to carry more than 25 players to Japan and then were asked to declare 25 active players before each game.

Realistically, it is more likely that the 49ers win the Super Bowl this year than baseball re-examine the September call-up period. And, frankly, there are probably 15 more pressing issues for the owners and the MLBPA to hash out before signing the next collective bargining agreement (including what to do with an increasingly broken draft system). But I think it would be well worth a discussion in the halls of the Major League offices.

Try As They Might, A’s Can’t Sustain Losing Streak

The A’s did almost everything they could to lose the rubbergame of their three game set in Anaheim on Wednesday, but somehow they managed to win and snap their seemingly endless streak of not winning a series. In fact, given that the A’s split their series in Seattle, Oakland is now working on an improbable two-series non-losing streak. Next thing you know, and they may actually win two games in a row.

In all seriousness, it was kind of ironic that the series-non-winning streak ended against the team with which it began. The A’s broadcast spent a lot of time talking about that Sunday game before the All-Star break, a loss that seemed to change the course of the entire A’s season. If you remember, it was the rubbermatch of the A’s big home series against the Angels. Oakland had won the first game of the series behind new starter Sean Gallagher and then dropped a tight game on Saturday to Ervin Santana. The Sunday rubbermatch would either leave the A’s within four games of the Angels for first place, or a distant six games back.

The A’s took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning behind All-Star Justin Duchscherer. Duke allowed a run in the fourth, but the A’s got that back in the sixth to give Oakland what seemed like at the time a commanding 3-1 lead. Duke was cruising through the eighth inning when, with two-outs, Casey Kotchman homered to narrow the score to 3-2.

Huston Street came on in the ninth inning to save the game, but things immediately started to fall apart when Torii Hunter singled on a dribbler to the mound and Juan Rivera moved Hunter to third with a base hit to center. Howie Kendrick quickly tied the score with a sacrifice fly. Unfortunately, the bleeding didn’t stop there. After a sacrifice bunt to move pinch-runner Reggie Willits to second, Erick Aybar hit a soft groundball to short. Donnie Murphy charged and threw to first, but the speedy Aybar was safe. Willits never stopped running from second and scored ahead of a throw from Daric Barton to give the Angels the lead.

The bottom of the ninth inning was even more frustrating. Carlos Gonzalez began the frame with a hit off of K-Rod, and then Mark Ellis walked. Barton bunted them over to second and third. K-Rod then intentionally walked Jack Hannahan to load the bases. The A’s sent Rob Bowen up to face K-Rod, and in a scene similar to the 2003 playoffs, Bowen took a called strike three. Kurt Suzuki followed with a strike-out after starting his at-bat 2-0, and the A’s had lost the game. Since that time, Oakland has been on a tailspin as bad as any the team had even in the dark days of the late 1970s.

It’s too late to save the season, of course, but Wednesday provided a little measure of redemption, especially for Huston Street. Street has lost his closer’s role over the past few weeks, and has generally been used in medium-leveraged middle-innings situations. On Wednesday, Street played the role of K-Rod and was the reliever who ended a promising comeback rally. With two-on and two-out in the sixth, Street came in and struck-out Mike Napoli with the Angels threatening to tie or take the lead. He would then work a scoreless seventh and retire the first batter in the eighth to give the A’s a chance to win a game they appeared to be destined to lose.

The game had loss written all over it. After jumping out to a big lead (6-0 in the second), the A’s predictably could not add on and had to watch as their young pitching staff allowed the Angels to score five times in the fourth and fifth innings. Then after getting brilliant relief work from Street and Brad Ziegler in innings six, seven and eight, Oakland made it even tougher on themselves in the ninth when they began the inning with a throwing error by Bobby Crosby. In fact, the ninth inning last night had an eerily similar feeling to the ninth inning back in July. Once the first runner reached, one couldn’t help but rue the 12 base runners the A’s left stranded through-out the game.

