The five-eleven, 200 pound righty was over the moon and took his excitement to Twitter where he tweeted the following: “Thank everyone for the support this has been an awesome day for me and my family… Officially a part of the A’s as of today!”  He also told MLB.com  ”You look forward to Draft day and you look forward to signing. Thankfully we got a deal done and I’m happy to be here.”

His days with the Vanderbilt Commodores were what got him this deal with Oakland.  Gray went 12-4 with an ERA of 2.43 in 18 starts this season.  He was also able to be the key player in helping his team soar to the semifinals during the this years College World Series by pitching in two of those games.

Gray didn’t waste any time after the signing.  He was able to join the A’s pitching staff during practice last Monday for some ice breaking time before flying to Arizona for some time to shape up.  After that he will be heading to Double-A Midland sometime at the beginning of August.

According to A’s manager Bob Melvin, Gray’s  stats and positive attitude is what make him a perfect fit for the A’s organization.  ”He’s a tough kid who loves to compete. That doesn’t show up in the stat sheets. The stats were good, but I think what was recognized was what type of competitor he is.”

Gray is also in agreement with Melvin and makes no bones about the challenges he faces in Texas. “I thought it was a great opportunity, They came up with the proposal to send me to Midland and we jumped on it and we were excited about that. Going to Midland and going to Double-A is exciting, but it’s going to be a challenge.  It’s something I’m looking forward to.”

On a side-note to this story, I found out this kid is a great all around player and not only played top-notch baseball for his High School team, the Smyrna Bulldogs, but he also able to lead the football team to back-to back Class 5A state football championships as their starting quarterback. Baseball and Football?  I can’t wait to see this guy in the green and yellow.

According to bleacherreport.com, “Selig announced two years ago a new task force, he stated that this would be the way to bring the A’s into the 21st century with a state-of-the-art ballpark to replace the old and depressing Overstock.com Coliseum.”  Well, this still has not come to fruition and to know that this could have been a done deal way before this task force was put together is mind boggling to me, especially because of these reports that are now surfacing about the team being bought almost ten years ago.

Yes!  According to the Bee,  ”Supermarket mogul Bob Piccinini attempted to purchase the A’s in the early 2000′s; however, he argues his attempts were blocked by the San Francisco Giants, who he claims, urged Selig and MLB not to allow his purchase of the club.  Piccinini hinted at collusion between the Giants and MLB to essentially run the A’s out of the Bay Area.”  It is important to note that these claims have no evidence to back them up, so we have to give both MLB and The Giants the benefit of the doubt.

With that, two years is too long and it is not fair to the team or it’s loyal fans.   It’s bad enough that there was a recent shakeup in management and that once again there seems to be an up tick in injuries.  Not to mention the continued downward spiral of games that have been lost within the last couple of weeks.

Perhaps it would have been a good thing if this guy Piccinini could have acquired the team. According to The Bee, “Piccinini is a baseball man. He’s owned minor league franchises in Modesto, Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento. In 1999, he rounded up William Dean Singleton, chairman of Media News Group; George Zimmer, owner of Men’s Wearhouse; Andy Dolich, a former A’s executive; and Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Joe Morgan (who later backed out).   He now says he probably would not buy the team if it were to go up for sale again.  Then again his next statement was, “never say never.”

At this point, they should just stay in Oakland or perhaps somewhere else beyond the greater Bay Area.  I am tired of the alleged cronyism that our great Owner Lew Wolff has with MLB commissioner Selig or that he is in good with the big wigs in San Jose’s Silicon Valley.  Just get on with it!  You know,  I was for sure that they were not going to get rid of manager Bob Geren and had stated in my last posting that they would get rid of a player before they did that.  Boy, was I wrong.  Why can’t we do that with some of  these higher ups?  Let’s start with Mr. Wolff.

When you look at the A’s offense they have gotten somewhat better but, are still considered lackluster compared to other teams who see their chances of a playoff grow brighter.  With this news, is it possible the A’s will make more trades?  According to Bleacherreport.com some possible name have come up to bolster the lineup.  They include New York Mets, David Wright, Brewers, Prince Fielder and Corey Hart and  Washington Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman.

If these trades are going to come to fruition for the A’s then they will have to pull out all of the stops to land a heavy hitter.   Of course, any trade discussions will involve the A’s current pitchers: Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez but, does this mean that one of these players could possibly be traded?  I guess it depends on who they want and whether it is really worth letting go one of these key players.

If these players are not going to be considered for a trade, then that leaves those pitchers who are up and coming.  These players include Michael Taylor, Chris Carter, Michaels Choice, Ian Krohl, Grant Green, Michael Ynoa, Jemille Weeks and Adrian Cardenas.

Bleacherreport.com is putting their bets on Jemille Weeks and Adrian Cardenas.  ”Both players are off to a spectacular start to their 2011 season in Triple-A Sacramento. Cardenas is hitting .429 at the time of this writing, and Weeks is batting .322.”  Grant Green is also doing well and not expected to be traded anytime soon.

The rest of the pack varies, some of them such as Carter, Taylor Krohl and Choice have not proven that they have the potential to step up, at least not yet.  As far as Michael Ynoa goes, well, he had Tommy John Surgery recently and is still down for the count.

With that, whatever Billy Beane decides to do, if he is even considering this kind of trade, will be for the good of the both the team and the A’s organization.  Whatever it takes to get to the playoffs.