A’s Acquire OF Chris Young from Diamondbacks

The A’s offseason got off to a fast start this weekend, when the team sent Cliff Pennington to, surprise surprise, the Arizona Diamondbacks for OF Chris Young.  The deal also included the A’s prospect Yordy Cabrera going to Miami through Arizona as the A’s also took cash back ($500,000). 

Let’s start with the departure of Cliff Pennington and what that means for the A’s moving forward.  I liked Cliff’s glove at SS and 2B, but his bat had become a tremendous hole in the lineup.  With several other weak bats throughout, there needed to be a change somewhere and I think we found our answer.  Cliff’s departure likely/hopefully means that there is a deal in place with Stephen Drew, whether that is the option in his contract or a new deal for a few additional seasons.  The FA list for the SS position is incredibly weak, so I hope this doesn’t come back to bite the team.  At 2B, it looks like there will be an open competition between Sizemore and Weeks (and Grant Green). 

Bringing in Chris Young adds more depth to the A’s outfield, who lost plenty of games (75) between the injuries to Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes.  In the CSN article linked to above, Billy Beane provides a nice 10 minute overview of what the deal means to the team and says that this does not spell the end to the Coco era.  I think it is a good idea to keep these three guys + Reddick on the roster, allowing for days off and rotations without losing too much in the lineup day in and day out.  Young brings a little bit more pop with his bat, along with some speed on the bases.  He had back to back 20-20 years in ’10 and ’11, before injuring his shoulder this past season.  Young says he is now fine / healthy and is looking forward to joining the Oakland clubhouse. 

However, this will impact the rest of the roster, most specifically who the team keeps around to DH and play 1B.  I can’t imagine Chris Carter and Brandon Moss are going anywhere, particularly Moss given the need another left-handed power bat.  This leaves Jonny Gomes and Seth Smith in question.  I would prefer to see Gomes back on the squad versus Smith, but from a rotational standpoint, and again, a need for another left-handed bat, I imagine Seth Smith would be the priority and that Gomes will be looking for a new team.  The only argument I see against this logic is that retaining Coco and Drew, while playing Weeks at 2B gives you three LHB’s available for the lineup, with Reddick.  In fact, I hope that is the logic and Beane decides to keep Jonny around over Seth.  Someone please pass this logic along. 

Perhaps the biggest news from this weekend’s trade and interviews is that Beane confirmed that the team will be adding payroll for the 2013 season.  Yes!  If you give this FO $75 million or so to work with, I think they can do the necessary patchwork to improve this team and allow it to continue to contend moving forward. 

What did you think of the move and the ramifications it may have on the rest of the roster? 

Let’s go Oakland!