In the end, the A’s got a groundball to the shortstop that was hit hard enough to turn a double-play this time, and Oakland notched an improbable win. It’s difficult not to think what might have been if the groundball to Murphy in July had been hit hard enough to be an easy out, but what’s done is done. For now, hopefully the A’s will be able to build a little momentum from taking a series win against the best team in the American League on the road and finish this season on an up-note.

Decision 2009: Dallas Braden

With the losses piling up, all that is really left for the Oakland A’s in 2008 is to use the remainder of the season to evaluate players for the 2009 campaign. Over the next several weeks, I will take a look at some of the players that the A’s will have to make decisions about before the start of next season.

During the Oakland A’s second half collapse in 2007, there was probably no one person more associated with those struggles than Dallas Braden. The rookie left-hander took his lumps in a major way last year, going 1-8 with an ERA of 6.72. Coming into this season, he was an outside candidate to make the A’s starting rotation out of spring training, but was eventually one of the A’s final spring cuts. When Dana Eveland and Greg Smith earned regular rotation spots before Braden did, it appeared that Braden had fallen deep down in the A’s rotational depth chart.

Injuries gave Braden another shot at the big leagues, first in the bullpen and more recently in the rotation. The quirky left-hander from Stockton, CA, has looked like a different pitcher this season than the one who struggled in 2007. After last night’s solid seven-inning effort against the Angels, Braden now sits at 4-3 with a 4.13 ERA in 56.2 innings in the major leagues this season (at Triple-A, he had a 2.36 ERA in 53.1 innings with 56 strike-outs and only 11 walks).

Braden has not been spectacular this year. His strike-out rate is mediocre and he has allowed six homeruns in 56.2 innings. However, he has been a reliable innings-eater since joining the rotation on July 22nd. On that date, he worked five innings against Tampa Bay, earning the win and allowing only one run. Since that time, Braden has worked into the sixth inning in every start but one (the one being a start in Boston where he pitched with the flu) and into the seventh inning in every start but two. The A’s have won three of his last four starts, starts in which he pitched seven strong innings against good offensive teams (Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles of Anaheim). Given the A’s lack of wins recently, three wins out of four starts from one starter is almost remarkable.

On most teams, Braden would look like a good fit as a fourth or fifth starter. He doesn’t have dazzling stuff, but he has an above-average change-up and he has improved his fastball location tremendously since last season. He has also done a much better job of keeping the ball on the ground and he has a terrific pick-off move that helps control the running game. His minor league track record is impeccable. In 346.2 minor league innings, Braden has an ERA of 3.30, a 10.16 K/9 ratio and a 1.16 WHIP. He is only 25 and has been healthy since experiencing shoulder troubles in 2006.

However, the A’s aren’t your normal team in terms of young pitching depth. Going into the 2009 season, Oakland will have the unusual situation of having more viable candidates for rotation spots than actual openings. Locks for the rotation seem to be Greg Smith, Sean Gallagher and Gio Gonzalez. Justin Duchscherer is another lock if he remains with the team next season. Candidates for that final spot in the rotation should include Dana Eveland (who looks like a different pitcher with his new throwing motion), Braden and Dan Meyer (if he remains with the team).

On top of that competition is the depth the A’s are likely to have in Triple-A at the start of the 2009 season. Right-hander Vince Mazzaro is getting his first taste of Triple-A right now. The 21-year-old was recently named the Texas League Pitcher of the Year after going 12-3 with a microscopic 1.90 ERA. He could be ready for the big leagues at some point during the first half of next season. And then there is the trio of Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and James Simmons. Anderson and Cahill, both 20 years old, recently completed turns as parts of the Team USA Olympic squad and are among the elite pitching prospects in baseball. Simmons, the A’s top pick in 2007, is completing a solid year at the Double-A level and has always had an advanced feel for pitching despite being only 21 himself. All three of these pitchers could be given shots at the big league rotation by the end of the 2009 season.

