THE A’S ARE BACK AT .500!!  It’s still spring training and the A’s are still playing games that don’t matter, but they do have a Cactus League Championship title to defend. This win comes against their division rival, Seattle Mariners, by a final score of 7-3.

Tom Milone started today’s game and went three innings, allowed three hits, no runs, one walk and struck out three. Milone has now pitched five innings this spring and has allowed zero runs on three hits and two walks and has struck out four. Hideki Okajima relieved Milone in the fourth and over one inning of work allowed a hit, a walk, no runs and struck out one. Sonny Gray was the only pitcher to allow runs in today’s game and he went two innings, allowed four hits, three runs (two earned), walked none and struck out one. Andrew Werner also pitched two innings today and only allowed two hits.

The offense was offense-y today, scoring seven runs on eleven hits and four walks. Hiro Nakajima had his first multi-hit game going 2-3 with a stolen base and RBI. He is now 6-20 this spring with an RBI, a walk and two stolen bases. Jed Lowrie hit his first home run of spring today, he went 1-2 with a walk, scored two runs and drove in two. He is 5-16 with five RBI and four walks this spring.

• Coco Crisp started in center field this lovely afternoon and went 1-3 with a strikeout. He is 5-12 with a double this spring.
• Josh Reddick played in right field and went 1-2 with a walk and one RBI.
• Yoenis Cespedes was the team’s designated hitter today and he went 1-4 with two strikeouts.
• Brandon Moss played at first base and went 0-3. He is 5-20 this spring, with one home run, two RBI and one strikeout.
• Chris Young played in center field today and went 1-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
• Scott Sizemore returned to the lineup today and went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout. He is 3-14 with two RBI, four walks and five strikeouts this spring.

The A’s are going to face the Mariners again tomorrow, except only this time they get to face the “real” team. AJ Griffin will be making his third start of the spring.

It wasn’t only the pitching that helped the team defeat the Colorado Rockies today, but it was what stuck out most to me today after yesterday’s loss. The final score in today’s win was 6-3.

Andrew Werner was the only pitcher in today’s game to allow any runs, he pitched the sixth and seventh inning today and allowed three earned runs on five hits and a home run. Tom Milone was today’s starter and he only allowed a walk over two innings, while striking out one. Pitching prospect, Sonny Gray, pitched two innings and allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two. Mike Ekstrom pitched a clean inning of work, allowing only a walk.

Most of the runs scored in today’s game came off of two home runs; Josh Reddick hit his first of the spring (a 3-run home run) and Brandon Moss hit his first as well (a solo in the fifth). The team scored their six runs on ten hits and five walks and went 3-9 with runners in scoring position.

• Coco Crisp returned to the lineup today and went 2-3 with a run. Michael Choice replaced Crisp in the sixth and collected another hit and RBI.
• Josh Reddick started in right field today and went 2-2 with a home run and three RBI. Michael Taylor replaced him in the sixth and he went 0-1.
• Yoenis Cespedes was the designated hitter today and he went 0-3 with two strike outs. He is now hitless in eleven at-bats this spring with four walks and two strikeouts.
• Seth Smith was in left field today and went 1-2 with a walk. He was replaced by Shane Peterson, who has had a great spring so far. Peterson collected two more hits today and is now 9-20 this spring with one home run and three RBI.
• Hiro Nakajima was the starting shortstop today and he went 0-1, was hit by pitch twice, stole his first base of the spring and scored one run.
• John Jaso was the catcher today and went 0-2 with a walk, a run and a strikeout.

The A’s will face the Colorado Rockies on Sunday and AJ Griffin will be making his second start for the team.

(Photo: Bay_to_Taki/Photozou)

Coming into the 2012 season the A’s had one of the strongest farm systems in baseball.  With the season more than halfway over I thought it would be the perfect chance to check in with some of the A’s top prospects, starting with Michael Choice and Sonny Gray, who are both number one draft picks for Oakland.

Outfielder Michael Choice was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 2010 draft with the 10th overall pick.  Entering the season John Sickels ranked him as Oakland’s number 2 overall top prospect, Kevin Goldstein ranked him as their number 1 top prospect and Baseball America ranked him as their 5th top prospect.

After fracturing his hand 2 weeks ago Michael Choice was shut down for the remainder of the season.  Before his injury he played in 118 games for Double-A Midland and over 402 plate appearances he had a .287/.356/.423 slash line with a .350 wOBA and a wRC+ of 117. He also had 10 HR, 58 RBI and 5 SB.

This was his first season in Double-A and although his average and on base were close to what they were last season, his power had decreased significantly.  Not only has his slugging dropped more than .100 points, his ISO dropped from .257 to .136 this season.  His walk percentage had dropped down slightly from 11% to 8%, but so did his strikeout percentage going from 25% to 22%.

