What to do about the A's
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The problem is trying to predict what Beane is going to do...he really does his own thing. Sure I said he should get rid of Milton Bradley but truthfully I never thought he would. But hey why not get the crystal ball out anyway? Trade Mike Piazza once he is back. With the emergence of Jack Cust as DH, Piazza was already getting his catching gear out. But Kurt Suzuki needs playing time and I think it makes more sense to have him learn from Jason Kendall this season so that Suzuki is ready to take over next year. Both Piazza and Kendall are free agents after the season. Bring up Daric Barton already! The guy is the future of the franchise and can just flat out hit. Find him a position and leave him there.
Hey the same goes for Nick Swisher! The reason Swish isn't an All-Star is that he is getting bounced around from first to center to right and back again. He should not be the first baseman regardless of his defense...we have Dan Johnson or Barton for that. Swisher should be in right with Travis Buck in left. Shannon Stewart would be excellent trade bait since he is a free agent after the season as well.
The biggest problem is the pitching. Only 3 guys in the rotation have been solid. Dan Haren, Chad Gaudin and Joe Blanton. So then what? Joe Kennedy baffles me. He should be a consistent guy but he isn't. So since he did well in the pen last year, let's send him back. Lenny DiNardo's 15 minutes of fame are up and he needs to be optioned. That leaves 2 open spots in the rotation. The Hawaiian Punch Shane Komine deserves one of the slots and I'd call up either Dallas Braden or Jason Windsor for the other slot. Let's all face it that Rich Harden is done. He will never be a factor this season and most likely for a long time. Time to stop planning on him for ANYTHING.
The bullpen is a bigger problem. Alan Embree deserves a medal for the job he has done filling in for basically EVERYONE. Also I like what Santiago Casilla (formerly Jairo Garcia!) has done as the main setup guy. The good news is that Kiko Calero is back and supposedly healthy. I think it's time to move Embree back to his role as main lefty setup guy. I know Huston Street isn't back but newly acquired Andrew Brown should be given a chance to close with Casilla being a backup plan. Brown is 6'6" and has the stuff. Also, it's time to option Colby Lewis as well. I suppose most of that was obvious but I think it's a start. I don't think they need to really trade too many guys but I think trading Piazza and Stewart makes sense. And don't buy anything, this is not our year. This is a repost from my blog: The Idiot Chronicles