Braden could slot into the A’s bullpen, although it will be crowded there, as well. Joey Devine, Brad Ziegler, Jerry Blevins and Santiago Casilla should be locks to return, while Huston Street and Alan Embree are both possibilities to come back in 2009. And Andrew Brown is still part of the mix, as well. In addition, the A’s have a few relief prospects who could be knocking on the door in 2009, including lefty Brad Kilby and righties Andrew Carignan, Andrew Bailey and Jared Lansford (yes, that Lansford; he has yet to allow a run in his first 22.1 innings at Double-A). Lefty Josh Outman, acquired in the Joe Blanton deal, has been used as both a starter and as a reliever since the trade and he could compete for a rotation or bullpen spot at some point next season. And hard-throwing right-hander Henry Rodriguez could also be on the fast-track now that he has moved into the bullpen, while Stockton closer Sam Demel should push for a big league spot by 2010. And so on.

So where does that leave Braden? From a depth perspective, Braden could be a valuable piece for Oakland next season, as he will have nearly two years of big league experience and can handle both a starting and a relieving role. He is also left-handed, which makes him a valuable piece, although the A’s have an usually high number of left-handed pitchers. However, if Braden continues to demonstrate that he can work deep into games this year, he may be even more valuable to another team that doesn’t have the pitching depth that Oakland has right now.

Going into next season, it is imperative that the A’s make some moves to improve their offense. Even if they don’t plan to compete next year, they at least have to have some weapons on offense. Another season like this one where the team is ranked among the top five in pitching and the bottom five in offense isn’t going to cut it. It is hard to develop young pitching at the major league level if those pitchers are having to throw in every game with the knowledge that if they give up more than two runs, the game is likely over.

Given Braden’s youth, left-handedness and success thus far this season, he may be a valuable piece in a potential package for the A’s to send to a team for a bat. If Braden sticks through the off-season, then I see him as part of the A’s pitching staff at the start of the year, either as a starter or as a reliever. He is too good for Triple-A and is starting to show that he can be that seven-inning starter in the big leagues. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him moved, as well.

Decision 2009: Mark Ellis

With the losses piling up, all that is really left for the Oakland A’s in 2008 is to use the remainder of the season to evaluate players for the 2009 campaign. Over the next several weeks, I will take a look at some of the players that the A’s will have to make decisions about before the start of next season.

It certainly isn’t anything new for the Oakland A’s to be faced with the decision about whether or not to re-sign a long-time member of the team. This off-season, second baseman Mark Ellis will be the A’s most difficult free agent decision.

Along with erstwhile third baseman Eric Chavez, Ellis is the A’s last link to their division winning teams of the early 2000s. He first made his debut with Oakland in 2002 and helped the A’s win 20 games in a row and their division later that season. He appeared on three A’s division winning squads in 2002, 2003 and 2006. Over the years, he went from being a quiet complimentary player into a fan favorite.

The things that are good about Mark Ellis are easy to name. He is one of the top defensive second basemen in the game, both in terms of range and in terms of his consistency in making the plays he should make. At the plate, he brings decent power for a second baseman and the ability to grind out at-bats. In his career, he has averaged nearly four pitches per plate appearance, a strong total. He is a smart baserunner and can handle the bat well.

There are a few downsides to Ellis’ game, however. As consistently strong as his defense has been, Ellis’ offense has been that inconsistent over the years. Almost like clockwork, Ellis has struggled at the plate in every other season, while doing fairly well in the seasons in-between. Last year, Ellis established career highs in homers and RBIs, but this season, he has seen his average drop 40 points and his OPS sit around 700.

Based on pattern, Ellis’ 2009 season should be a good one at the plate. However, if the A’s are going to re-sign the veteran, they will have to offer him a contract significantly longer than just one year. Ellis turned 31 in June and has begun to show some signs of wear and tear, as he has struggled with soreness in his right shoulder - the shoulder he completely dislocated just before the start of the 2004 season.

From a leadership perspective, it will be hard to replace Ellis in the A’s clubhouse. He is well respected and plays the game in a way that is an example for younger players. Given the A’s troubles this season, having a player who remembers how to win in a green and gold uniform might not be a bad thing to have around. However, playing the game the right way and playing great defense might not be big enough justifiable reasons for the A’s to hand out a three or four year contract.

