Welcome to Oakland: The A's have reportedly comes to terms on a one-year deal with Bartolo Colon (Photo Credit: AP)

You can never have too much pitching. Well, at least that’s what the A’s believe. According to several reports, including one featured on the team’s official site, the A’s have come to terms with free agent pitcher Bartolo Colon on a one-year deal.

The deal is reportedly worth about $2 million and possibly includes a signing bonus as well. The club has yet to actually confirm the deal, though. Still, the two sides are expected to finalize things soon.

With Colon, the A’s have yet another viable option for the back-end of their starting rotation. The Athletics scored a few good names in their recent dealings of Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, but the team isn’t expected to rush their newly acquired prospects.

Given the fact that 2012 isn’t going to be Oakland’s year, young pitchers like Brad Peacock, Jarrod Parker, and Tom Milone aren’t going to be pressured to deliver big results this season.

No. Instead, a guy like Colon gives the team some added depth to help in the development of those young pitchers. The A’s are in no position to rush their young players, so adding a veteran guy like Colon to help fill out the starting rotation makes sense. At least to me, anyway.

Colon, 38, is coming off his best season in nearly six years. Last year, the veteran righty went 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA as a member of the New York Yankees. He proved to be a valuable presence in the back of New York’s rotation last year. (more…)

DeJesus was acquired last winter by Oakland in a trade that sent pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks to Kansas City. Upon his arrival, DeJesus never really settled into his surroundings with the Athletics. He was brought in by GM Billy Beane to help out both offensively and defensively.

Oakland didn’t get much return on their investment, however, as DeJesus suffered through a 2011 season that saw him hit just .240/.323/.376 with 10 HR and 46 RBIs.

Entering the offseason it was expected that all three of Oakland’s starting outfielders from 2011 would be gone by next spring. One down, two more to go.

Show Me The Money: The A's are putting their spending on hold until a stadium decision is made (Photo Credit: www.jimvesting.com)

The title above shouldn’t surprise anyone. The A’s head into the offseason with some serious, and I mean serious, questions regarding the team’s spending on free agents this winter. A’s fans shouldn’t expect a repeat of last winter, where the A’s went all crazy and made several attempts at landing 3B Adrian Beltre. Spending money, so it seems, is not on Oakland’s agenda this winter.

General manager Billy Beane and team co-owner Lew Wolff will be busy waiting around for a decision from MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig regarding the team’s request to build a stadium in San Jose. No one is holding their breath, though. Beane and Wolff have been waiting nearly three years for a decision that, in mind, won’t benefit the A’s organization. I just don’t see MLB or Selig being gutsy enough to allow the A’s into San Jose, which falls within San Francisco’s “territorial” rights.

All of this waiting, as most of you can probably imagine, is not doing Beane or the rest of the A’s front office any good. The longer the A’s sit around and wait for a decision that’s never going to come, the more and more they fall behind the rest of the teams actually taking part in this year’s free agent market. Oakland have not made any offers to its five free agents, and now guys like Josh Willingham and Coco Crisp are free to chat with other teams.

The A’s simply took a “pass” on their five free agents, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle so eloquently puts it in a recent article about team’s failure to offer contract extensions. In the article, Slusser notes that the A’s missed out on their window of exclusivity with their five free agents and that it now appears highly unlikely that Willingham and Crisp will return to the team next year. (more…)