July 18, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics shortstop Brandon Hicks (18) is showered with Gatorade after hitting a walk off home run against the Texas Rangers at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE

Hicks doesn’t amount to much more than organizational depth in the long haul, but he’s a good guy to have around, and certainly had a couple strong moments in Oakland.  His first came during the Bay Bridge series when he very nearly hit a walk off home run that fell just short of the wall and bounce over for a ground rule double that did cost the A’s the tying run.  He did manage to get the ball over the wall against the Texas Rangers though later on in the season for one of the A’s many walk off victories of 2012.

Hicks will likely serve the same role for the New York Mets, and this will probably end up being just another stop around the league for Hicks as he bounces around.  He may have played a small role in the Athletics magical season, but every little bit counts.  The Mets may not be terribly competitive, but neither were the A’s before 2012, perhaps Brandon Hicks is the catalyst to victory.

July 18, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics shortstop Brandon Hicks (18) hits a walk off home run against the Texas Rangers during the ninth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE

Both Miller and Hicks were designated for assignment, so they will go through the waiver process or may be traded within that waiver period.  They may still remain in the organization of they go unclaimed and accept the assignment, but I would imagine they’d elect free agency.  Both of them found themselves on the outside looking in, and may look elsewhere for a better opportunity to prove themselves.

Brandon Hicks of course will be remembered for the huge walk off home run against the Texas Rangers on a Wednesday afternoon, but unfortunately aside from that his big hits were few and far between.  In 70 plate appearances over 22 games Hicks hit .174/.243/.391 with 3 home runs.

Jim Miller was up and down between Oakland and Sacramento all season, and was relegated to mop up duty.  He did fairly well in his role making 33 appearances and registering a 2.59 ERA.  But he pitched around a lot of messes he created with walks, issuing 27 free passes in his 48.2 innings of work.  If he can improve his control, he can be a servicable middle reliever, and assuredly he’ll get his chance somewhere if it isn’t ultimately in Oakland.

Andrew Carignan is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and probably won’t be pitching until next season is well underway.  Carignan made just 11 appearances before hurting his elbow, and had a 4.66 ERA over his 9.2 innings.  He was outrighted to Triple A so he’ll be staying with the organization while he continues his rehab process.

The protection of Green, Ynoa, Peterson, and Leon leaves a few recognizable names open for the taking in the upcoming draft.  Of note are pitchers James Simmons, and Justin Souza, also eligible is outfielder Jermaine Mitchell.  Infielders Tyler Ladendorf and Josh Horton, along with catcher Petey Paramore, and pitchers Travis Banwart and Jared Lansford round out the list of eligible players from the Athletics organization.

Barring another move of some sort that clears space on the roster, the A’s will not be selecting any players in the Rule 5 draft.  They will be surely keeping a close eye on the draft to see if any of their players are taken from them.

Prior to the trade deadline there was much speculation of the A’s acquiring some help from outside the organization, such names as Hanley Ramirez, Yunel Escobar, Stephen Drew, and Jimmy Rollins were at one point associated with the A’s.  At this point though it seems more and more unlikely that the A’s solution at SS is going to come from anywhere but within the organization.  Cliff Pennington has been on the DL with elbow tendinitis but before that he hadn’t supplied much in the way of offense with a .197/.259/.282 line this year.  But it’s been made abundantly clear that the current and recent crop of SS candidates aren’t getting it done either, Brandon Hicks hit .183/.246/.417, Eric Sogard is hitting .172/.212/.283, and Adam Rosales has a .156/.372/.156 line.  I personally love Adam Rosales simply for his high energy, constant hustle, and the obvious love he has for the game and I believe he should be in the backup SS role over Sogard or Hicks.  Not to mention his high speed home run sprint, and if we were able to see that more often this might not be as much of an issue.

Can Cliff Pennington really still be the SS of the future? (Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE)

So what are we to do with this situation?  The A’s need to call up Grant Green and plug him into the lineup for a while and see what he can do at the Major League level.  Over his 4 seasons as he’s moved up through the minor league system the 24 year old has a career .301/.348/.460 line, so he’s shown he can hit in professional baseball.  So far in 2012 with the Sacramento RiverCats he’s been hitting .294/.335/.453 through 99 games.  When he was drafted in the first round by the A’s in 2009 he was a shortstop, and while he’s moved through the A’s system his position has changed almost constantly.  From SS to 3B, to CF and back to the infield Green has been tried out just about everywhere on the diamond so certainly no one can argue he isn’t versatile.  Of all his positions SS is probably his weakest defensively, but the mere fact that he has experience at the position makes him a fit.

Green hasn’t developed anything beyond average power, and believe it or not that’s not something the A’s desperately need right now.  What the A’s need is someone who can be on base when the big boys come to the plate so they can hit more than solo home runs for once.  Green seems to profile as a perfect #2 hitter in the lineup with his solid OBP.  This way Jemile Weeks can remain in the #9 spot where he seems to be somewhat more productive of late.

I fear that the A’s expect Cliff Pennington’s struggles to be in the past because his elbow is getting healthy, while I believe neither will necessarily be the case.  Grant Green needs to be an Athletic, not as a September call up to sit on the bench, grab a few ABs, and experience what it’s like to be a big leaguer.  He needs to inject some life into the position and help keep this team in the push for the playoffs.