On a team that appears to have more holes than Sponge-Bob, Mark Ellis is hardly the A’s biggest problem. Yes, there are better offensive second baseman in the league, but on a good team, Ellis is the perfect type of complimentary player that helps teams win championships. However, the A’s don’t appear to be in any kind of position to be thinking about a championship, at least not for the next year or maybe two. If the $5-8 million that the A’s would need to spend to keep Ellis can be spent on getting a player who can actually OPS above 800, then that is probably where the A’s funds should be directed next season. By the time the A’s are ready to challenge for a title, Ellis will be 33 or 34, and possibly in the downside of his career.

In a lot of ways, the decision on Ellis is similar to the decision the A’s had to make about Mike Bordick after the 1996 season. Bordick was an outstanding fielding shortstop who had been a long-time member of the A’s and was one of the team’s last links to better times. However, the A’s in 1997 were going to be very bad and a veteran complimentary player like Bordick didn’t really fit in the overall direction of the team, despite his great glove and intangibles. Bordick, who wore the same number 14 as Ellis does today, went on to play in the playoffs with the Orioles in 1997 and with the Mets in 2000. The A’s turned to a youngster named Miguel Tejada, who would man the shortstop position for the next seven years.

The A’s don’t appear to have a Miguel Tejada-type superstar waiting in the wings to take Ellis’ place next season, although Adrian Cardenas (acquired in the Joe Blanton trade) is doing very well as a 20-year-old in Double-A and could be a possibility towards the end of next season. However, it is clear that the A’s current configuration of players isn’t working. While Ellis has done a lot over the years for the A’s, he - like Bordick - deserves to play on a team that will be able to utilize his skills for a championship run. And the A’s need to play some of their young players at second to see if they can find a star to help them move away from the doldrums that they are in right now.

A Very Good Day

The aura surrounding the Oakland A’s seemed to change in an instant on Friday. Down 3-0 to the Chicago White Sox and seemingly headed for another uninspiring loss, the A’s and Jack Cust struck for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring the A’s suddenly back into the game. At about the same time, the A’s were announcing that they had signed seventh-round pick Brett Hunter to a record-breaking signing bonus for seventh rounders. The rest of the evening seemed to go Oakland’s way from that moment on. Down 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth, the A’s scratched back into a tie with two solo homeruns off of former A’s closer Octavio Dotel. Then Oakland capped off their comeback with a pinch-hit, walk-off two-run homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning by catcher Kurt Suzuki. In the end, the signing of Hunter is likely to be much more significant to the future of the A’s franchise than Friday’s win. However, in a season that has quickly turned into a disappointment, the A’s win on Friday will likely stand as one of the highlights of the season.

There were a number of heroes on Friday for the A’s. Dallas Braden recovered from a horrific first inning to put together one of the best starts of his career. After allowing three runs in the first inning, Braden finished with seven strong innings of three-run, seven-hit baseball. He struck-out four, walked one and retired the final eight batters he faced. Braden did an excellent job of keeping the A’s in the ballgame after his poor first inning. Last season, he appeared to come unraveled when things would go wrong. However, despite giving up two booming hits (a homer and a long double) and watching two bloops fall for hits in the first, Braden took control of the game and breezed through the next six innings. His rookie debut season in 2007 was a struggle, but Braden has looked like he has a future in a major league rotation this year.

Another hero was Jack Cust, who busted out of a terrible slump to put together his best game of the season. Coming into the game, Cust had struck-out in 19 straight games and 38 of 39 contests.  On Friday, he reached in each of his four at-bats, walking once, homering twice and singling. His last at-bat was his most impressive, as he homered on an 0-2 count against Dotel to tie the game.  Although he has hit around the .230 mark for much of the season, Cust has overall been the A’s best offensive player with an 823 OPS. However, his production is down from last season when he had a 912 OPS. Cust has been a streaky player since joining the A’s last season. It will be interesting to see if Friday’s effort kick-starts one of Cust’s patented hot streaks.

