Oakland Athletics: Gentry is Coming, Let’s Play GM
By Jason Burke
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
With Craig Gentry set to join the team in Seattle, the A’s have to send a player to Sacramento to make room for Gentry. There are a few players who have been put on the low-end of the totem pole, and could be sent packing in the coming days.
Here is the list:
Fuld has been performing the best of the trio early in the season, compiling a .222 AVG, 1 HR, 4RBI and .276 OBP. The problem Fuld runs into is that this is right about where his career numbers are. His career BA is .233. This is quite possibly his ceiling. That also means that he is performing as the A’s hoped he would, because they knew all of these stats beforehand. Fuld is out of options, and if he is deemed the odd-man-out, another team will likely snatch him up, and he would be lost to the A’s. My GM vote: STAY
Daric Barton keeps making the club because of his defense, and this year is no exception. Barton is a career .249 hitter, which is pretty good for someone that doesn’t seem to swing that bat very often. Barton is more of an On-Base threat. His OBP this season is at .250, while his average is at .118. Barton’s career OBP is a solid .358. He is simply underperforming through 9 games. Barton is also out of options, but has cleared waivers before. My GM vote: MINORS
This last one is hard. We have already cleared a spot on the roster for Gentry, but staying in the majors may not be beneficial to Josh Reddick at this point. His swing is very long, slowing his bat speed, and he is trying to pull everything which is leading to a lot of strikeouts (13K’s in 29 AB). We were all optimistic that last season’s woes were a product of the injured wrist which he sustained in the early-going of 2013. Reddick had a solid Spring Training, both in the field and at the plate. He hit .333 in Arizona, mainly against Triple-A caliber pitching.
Reddick needs to fix his swing, and he has an option left. Josh has shown he can dominate these Triple-A pitchers with his current swing. It may be time to send him down to work on a new, shortened swing. He will do well in the minors, which will also boost his self-confidence at the plate. Baseball is a mental game. A minute in the minors would either set his mind right, or he could never return back to his 2012 self. It all depends on Josh fixing what’s wrong. My GM Vote: MINORS
Now wait a second, we just cleared 2 spots when we only needed 1. What gives? Well, we swapped outfielders, Reddick for Gentry. We also sent Barton down. Who replaces him? Nate Freiman, everyone’s favorite 6’8″ first baseman. The big guy. Freiman isn’t setting the world on fire in the minors right now, but he is a right-handed bat (Brandon Moss is a lefty) and a better defensive first baseman than Alberto Callaspo. If Reddick is allowed to stay, expect some sort of platoon in Right Field, between Reddick and the the right-handed batter Gentry. These moves make the current squad at this point in time better.
There should be an announcement regarding these moves made in the next day or so, but this is what make sense to me.
How about you? Who is the odd-man out to activate Gentry? Let’s play GM!