Moves on Moves: Stephen Drew comes to Oakland

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All the transactions over the last 2 days may have left many A’s fans heads in a state of discombobulation. So here is a handy dandy list of the roster moves and transactions in order for you to get your bearings on what’s happened so far.

Image by @CaseyPrattCSN

Stephen Drew acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks: 

Drew had been a hot topic during the trade deadline since the A’s needed a shortstop and Drew needed a change of scenery. Add on top of that the fact that Drew was coming off a pretty bad ankle injury, not playing to his career averages, and it appeared to be a match made in heaven. The A’s would be able to get a low risk high reward player even if he didn’t have the shiny new car smell anymore. Plus he couldn’t have been much worse offensively then what the A’s had going on at SS this year. Drew was acquired for minor league SS Sean Jamieson.

Over the last 30 days, Cliff Pennington had a slash line (BA/OBP/SLG) of .207/.314/.310 after coming back from elbow tendinitis and pretty much anything the A’s can get from Drew offensively at this point will be a bonus. Also I’d be  abdicating my duty as an A’s fan if I didn’t mention that the A’s are only on the hook for 1.94 million of Stephen Drew’s contract for the rest of the season. There is also a Mutual Option for the 2013 season that both Drew & the Oakland front office can enact for $10 million or he can be bought out for the paltry sum of $1.35 million. You know just in case, Wolff & Fisher decide that paying 10 million for a SS is just a little to rich for their blood.

Jemile Weeks optioned to Sacramento to make room on 25 man Roster for Stephen Drew:

At first I was upset at the fact that the A’s sent down Weeks to make room for Drew. Especially since guys like Daric Barton seemed to get miles and miles of rope to leave unworked in the past. Then I had to look at the numbers and what Weeks had been producing and let’s just say it wasn’t much. Over his last 25 games, he accumulated a slash line of .233/.320/.322 with only 11 walks & 2 SB’s. Then take into account his 11 errors over the season and .977 fielding percentage and something just wasn’t right.

Maybe there is truth to the fabled Sophomore jinx or the fact that now teams had a full year and a half of AB’s to figure out the holes in Jemile’s swing and pitch him accordingly. Luckily there is a silver lining to the Weeks demotion, while getting sent down to the minors sucks especially after a full year of MLB service, MLB rosters will expand to 40 on September 1st. So fear not, in about 10 days Weeks will most likely be back in Oakland before you know it and hopefully even hungrier than he was before. Then hopefully, we will see the Weeks that impressed A’s fans so much last year as opposed to this years current iteration.

Brett Anderson makes first start for A’s since 2011:

After rehabbing through Tommy John surgery for the last year and change, Brett Anderson made his first start since June 2011. In order to make room for Anderson on the roster, Dan Straily was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. Adding Anderson back to the A’s rotation gives the A’s a top of the rotation starter and takes the pressure off of Brandon McCarthy, Bartolo Colon, and the A’s rookie staff to produce.

Here is Anderson’s line from his first game back, 7 IP, 4 Hits, 1 ER, 6 K’s, and 86 pitches. Another A’s win and a line like that, not to shabby.

Moves of Note:

Seth Smith was reinstated and finally came off the DL from his lingering hamstring injury. The A’s are finally starting to get some much needed offense back in the line up, especially from the left side of the plate.

Jordan Norberto was placed on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. Luckily the A’s are doing of ok in the left handed reliever department but any bullpen depth is good bullpen depth.

Graham Godfrey was also designated for assignment to Sacramento in order to clear some more roster space. Thanks to @SLuke26 for reminding me of that move since it was late and my mind was wandering like the blind swordsman in the roster transactions countryside.

And that should get you caught up on all the moves…