Another big hero was the last batter of the game, Kurt Suzuki, who lived up to his college nickname of Kurt Klutch with a walk-off, two-run homer. Suzuki didn’t start the game, but he was sent up as a pinch-hitter with a runner on third and one-out in the tie game. The A’s have been terrible all season in situations where there is a runner on third and less than two outs, but Suzuki delivered on Friday. That his homer came a few pitches after almost taking a fastball off of the chin made the homer even sweeter for Suzuki. After hitting well in June and July, Suzuki had struggled offensively in August and he has looked like he was starting to wear down after a long season of catching nearly every day. Perhaps this pinch-hit homer will give Suzuki some new life for the remaining weeks of the season.

It shouldn’t be lost in this game that Huston Street earned the win after pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Although he benefited from picking off a runner, Street looked more like himself in the outing. In fact, he has now put together back-to-back strong outings late in tie games. Hopefully, he can finish the season on an up note. If the A’s do intend to trade Street this off-season, it goes without saying that they will be able to get a lot more for him if he has a strong last six weeks of the year.

With all of the good things that happened during the A’s game against Chicago, the best news of the day was that the A’s were able to agree to terms with right-hander Brett Hunter. Although Hunter was a seventh-round pick, he was considered a consensus first-round pick before he had some elbow and forearm soreness at Pepperdine that limited him for most of the collegiate season. Hunter was healthy by the end of the season and he has spent the summer pitching for Team USA’s collegiate squad. The A’s monitored his progress with Team USA closely and after determining that he was healthy, made a strong effort to sign Hunter. Given his status as a projected first rounder before the season, Hunter was understandably asking for first round money to sign on the bottom line and forgo his senior season.

In past years, the A’s have shied away from meeting the over-slot demands of some of their draft picks. Last season, they missed out on signing Daniel Schlereth when he wanted over-slot money. Schlereth went back to the University of Arizona this season and was selected in the first round by the Diamondbacks this year. The A’s didn’t want history to repeat itself with Hunter. They inked him to a $1.1 million signing bonus, the largest-ever bonus for seventh round pick and essentially gave themselves an extra first round pick. Hunter is the third pick that the A’s went over-slot to sign this season. Those signings coupled with the Michael Inoa signing and the A’s increased presence in the international market in general is a good sign for the future of the A’s franchise. As a smaller market team, Oakland can only compete when they have the best talent coming out of their minor league system. They have learned over the past few years that it is difficult for them to have top talent in their minor league system if they aren’t willing to go over-slot at times in the draft and compete in the international market. The A’s system is now one of the strongest in baseball and if the trends that they have established with the over-slot signings and the international activity this season continue, Oakland should have one of the best minor league systems in baseball for years to come.

Decision 2009: Dan Meyer

With the losses piling up, all that is really left for the Oakland A’s in 2008 is to use the remainder of the season to evaluate players for the 2009 campaign. Over the next several weeks, I will take a look at some of the players that the A’s will have to make decisions about before the start of next season.

The first in this series will examine left-hander Dan Meyer, who made his first start for Oakland this season in Detroit on Saturday. As most of you know, Meyer was the top prospect that the A’s acquired in the Tim Hudson trade with Atlanta in December 2004. Meyer was considered one of the top young lefties in the minors at the time of his acquisition. Unfortunately for him and for the A’s, Meyer injured his shoulder in a weightlifting accident before the start of spring training in 2005. He tried to pitch through the injury and wound-up having two poor seasons in 2005 and 2006 before finally succumbing to surgery in 2006.

The 2007 season was a big rebound year for Meyer. After starting the season about three weeks late, Meyer made one start with Double-A Midland and then returned to Triple-A Sacramento, where he put together a season reminiscent of his time in the Braves chain. He ranked second in the PCL in ERA with a 3.39 mark and he struck-out 107 in 119.1 innings. Meyer was given a shot to start for Oakland towards the end of last season, but his command was shaky with the A’s. In 16.2 innings, he posted an 8.82 ERA and walked nine while allowing 20 hits.

