We’ve been discussing what the A’s can, will, and should do about the shortstop position for 2013 as the return of Stephen Drew looks less and less likely.  I discussed the various options the A’s have to fill the void a couple days ago, and in that article listed everyone potentially available from Drew himself down to Brian Bixler.  Wednesday Devin Pangaro made his case for acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians.

May 2, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Alex Gonzalez (11) during an at bat during the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Well Joel Sherman of the New York Post saw fit to put a big wet blanket on all those notions, atleast for the moment.  In a tweet Wednesday Sherman said the A’s are planning to “bottom feed” for their next shortstop.  It’s unclear specifically what that means, and who would fall into the bottom feeder category, yet would be of interest for the Athletics.  But it appears that list of mediocre options for the A’s at shortstop was dismissed a bit prematurely, and we may very well end up seeing one of them in Oakland next year.

So of those options, who might be a possible addition the A’s can make that would actually help them win?  One name jumps out above all the others, Alex Gonzalez.  He was almost good enough to elevate himself out of that group in the first place, but this development certainly changes things.  Gonzalez is not an All Star caliber player, and has had a few solid years here and there, but his career line of .247/.292/.399 is the  very definition of mediocre player.

The only other options from that list would have to be either Jason Bartlett or Maicer Izturis.  Jason Bartlett was an All Star in 2009 with the Rays, but hasn’t come anywhere near the production he achieved in that season since then.  General mediocrity and injuries are the main culprit for his decline in the last 3 years.  Bartlett can most likely be had on a very low risk Major League deal, or perhaps even a Minor League deal.  He’ll be happy just to have a job at this point.  Maicer Izturis on the other hand has spent his entire career thus far with the Los Angeles Angels, in his 9 seasons withe the Halos he hit .273/.337/.381.  He plays a solid shortstop, and can provide a little speed as well.  Izturis may draw more interest on the free agent market than either Gonzalez or Bartlett may, and therefore his cost might be higher as well.

It’s hard to say what the A’s are trying to do right now.  They made a very clear move to win now with the acquisition of Chris Young from the Diamondbacks, so its confusing to see them now possibly digging for a bargain at shortstop.  Nothing is set in stone with Stephen Drew’s departure, but it just feels like it is the likely result.  It’s still early, and we all know that with Billy Beane anything can happen.

Ofcourse Albert Pujols went deep in Oakland... (Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)

The A’s certainly showed Angels how it’s done tonight.  What exactly they showed them probably isn’t what most fans would have liked.  Tonight simply wasn’t the A’s night, in any facet of the game.  CJ Wilson dominated the A’s for 8 scoreless innings only allowing a single hit and a couple of instances of “lawyerball” (walks).  Graham Godfrey pitched a rather uninspiring 3 innings, giving up 4 of the Angels 5 runs including a rare 2012 home run to Albert Pujols.  Cliff Pennington made a throwing error not long after Ken Korach did his best Glen Kuiper impersonation by praising Pennington’s “Gold Glove caliber” play at shortstop so far this year, and Josh Donaldson defied the advice from Little League coaches across the world and let the ball play him instead of playing the ball.

TURNING POINT: The first pitch of the game from Graham Godfrey was an 87 MPH fastball for a called strike to Mike Trout.  The turning point came with the second pitch, an 89 MPH fastball for a ball, followed by 3 more out of the strike zone.  Maicer Izturis singled to right to move Trout to 3rd, and Albert Pujols drove him in with a sacrifice fly.  Three batters into the game the Angels would have all they needed to win this game.  Godfrey would ultimately escape the 1st with 3 runs scored, the final 2 outs of the inning being recorded when Mark Trumbo was tagged out by Anthony Recker after perhaps being too aggressive off 3rd, and when Collin Cowgill threw Howard “Don’t You Dare Call Me Howie” Kendrick out at home on Erick Aybar‘s single.  Not exactly how you want to impress the suits in your return to the show Graham.  Perhaps this will be a short stint in Oakland.

ON THE HILL: It’s hard to imagine this is the same Graham Godfrey that out dueled Tim Lincecum last year.  It’s not like we expected him to be anything more than a back of the rotation starter, but this season so far every time he’s taken the mound the expectation seems to be that he’ll struggle, and struggle he has.  He posted a line of 3 innings, 6 hits, 4 ER, with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts, his ERA now sits at a “Lincecum-esque” (zing) 6.16.  Travis Blackley continued to impress in outlasting today’s starter Godfrey by going 3.2 innings and giving up an unearned run on 3 hits with no walks and 3 strikeouts.  Blackley’s strong pitching kept the game within striking distance until the late innings when Josh Donaldson’s error opened the door for the 5th run to score when Erick Aybar was hit by a Jim Miller curveball with the bases loaded.  Miller would finish that inning and go one more without allowing a run of his own.  Jerry Blevins pitched the 9th without incident, his ERA now sits at 2.33.

