Oakland, CA (Sports Network) – The Oakland Athletics released reliever
Michael Wuertz on Tuesday.

Wuertz had no decisions and a 6.68 earned run average in 39 appearances with
the A’s last season.

The 32-year-old right-hander went 8-4 with 10 saves and a 3.19 ERA in his
previous two seasons in Oakland. He spent the first five seasons of his major
league career (2004-2008) with the Chicago Cubs, and has posted a 21-11 record
a 3.71 ERA in 426 career appearances.

In other team news, the A’s claimed right-handed pitcher Evan Scribner and
outfielder Cedric Hunter off waivers from the San Diego Padres.

Scribner began the season with Triple-A Tucson and made his major league debut
on April 26, pitching two innings in an 8-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

He spent the majority of his season with Tucson, posting a 2-3 record with 10
saves and a 4.71 ERA .

Hunter made the Padres Opening Day roster and went 1-for-4 with a walk in six
games before being returned to Tucson. He spent the remainder of the season in
Triple-A and batted .255 with two home runs and 33 RBI in 81 games.

The Sports Network

The Oakland Athletics and Seattle
Mariners will open the 2012 Major League Baseball season on
March 28-29 in Tokyo, the first season-opener in Japan since
2008.

The two-game series, which will take place at the Tokyo
Dome, was announced today in a release from MLB and the Major
League Baseball Players Association.

It will be the fourth time the season has opened in Tokyo.
The last time was when the Athletics and Boston Red Sox opened
the 2008 season there.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Gloster at
rgloster@bloomberg.net

Oakland Athletics
starting pitcher Brett Anderson will miss the rest of the Major
League Baseball season after having elbow surgery on Thursday,
the team said.

The reconstructive surgery to the ulnar collateral ligament
in Anderson’s left elbow was called successful by Dr. James
Andrews, who performed the operation in Pensacola, Florida, the
Athletics said in a statment.

Anderson, 23, was placed on the disabled list on June 7
with a sore elbow. After treatment by Andrews in June, it was
determined the left-hander needed surgery.

He compiled a 3-6 record with a 4.00 earned-run average in
13 starts this season.

While the Oakland Athletics continue their stumble further into the AL West cellar, there is some cause for mild optimism. Mark Ellis injured his right hamstring on Monday and was placed on the disabled for the next two weeks. The A’s were short an infielder and elected to call up second baseman Jemile Weeks from AAA. After an 0-for-4 game in his major league debut, Weeks bounced back collecting the first two hits of his major league career. Weeks was 2-for-3 in his second game, hitting out of the nine spot after debuting in the leadoff spot.

Weeks has been steadily climbing up the A’s minor league ranks since the A’s selected him in the first round of the 2008 draft and got off to a hot start this season at AAA Sacramento. In 45 games with the Rivercats this season he had a line of .321/.417/.446 and seemed ready to stay healthy on a fairly regular basis. Now that he’s up in Oakland, it will be interesting to see how long he sticks around. If he can get a hot streak going while Ellis is on the DL, maybe he’ll be able to force his way onto the 25-man roster for the long haul.

Given the A’s current struggles, an infusion of young blood in the coming weeks might be what’s needed to salvage this season. The question at this point is when and how to promote guys like Michael Taylor, Chris Carter, and Adrian Cardenas. Carter is rehabbing at Stockton so it might take a little bit longer, but Cardenas is hitting like crazy and Taylor seems to be bouncing back now that he’s healthy.

It’s easy to throw names out there but given the A’s offensive struggles, wouldn’t change seem necessary? What do A’s fans think? Is it time to overhaul this offense?

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Opening day is getting closer. On Thursday, for the first time this spring, the Oakland Athletics major leaguers moved from the team’s practice facility into Phoenix Municipal Stadium. They had a game to play. Sort of.

Manager Bob Geren split the roster into two — white pants against gray — and played about three innings. An intrasquad scrimmage? Hallelujah, baseball’s back!

A’s GM Billy Beane watched from the stands, with perhaps two dozen fans, to see the unofficial team debuts of Hideki Matsui(notes), Josh Willingham(notes) and David DeJesus(notes).

The major real news: Pitchers Josh Outman(notes) and Joey Devine(notes), who have been recovering from Tommy John ligament replacement surgery, threw about 20 pitches each. Devine’s command was off a bit, but Outman looked particularly good. More specifics on them later.

The attention Outman and Devine received paled by comparison to another A’s player.

Going by press coverage, the major news of the day was Matsui’s debut. And going by press coverage, the major news of any day with the A’s this season will be whatever Matsui does. Perhaps 35 reporters (including still and video camera people) from Japan follow his every move. If he’s not a bigger deal in Japan than Ichiro(notes), he’s definitely close.

The A’s are going to sell a lot of gear in Japan thanks to this guy.

* * *

Prospect Chris Carter is trying to make the team as a left fielder/ first baseman/DH, but the A’s are pretty set there with Willingham, Daric Barton(notes) and Matsui. Carter also will fight Conor Jackson(notes), who is trying to return after missing most of the past two years with the worst run of luck in injury history.

Carter was excited to hit fourth, where he often did in the minors as he built a career .920 OPS.  

“It’s pretty good, because it’s where I’ve hit pretty much my whole career,” Carter said. “When I got called up last year, I was hitting 6-7-8. So you see [cleanup] and you know there’s still a chance it’ll happen again.”

Remember that Carter started 0-for-33 in 2010 before getting his first major league hit.

Follow Dave throughout spring training on Twitter — @AnswerDave — and check out the Stew on Facebook for more coverage.

Related: , Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, Oakland Athletics, 2011 Spring Swing, 2011 Spring Swing — DB

The Oakland Athletics signed free- agent designated hitter Hideki Matsui to a one-year contract, the Major League Baseball team said on its website.

Matsui, 36, batted .274 with 21 home runs and 84 runs batted in for the Los Angeles Angels last season.

He spent his first seven major-league seasons with the New York Yankees and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 World Series.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jay Beberman at jbeberman@bloomberg.net