Going into spring training this season, it was originally believed that Meyer was out of options, which would have meant that the A’s would have had to keep him on their 25-man roster all season or risk losing him on waivers. However, just before the start of spring training, Meyer was “awarded” another option year by baseball because he had missed so much time due to injury in 2005 and 2006. He wasn’t given much of a chance to make the A’s pitching staff during spring training and returned to Sacramento at the start of the year.

The 2008 season has been up-and-down for Meyer with the River Cats. At times, he has looked like an ace, while other times he has struggled with his command. As a result, his ERA for the River Cats is a less impressive 4.48 this season. Lately, however, Meyer had been pitching much better. Over his last five starts with the River Cats, the lefty had allowed only eight runs in 33.2 innings with 26 strike-outs and six walks. That hot streak earned Meyer another shot in the big leagues with the A’s when left-hander Dana Eveland was sent down to the minors for some fine-tuning with his mechanics.

It isn’t clear whether the A’s intended to give Meyer an extended look when he was first called up. He made a relief appearance in Boston the day of his call-up, throwing a scoreless inning. The next day, he was called out of the bullpen again, this time throwing four shut-out innings and saving an already tired bullpen. On Saturday, he got his first start of 2008, filling in for right-hander Sean Gallagher, who is battling a sore shoulder.

Meyer wasn’t spectacular on Saturday. He allowed three homeruns in five innings against the Detroit Tigers. However, all three of those homeruns were solo shots and I thought, for the most part, Meyer actually looked pretty good against a veteran, predominantly right-handed hitting line-up. According to the radar gun on the A’s TV network, Meyer’s fastball was sitting in the low-90s consistently, which is solid velocity for a left-handed pitcher. His off-speed stuff looked good, as well.

Meyer’s biggest mechanical flaw, according to A’s minor league pitching coordinator Gil Patterson (who I spoke on Saturday morning with about Meyer for Scout.com), is that he has a tendency to fail to finish some of his pitches, which causes the pitches to stay up in the strike-zone. We saw that on Saturday night on the three homeruns. However, when Meyer was finishing his pitches, his stuff was very difficult for the Tigers’ hitters to handle. He got a lot of groundballs and was able to keep the hitters off-balance, for the most part. In addition, he worked at a much better pace than he did last season and generally looked a lot more confident on the mound.

Before Eveland’s struggles and Gallagher’s injuries provided an opening for Meyer, it appeared that he was somewhat of a forgotten man in the A’s system, as pitchers such as Lenny DiNardo, Dallas Braden, Kirk Saarloos, Greg Smith and Gio Gonzalez had all gotten the call to the big leagues ahead of Meyer this season. However, Meyer’s first 10 innings with the A’s may have opened some eyes in Oakland’s front office and may have earned him one last shot to stick with the team next season, either in the rotation or in the bullpen.

It will be difficult for the A’s to find a spot for Meyer next season with Justin Duchscherer, Greg Smith, Sean Gallagher, Dana Eveland, Dallas Braden and Gio Gonzalez all potentially returning to the team. In addition, Jerry Blevins seems to be staking a claim for a spot in the A’s bullpen next as the team’s primary lefty (his last two appearances notwithstanding). Yet, I think it would be unwise for the A’s to dismiss the possibility of finding a spot for Meyer outright. When healthy, Meyer has shown that he has the stuff to be an above-average left-handed starter in the big leagues. At 27 years old, he may not have a 10-year career as a starter ahead of him like he appeared to when he was first acquired, but Meyer should have a good five or six years left in him. His velocity and movement on his pitches has been encouraging in his recent call-up and one would expect that the longer he remains healthy, the better he will get at being consistent with his mechanics.

With September and its expanded rosters quickly approaching and with the long season seemingly starting to wear on A’s starters such as Smith, Duchscherer, Gallagher and Eveland, I think it presents the A’s an opportunity to give Meyer a few more starts before the end of the year to evaluate him for next season. At the very least, if he shows he has good stuff, Meyer may develop into a player the A’s can move in the off-season to a team looking for a young, cheap arm for their rotation.