Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Now firmly entrenched in the Athletics organization, Otero has flourished as the closer for Sacramento River Cats and has placed himself in a fine position for an eventual call-up despite not being a member of the 40-man roster. Claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees at the tail end of Spring Training, his addition to the organization brought little in the way of fanfare or media notoriety. Turning a blind eye, he was dismissed as little more than organizational depth and was outrighted off the 40-man roster shortly thereafter to accommodate the arrival of Stephen Vogt.

Since being unclaimed and remaining in the organization, Otero has set a new standard of excellence in relief for the River Cats. In keeping up with his historically strong walk and strikeout rates in the minors, he’s issued only 1 free pass all season while striking out 22 in 24 1/3 innings pitched so far. During that time he’s allowed just 12 hits, leaving him with a nifty 0.49 WHIP, to accompany a sterling 1.76 FIP and a perfect 14 for 14 in save opportunities. Equipped with a fastball/slider arsenal, Otero has found success by keeping the ball in the ballpark allowing only 12 home runs total in over 300 innings pitched in professional baseball.

As an interesting side note, the right-hander is the proud owner of a Degree in History with a concentration in Caribbean Studies from South Florida University. While his knowledge regarding Trinidad and Tobago may pay him little dividends in the big leagues, his sense of history will remind him of the constant of change. With so much of the season remaining, the Athletics bullpen may soon yield an opening for Dan Otero. It the meantime, he can be found in Sacramento waiting patiently for a chance to claim his place in baseball history.

Or rather someone.

Like the inadequate concoction of the cocktail of your choice, the construction of the bullpen is lacking a key ingredient that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. You can’t quite place what it is, but you know the omission of the essential additive is imperative to the completion of the drink. In the realm of the Athletics bullpen, everyman has a job. There’s the closer (Grant Balfour), right-handed setup man (Ryan Cook), left-handed setup man (Sean Doolittle), LOOGY (Jerry Blevins), and middlemen (Pat Neshek and Chris Resop). What the A’s don’t have is an effective longman.

There really isn’t a suitable reliever capable of giving the Athletics multiple innings, while Jesse Chavez may give it the old college try he is not a long-term answer. Neither was Evan Scribnerfor that matter. Although Scribner won a place in the hearts of A’s fans everywhere for his multi-inning game saving effort in game 162 last season, he proved to be much more effective pitching limited innings at a time.

 Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Ideally, the Athletics need someone who can come into a game on short notice and effectively shut down the opposition over a prolonged period.  As unsexy as the job sounds, the duties involve much more than simply tossing garbage innings in blowouts. This candidate may also add to their value, by becoming an emergency starter and filling in when necessary over the course of the season. If these qualifications sound familiar, you may be reminiscing about that certain tattooed Australian southpaw, Travis Blackley. The fan favorite filled in admirably last season, but was unceremoniously cut loose before the start of the season in favor of Scribner.

As unpopular as the move was at the time, it now seems all the more ill-advised. With the Athletics left scrambling to fill innings on numerous occasions, thanks to multiple poor outings from the likes of Brett Anderson and Jarrod Parker the time is now for someone to step into the role and round out the bullpen.

There are candidates, both internally within the organization and outside the system. If the A’s were to look for help from Sacramento, there are a few candidates of note to choose from. Amongst the River Cats collective, one will find pitchers Justin Thomas, Brian Gordon, and Bruce Billings. All three have major league experience, and Billings and Thomas are currently slotted in the River Cats rotation, with Thomas in particular pitching well posting a 3.32 ERA and 9.5 k/9 in four starts in the hitter-rich PCL.

Outside the organization, the underachieving Toronto Blue Jays recently designated southpaw Aaron Laffey for assignment. When not sharing a similar name with a member of Thor’s villains gallery, the former Indian has pitched serviceably over a 6-year career. Most recently, Laffey served as a swingman in Toronto last season starting 16 games and appearing out of the bullpen for 6 appearances. In 100 2/3 innings, he posted a 4.56 ERA with a 1.36 WHIP and held lefty hitters to a .239 AVG.

The longman. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. I’ll take another, bartender.

March 6, 2011; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Hideki Okajima (37) during a spring training exhibition game against the New York Mets at Digital Domain Park. The Mets defeated the Red Sox 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Of course nothing is official by any means, and until it is the A’s announce it nothing is set in stone.  But the more I think about adding the experience of Okajima to the relatively young A’s bullpen the more I like it.  Last night I looked at the ZiPs projections for the Athletics bullpen, and the addition of someone like Okajima seems like a good fit.

The theme for the Athletics this offseason hasn’t been making splashy moves and adding impact players, it has been keeping the core of what made them successful in 2012 intact, and fortifying it by adding quality players for depth.  Aside from the addition of Chris Resop, the bullpen has been untouched.  Sean Doolittle and Jerry Blevins will be secure in their roles without a doubt, but Jordan Norberto is far from guaranteed considering his injury history last year and general bouts with inconsistency.

Okajima would slot in as a lefty specialist primarily, holding left handed hitters to a .216/.277/.323 slash line throughout his career in the major leagues.  If he can maintain that level of success against lefties he would undoubtedly be a welcome addition to the bullpen.

So as we eagerly await the first glimpses of the 2013 Athletics tomorrow as pitchers and catchers first report to camp, one eye will be kept on Billy Beane to see if he adds one last piece to the puzzle.