MVN - Most Valuable Network

More Thoughts On A’s Future Roster Moves

Yesterday’s post on what the Oakland A’s might do with Greg Smith if/when Rich Harden returns has sparked some interesting suggestions in the comments section of the post. I thought I’d take the opportunity to explore some of those suggestions further.

1) atomopawn suggests that the A’s move Justin Duchscherer back to the bullpen as a way to make room for Harden and keep Smith in the rotation. This is an interesting solution and one that could be applied to Chad Gaudin, as well, given that both Duke and Gaudin have spent significant time in the A’s bullpen in the past. I don’t think the A’s will go in that direction, however. For one, the A’s bullpen doesn’t really need the help right now. As Ryan McGrady discusses over on OaklandClubhouse.com, the A’s bullpen is currently one of the best in the business. Not only is the current A’s bullpen very good, but it is also deep. Keith Foulke is likely to return to active duty next week, meaning that the A’s might be forced to make a “Greg Smith-like decision” about either Joey Devine or Dallas Braden, both of whom have been pitching very well as of late. In addition, the A’s still have Lenny DiNardo in Triple-A Sacramento. He is likely to be recalled fairly soon, as he threw six shut-out innings yesterday for Sacramento. Behind them stand hard-throwers Jerry Blevins and Jeff Gray and submariners Brad Ziegler and Jay Marshall, with 2007 draft pick Andrew Carignan (he of the 97 MPH fastball) quickly moving up the ranks, as well). Secondly, both Duke and Gaudin were moved into the rotation for good reasons. As Jeremy states in his comment, Duke was moved into the rotation in part because the A’s think it will keep him healthier in the long-run. That remains to be seen given that Duke has already missed time with injury, but I think it is an experiment that the A’s want to see through at least half of the season. In Gaudin’s case, it is more a talent evaluation. He has one of the best arms (arguably the best, besides Harden) on the A’s staff and the stuff to be an above-average ML starter. Given that, it would be a waste to use him in relief, where the A’s would get half as many innings from him at the end of the year.

2) A six-man rotation was advocated by a few commenters, including Jeremy, Ricardo and Paul. It is an interesting idea. As Jeremy points out, six-man rotations are usually suggested for teams without much starting pitching talent. In the A’s case, it would be because of too much pitching talent. The Angels might be another team that could consider this style of rotation, especially if Nick Adenhardt impresses in his audition before John Lackey’s return. The pros of six-man rotation are that the A’s would have a way to fit all six guys in and it would limit the innings of the guys in the rotation and possibly make them stronger at the end of the season. The cons would be that the A’s would either have to play one position player or one bullpen arm short if they carried an extra starter and it would likely throw off the rhythm of starters used to a five-day turn. I don’t think the A’s will consider a six-man rotation because of the roster inflexibility it would bring, but I could be wrong.

3) Moving Harden or Dana Eveland to the bullpen was also suggested by a few folks, including JohnnyB, OaklandSi and Jeremy. The Harden-to-the-bullpen call has been ongoing for the past two years and is something that I think the A’s should probably consider. Before the season, I didn’t think moving Harden to the bullpen made sense because it appeared that the A’s were not as deep in the starting rotation as they were in the bullpen. Now it appears that the team is deep in both areas. While above I advocated leaving Gaudin and Duke in the rotation because of the bullpen depth, I think an exception could be made for Harden. While both Gaudin and Duke have proven themselves to be excellent relievers, Harden has the potential to be an elite reliever thanks to his array of pitches and high-90s fastball. He could give the A’s a weapon in the bullpen that would equal Joba Chamberlain in NY or K-Rod in Anaheim back in the Troy Percival days. It may also be the A’s best chance of keeping Harden healthy. However, at this point, I don’t think the A’s will be moving Harden to the bullpen full-time. It seems to me that they would have already done that if that was their plan. He is making two rehab starts, which would indicate that that is where they see Harden fitting in with the team. I don’t think that the A’s need to move Eveland to the bullpen. The observations about the A’s not overworking him are good ones, but there are other ways for Oakland to preserve Eveland’s arm as the season goes on. They can skip his turn in the rotation here and there when there is an off-day in the schedule or in September when the A’s can bring up more starters as the rosters expand to 40. The A’s need to evaluate whether Eveland is a member of their long-term rotation, so they need to stick with him for awhile to give themselves a fair chance to make that evaluation.

4) Others suggested that the A’s clear the logjam by making a trade. OaklandSi mentions Atlanta as a possible trade partner, and given John Smoltz’s injury and the age of that rotation, the Braves should certainly be in the market for a starter. Joe Blanton and Harden would be the most likely candidates for the A’s to move. A trade could certainly happen, but I believe it will only happen if the A’s get a deal of their liking and not because the A’s want to create space on their own roster. Teams around the league continue to place a lower value on Blanton than the A’s do, so until that changes, he is likely to stay put. Harden will need to prove that he can stay healthy for more than a month before he will have any trade value for Oakland.

5) JohnnyB asks how long the A’s can carry two DHs and who Oakland will send down when Travis Buck returns (likely in a week to 10 days). Both are very good questions. I think that as long as Mike Sweeney can still play first base every five days or so, the A’s will continue to carry him. They like the look of their new, deep bench and the idea of a slugger like Sweeney being available off of the bench in a pinch. That only works, however, if Sweeney can play in the field. If his knee limits his ability to play first base at all, I don’t think the A’s will hesitate to move him to the DL or release him. As for who will go down when Buck returns, I think that is still very much an open question. The A’s like the idea of Rajai Davis’ speed coming off of the bench and certainly having him and Chris Denorfia available as late-game defensive replacements has given manager Bob Geren a lot of weapons in the closing innings of ballgames. My gut feeling (and this is a guess) is that the decision surrounding who to send down will be between Denorfia and Davis. Both offer similar skill-sets (fast players who can play all three defensive positions and who hit right-handed). Denorfia is a better hitter than Davis, but Davis is faster and a bigger threat to steal. I’m guessing that whoever is playing better of the two at the time of Buck’s return will stick and the other will head to Sacramento. There is a small chance Ryan Sweeney could be sent down, but I think, like with Eveland, the A’s are using this season to evaluate whether Ryan Sweeney is going to be a long-term member of the A’s outfield. I believe they will give him a little more leeway when it comes to playing through struggles to see what they have in him.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Players, Transactions, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.