Look at the misery on CJ Wilson's face pitching from that terrible mound. (Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)

AT THE PLATE: So we could probably just skip this section altogether tonight.  CJ Wilson took a no hitter into the 5th inning when Cliff Pennington laced a single with 1 out, he was promptly erased by an Adam Rosales double play ball.  Walks to Daric Barton and Rosales surely infuriated Wilson, but that was all the resistance they could manage.  It may have been a lineup missing Josh Reddick, Jemile Weeks, and Kurt Suzuki, but when you get owned, you get owned.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  It’s still personal for many A’s fans against CJ Wilson, so seeing him dominate the A’s like this just leaves a sick feeling in everyone’s stomach.  The Athletics do not have an easy task in attempting to rebound tomorrow in the battle of the Jareds (Jarrod or Jered).  The A’s will send out rookie Jarrod Parker who had an extremely rough outing against the Giants last Friday night in San Francisco, hopefully he can gain some command tomorrow.  He carries a 1-2 record with a 3.90 ERA against Jered Weaver who is 6-1 with a 2.80 ERA and a no hitter against the Twins to his credit.  Runs will be hard to come by for the A’s, so Parker has to be on his game.

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TURNING POINT:  The bottom of the 1st inning represented the first of two credible threats the Angels had to score against Tyson Ross.  The A’s had scored in the top of the 1st on “The People’s Right Fielder” Josh Reddick‘s 9th home run of the year, and it was important for Ross to shut down the Angels in their half of the inning.  Maicer Izturis singled with 1 out and stole 2nd with the much maligned Albert Pujols coming to the plate.  An 8 pitch at bat ensued with Ross ultimately emerging victorious getting one of his 10 ground ball outs.  Another lengthy battle occurred with Kendrys Morales, again ultimately won by Ross to squash the threat with RISP.  Ross faced the minimum over the next 3 innings, looking comfortable as ever in Anaheim.

Apr 17, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starter Tyson Ross (66) delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

ON THE HILL:  This was definitely a start Tyson needed to keep his confidence meter moving in the right direction.  When it was all said and done, Ross tossed 6 shutout innings, gave up only 5 hits, walked just 1, and struck out 2.  The story was the fact that he had the ground ball pitch working, 10 of his batters retired were on the ground, only 1 in the air.  His control was in good shape, throwing 60 of his 94 pitches for strikes.  Ross still has a long way to go to prove he’s a Major League caliber starter, but outings like this will help that process.  Grant Balfour may still be upset about losing the closer job, but he didn’t let it affect his performance on the mound, he pitched a 1-2-3 7th innings with 1 strikeout.  Jordan Norberto continued his impressive streak, sidestepping a couple singles and giving up nothing.  Ryan Cook came in to close out the game and successfully continued his scoreless streak, allowing just a single basehit.

AT THE PLATE:  Josh Reddick has continued to impress since coming to Oakland, extending his team lead in the HR department with his 1st inning solo shot.  The guy is a player, someone everyone who follows the A’s, not just the A’s faithful in the right field bleachers should get behind.  Seth Smith also continued his hot hitting with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI.  Other notables in the lineup were Jemile Weeks and his 0-4 night dropping him back below .200, and also having the distinction of being the only A’s hitter who didn’t reach base, and Daric Barton had a typical Barton night, going 0-2 with 2 walks.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The lineup for Monday night looked somewhat more Major League worthy, but still was missing the bats of Brandon Inge and Kila Ka’aihue.  While Danny Haren has struggled a bit so far this year, he is still one of the better starting pitchers in baseball, so hanging 4 runs on him is still something to hang their collective hats on.  Tomorrow’s game features former Angel Bartolo Colon (3-3, 3.96 ERA) taking on longtime A’s nemesis Ervin Santana (1-6, 5.09 ERA) at an odd start time of 4:05 PM.  The A’s scored 4 runs against Santana on April 18 in Anaheim, they hope to be able to repeat that performance.  Santana has had an odd season thus far, in 5 of his 7 starts so far in 2012 the Angels have been shutout.  His 5.09 ERA though doesn’t necessarily indicate they’re all hard luck losses, but perhaps the pressure of zero run support has hurt his performance on the mound.  The A’s will hope to continue that misfortune and sweep this 2 game series tomorrow.

Check me out on Twitter @SeanD25, see my take on everything else baseball at Baseball Obsessed, and follow everything Swingin’ A’s @FS_SwinginAs.