Photo credit: ESPN.com
February
got off to a smoking start for the A’s and their fans as Billy Beane pulled off
a bit of a stunner in sending Chris
Carter, Brad Peacock, and Max Stassi to their new division rival, the Astros, for
Jed Lowrie. The A’s also picked up RP Fernando Rodriguez
in the deal.
I was
pretty surprised to see Beane deal away Carter and several relatively prominent
names from the farm system for a player that has been injured quite a bit and
has played the majority of his time at SS in the past, given the Nakajima
signing. However, in four preseason
games, Lowrie has been playing all over the infield, including SS twice and one
game apiece at 2B and 3B. We may see
this happen quite a bit in the regular season as the A’s and Bob Melvin mix and
match across the infield to try to the find the right combination of players
and/or sticking with the “hot” player.
Chris
Carter has always been tough to figure out for A’s fans. His career did not progress too far over the
past two seasons and perhaps the team feels like he has plateaued a bit. Perhaps Melvin wasn’t convinced in Carter’s
ability to play more frequently and wasn’t comfortable with his
limitations. That certainly makes sense
given the coach’s decision to use others in last year’s playoffs over
Carter. Also, I thought this story over at
AN provided some strong rationale as to why Carter was no longer with the A’s.
After
this “blockbuster”, the month of February was very quiet. In fact, the only other deal that the team
announced was the signing of LHP Hideki Okajima to a minor league
contract. While the A’s have a good
amount of depth in their bullpen, you can never have enough to cover for
injuries, rest, etc. Hideki has made two
appearances thus far in spring training and has not given up a run yet,
pitching 2 innings with 2 K’s and 2 BB’s.
It is
certainly nice to have baseball back in the mix, even if it is only spring
training! Now, on to the WBC, where zero
A’s will be participating … thankfully!
Let’s
go Oakland!
