Scout.com’s Melissa Lockard just wrapped up an interview with A’s Director of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi. Here’s the Cliff Notes version of what was discussed behind the veil of subscriber content.
Grant Green got a lot of focus and it sounds like the A’s really really like his bat. Can he stay at SS? Lockard’s big concern was the throwing arm; which at one point got sore and sent him to the DL. Zaidi played it close to the vest, saying that Green was going to be given opportunity to prove himself at SS but he also said the organization feels that Cliff Pennington is a legit long-term answer at the position. Reading between the lines that means Green gets one more year to show that he can handle SS before he gets moved.
Sean Doolittle avoided a second knee surgery but is still re-habbing and isn’t expected to be ready for playing time until ST. (Doolittle is Rule V eligible this winter and it will be interesting to see if the A’s protect him.)
Max Stassi looked worn out by the end of his first pro season but overall the A’s are happy with the progress. There’s a very good chance that he and Rashun Dixon will re-join Ian Kroll and Justin Marks in Stockton next year.
Speaking of Krol, Zaidi said that his stuff fluctuated from 86-90 some games to 88-92, touching 93 other times. The lower velocity is consistent with what Krol’s stuff was like coming out of the draft. The A’s are very impressed with Krol’s command and secondary pitches… if they can find a way to keep his velocity in the higher range they’d be looking at a potential #2 SP.
The A’s feel that Stephen Parker has the athleticism to stay at 3B. His 33 errors attests to the need for more consistency… and a better target to throw at at 1B!
2010 12th round pick Matt Thomson got a glowing review. The A’s grade him as having solid-average velocity; but he’s shown signs of plus velocity while in the SP role and the A’s hope they can coax that velocity to show on a more regular basis. A senior sign, the org. expects him to move quickly.
Corey Brown and Jeremy Barfield had minor knee surgery to clean out some loose debris. 2010 draft pick Rashad Ramsey had surgery to repair a torn meniscus while fellow draftee Jordan Tripp had minor surgery on his wrist.
That’s about it from the Scout articles. If folks have any questions I’ll elaborate as best I can.
On a different subject… a lot of people have been talking about trading for Rasmus or Kemp to improve the A’s line-up. It’s true that both the Cardinals and the Dodgers will be looking for pitching next year; it’s also true that both of those teams had holes in their line-ups that would only be further exasperated by trading a bat. But no one mentions the Milwaukee Brewers when discussing a potential trading partner for the A’s. The Brewers have maybe 3 SP pencilled in to their 2011 rotation and have Corey Hart and Ryan Braun in the OF corners, plus Matt Gamel in the minors who could potentially replace either one as soon as next year. Both Hart and Braun have issues (check the links on Fangraphs) but both represent upgrades over the A’s existing COF options and are signed to relatively inexpensive contracts through 2013 at the least. I imagine Braun would be more expensive… and I wonder how much common ground could be found in a Mazzaro/Hart discussion.
Posted for grover.
Thanks. I fell asleep.
Way to encourage my continued participation.
SNXXKKXXKK — whu? Who said that?
Thanks for covering for the simian.
Had to be done.
I really like Braun. The guy was a 5 WAR player last year even while being around -15 on defense. That’s an astounding bat. But he’s probably even more of a pipe dream than Kemp, Rasmus, Werth…even Crawford.
Hart….meh.
I think the Brewer would be nuts to move Braun, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to ask the question.
What are your thoughts on Gio for Braun? I doubt a one-for-one swap would happen, so consider them the headliners. How do you make that deal happen?
I think the Brewers would want another MLB ready starting pitcher in that package (Mazzaro) + a low level, high upside prospect (Dixon? Stassi?). Even still, that’s a pretty conservative estimate. In any case, a trade for five very cheap years of Braun (in his prime years) seems to me to be firmly in the “too costly to pursue” category.
thanks grover. very enlightening.
You’re welcome.
What’s the prognosis on Ynoa?
Had TJS in August…Won’t see him til 2012.
Hindsight of course but I really wish the A’s pursued Miguel Sano instead.
“You pray I prophet” would be a great name for a blog.
I am very meh on Hart. Especially since he wouldn’t have the power numbers in Oakland. And the league switch issue.