While Choice will be missing almost most of the entire second half of the season, I expect he will be promoted to Triple-A Sacramento at some point during the 2013 season.  I don’t think there is any reason to be concerned over his dip in numbers, especially since he had .367/.420/.578 slash line over his last 23 games.

Pitcher Sonny Gray was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 2011 draft with the 18th overall pick.  John Sickels and Kevin Goldstein both ranked him as the A’s 5th top prospect and Baseball America ranked him as their 3rd overall top prospect.

Sonny Gray has started in 21 games in Double-A Midland and has a 5-1 record with a 4.37 ERA.  Over 115.1 innings he has a .310 BABIP and a 3.67 FIP.  He also has a 5.77 SO/9 and 3.75 BB/9 rate with an impressive 0.31 HR/9 rate.

His numbers on the season are just okay, but since he has returned from the All-Star break his numbers have been a little bit better, allowing 17 runs over 48 innings while walking 18 and striking out 30.

When the A’s first drafted Sonny Gray many scouts thought he would be better in the bullpen rather than in a starting role, but the A’s seem set at keeping him in the starting spot for now.  His biggest concern right now seems to be control, having walked 48 batters over 115 innings.

Another good day for Cliff Pennington this Spring

Athletics:  4  Cubs: 3

I’ll start with the good news, the A’s beat the Cubs today!  It wasn’t a pretty win, but a win is a win.  They only had 6 hits, but scored 4 times.  There were also a few good defensive plays, which essentially won the game for them.

Lines of the Day:

• Cliff Pennington: 3 AB, 2 H, 1 R.  Pennington is now 15-31 this Spring (.484 AVG) with 6 runs, 3 RBI and 4 BB.
• Seth Smith: 3 AB, 3 H, 2 RBI.  After going 3-3 today, Seth Smith is now hitting .333 this Spring.

Ugly Lines of the Day: 

• Yoenis Cespedes: 4 AB, 0 H, 2 Strikeouts.  Not a good day for Cespedes at the plate, who is now hitting .188 after going O-fer today.

Worth Mentioning:

• Travis Schlichting allowed 2 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 1 BB and 1 strikeout over 3 innings of work.
• Top prospect Sonny Gray threw 2.1 innings today, he allowed 1 hit, 1 unearned run, 2 BB.
• Two errors in today’s game, a Spring first for Sonny Gray and a first for Adam Rosales.

» Continue reading “A’s Play Two; Win One and Lose One”

Sonny Gray was one of the 10 non-roster invitees sent to minor league camp (photo: Karl Fisher/Flickr)

Following today’s win to the Royals, the A’s announced they have made 12 roster moves:

• Sean Doolittle (LHP) and Jermaine Mitchell (OF) have both been optioned down to Triple-A Sacramento.
• 10 non-roster invitees have been moved to minor league camp: RHPs Edgar Gonzalez,Sonny Gray,Jim Miller,Merkin Valdez, LHP Fabio Castro, C Max Stassi and OFs Michael Choice, Grant Green, Cedric Hunter, Jason Pridie.

Really no surprises with this list.  The A’s are now down to 46 players at camp (8 non-rosters and 38 from the 40-man).

Remember the A’s do not need to set their 25-man roster until opening day at home (April 6th).

The A’s will play their first Spring Training game today against the Mariners.

As expected the A’s will start RHP Graham Godfrey and he will be followed by LHP Tom Milone.

Today’s line up is expected to be similar to the one on opening day in Japan: Jemile Weeks 2B, Cliff Pennington SS, Coco Crisp CF, Manny Ramirez DH, Seth Smith LF, Josh Reddick RF, Kurt Suzuki C, Brandon Allen 1B and Josh Donaldson 3B.

Obviously Manny Ramirez will not be DH’ing on opening day and I expect Yoenis Cespedes to be some where in the lineup on March 28th as well.

There were a few things worth mentioning from yesterday’s intrasquad game:

• 2011 first round pick, Sonny Gray (RHP), pitched 1 shut out inning while allowing 1 hit and striking out 1 (Chris Carter)
• Ryan Cook (RHP), who was aquired in the Trevor Cahill trade, had 1 clean inning of work.   Cook is one of the relief pitchers who will be vying for a bullpen spot come opening day
• Former top prospect and first baseman turned pitcher, Sean Doolittle (LHP), pitched 1 inning today.  He allowed a triple and 1 unearned run
• Josh Donaldson (3B) had an error in his first Spring Training game at third today, but he also hit a 3-run homer off of Jim Miller (RP)
• Newly acquired Derek Norris (C) also hit a solo home run off Miller

In case you missed it: Fangraphs has ranked Oakland’s broadcasters, Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper, the 9th best TV broadcasters in baseball (out of 31).

They note that Ray Fosse had an “unanimous support among respondents” while Glen Kuiper had mixed results.

Welcome to March A’s fans, baseball season starts in only 28 days for us and I couldn’t be more excited!

There’s just a few things coming out of Arizona this past day, but worth the mention.

The A’s will play an intrasquad game today, a few players expected to pitch in today’s game are Sonny Gray, Sean Doolittle and Ryan Cook.

There are two top prospects who are looking forward to tomorrow’s game:

Miguel Tejada spoke with Susan Slusser on Tuesday, he expressed an interest in coming back to Oakland and playing third base for them.  Susan Slusser and Ray Ratto both explain why the A’s bringing Miggy back is a long shot.

It’s possible that the Yoenis Cespesdes will join the A’s as early as this weekend.  The outfielder and the A’s agreed on a 4-year deal, but he has not been able to come to camp because he is still waiting on a work visa.

Billy Beane spoke with the press on Wednesday about his Oscar experience and I don’t know about you all, but I am still waiting to see that picture of him and Tim Tebow.

In case you missed it: It’s been over 10 years, but that infamous Derek Jeter flip is back in the spotlight thanks to Bobby Valentine. Lucky us.

Brad Peacock ranks as 36th (Photo: MudflapDC/Flickr)

Baseball America released their top 100 prospect list and 6 A’s players made the list.

I know I have talked about prospect lists numerous times, so I will keep this one short:

14. Yoenis Cespedes, OF

26. Jarrod Parker, RHP

36. Brad Peacock, RHP

57. AJ Cole, RHP

65. Sonny Gray, RHP

80.  Michael Choice, OF

Obviously the first thing to take note of is that Cespedes is our top prospect rather than Jarrod Parker, who usually tops most prospect lists.

I am also surprised to see Michael Choice so low on the list,  most prospect lists had him at number two behind Parker.  Choice does need to work at his patience at the plate (0.46 BB/K ratio), however the numbers he put up last season Class-A Stockton (.285/.423/.667 30 HR 82 RBI in 118 games) puts him at the top half of the A’s prospect list in my opinion.

Another side note, Jarrod Parker was ranked 33rd in 2011 on Baseball America’s top prospect list, so he has moved up 7 spots.

I promise no more top prospect list talk from now forward, or at least until 2013.

Will Evan Scribner make the cut? (Photo: SD Dirk/Flickr)

Spring Training is right around the corner (EEK!) so it’s time to get to know your non-roster invitees:

Fabio Castro: LHP: Signed a minor league contract with the A’s January 6th, 2012.  Castro pitched for AAA Tacoma in the Seattle Mariners organization last season where he posted a 5-4 record in 24 games (12 starts) with a 3.63 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 64 strike outs.

Edgar Gonzalez: RHP: Signed a minor league contract with the A’s November 3, 2011.  Gonzalez pitched for AAA Colorado Springs in the Colorado Rockies organization, he had a 5-3 record in 15 games (14 starts) with a 5.29 ERA, 5.96 K/9 and 2.70 BB/9.

Gonzalez also played in 1 game for the Rockies, he pitched 2 innings of relief and allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because he pitched for the A’s back in 2009.

Sonny Gray: RHP: Drafted by the Oakland A’s in the first round of the 2011 draft.  In 2011 Gray started in 6 games between the Arizona Fall League and AA Midland, he had a 1-1 record with a 0.82 ERA, he only allowed 2 earned runs over 22 innings.

Sonny Gray will most likely not make it to the team coming out of Spring Training, but if he continues to   progress at this rate we should see him in the majors as early as next season.

» Continue reading “A’s Spring Training Non-Roster Invitees: Pitchers”

Sonny Gray was MLB's 85th top prospect (Photo: KarlFisher/Flickr)

MLB released their top 100 prospects list on Wednesday and the A’s had six players on the list, only the Rays and Padres matched that number.

Last season the A’s did not have one player on the MLB top prospect list, although it was only a top 50 list last season, it’s further proof that the off season trades have really strengthened Oakland’s farm system.

Pitcher Jarrod Parker topped the six prospects, coming in at number 26.  Parker was obtained from the Arizona Diamonbacks in the Trevor Cahill deal.  The right-hander went 11-8 in 26 games last season for Arizona’s Double-A team.  He also had a 3.79 ERA with 8.9 SO/9 and 3.9 BB/9.

Parker made his major league debut against the Dodgers in September, he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed 4 hits and no runs.

Parker has four pitchers, but uses his mid-nineties fastball the most.  He is said to have great command and is expected be a top-of-the-rotation starter.

Michael Choice, who was drafted by the A’s in the first round of the 2010 draft, came in at number 59.  The outfielder had 30 HR, 82 RBI and a .285/.376/.542 line in Class A Stockton last season.  If Michael Choice lives up to potential, he brings the much needed power bat Oakland has been lacking.

» Continue reading “The A’s Have Prospects Again”