reflections
A’s Agree to Deals with Barton, Rosales and Powell

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The Oakland Athletics have agreed to one-year contracts with infielders Daric Barton and Adam Rosales and catcher Landon Powell.

Barton gets $1.1 million, Rosales $600,000 and Powell $620,000.

Also on Monday, the A’s tendered contracts to all the unsigned
players on their 40-man roster, including six who remain eligible for arbitration – pitchers Andrew Bailey, Dallas Braden, Joey Devine, Gio Gonzalez and Brandon McCarthy along with outfielder Ryan Sweeney.

Barton made Oakland’s opening day roster and started at first base, but struggled and was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on June 22. He went on the disabled list July 17 because of a right shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery Aug. 12.

Powell played in 36 games for the A’s while backing up Kurt Suzuki. Rosales began the 2011 season on the 60-day disabled list with a broken right foot and struggled once he came back June 6. He also spent time in Triple-A.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Athletics recall Sizemore, activate Rosales, option Kouzmanoff

BALTIMORE — The Oakland Athletics activated infielder Adam Rosales from the 60-day disabled list Monday and recalled infielder Scott Sizemore from Triple-A Sacramento.

Both moves were made before the slumping A’s faced the Baltimore Orioles.

To make room for Rosales and Sizemore, the A’s optioned third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and right-hander Fautino De Los Santos to Sacramento.

Also Monday, the Athletics sent left-hander Brett Anderson (3-6) back to Oakland to have his arm examined by team orthopedist Will Workman.

Anderson allowed five runs in five innings against Boston on Sunday. In his previous start, he gave up nine earned runs over 5 1/3 innings against the New York Yankees.

Manager Bob Geren wouldn’t discuss specifics about Anderson’s arm, or whether he might miss a start.

“It’s just an all-around good idea to have him checked out. Nothing real specific,” Geren said.

Rosales, who missed all of spring training with a fractured right foot, batted seventh as Oakland’s starting third baseman on Monday night.

“Rosales is a good player, an exciting player,” Geren said. “He brings a lot of energy to the team and plays a lot of different positions.”

Sizemore was acquired from the Detroit Tigers on May 27 for left-hander David Purcey. He hit .222 with 10 walks in 17 games with Detroit.

In nine games with Sacramento, Sizemore hit .267 with 12 walks and 11 runs scored.

Kouzmanoff was hitting .221 with four home runs and 17 RBI in 46 games. He also had nine errors.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Kouzmanoff said. “Obviously, as everybody well knows, I started off slow on both sides of the ball, and I did not play to my potential. All I can do is go down and get my work in and get my reps and try to work my way back.”

Geren said, “Kouzmanoff has had a rough start for us both offensively and defensively and he hasn’t played up to what he can do. He will go down to Triple-A and work on his game.”

De Los Santos joined Oakland on Friday in Boston and made his big league debut Saturday.

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Diving into the depths: Oakland Athletics

This is part of a 30-article series looking at each team’s depth chart headed into spring training.

Rotation
1. Dallas Braden
2. Trevor Cahill
3. Brett Anderson
4. Gio Gonzalez
5. Brandon McCarthy
6. Rich Harden
7. Josh Outman
8. Bobby Cramer
9. Tyson Ross
10. Guillermo Moscoso
11. Anthony Capra

The Brian Fuentes and Grant Balfour additions would seem to make it more likely that Harden will begin the year in the rotation, but I’m sticking with McCarthy in the fifth slot for now. He’s probably the better pitcher at this point. With the Coliseum aiding and an excellent outfield defense behind him, he could be very good while healthy.

Bullpen
1. Andrew Bailey
2. Brian Fuentes
3. Grant Balfour
4. Craig Breslow
5. Michael Wuertz
6. Brad Ziegler
7. Rich Harden
8. Jerry Blevins
9. Joey Devine
10. Tyson Ross
11. Bobby Cramer
12. Fernando Cabrera
13. Trystan Magnuson
14. Graham Godfrey
15. Vinnie Chulk
16. Mickey Storey
17. Travis Blackley
18. Willie Eyre

I don’t imagine that the A’s will keep all of these guys, but they have some crazy bullpen depth at the moment. Wuertz, Ziegler and Blevins are the best bets to go. The A’s certainly won’t need both Wuertz and Ziegler if Devine looks sharp this spring in his return from Tommy John surgery.

Catcher
1. Kurt Suzuki
2. Landon Powell
3. Josh Donaldson
4. Anthony Recker

First base
1. Daric Barton
2. Conor Jackson
3. Chris Carter
4. Adam Rosales

Second base
1. Mark Ellis
2. Adam Rosales
3. Eric Sogard
4. Andy LaRoche
5. Jemile Weeks

Third base
1. Kevin Kouzmanoff
2. Adam Rosales
3. Andy LaRoche
4. Steven Tolleson
5. Adrian Cardenas

Shortstop
1. Cliff Pennington
2. Adam Rosales
3. Steven Tolleson
4. Grant Green

Third base remains an area of concern after Kouzmanoff’s awful first year in Oakland. The A’s picked up Edwin Encarnacion, only to non-tender him three weeks later. Now they have LaRoche as a potential fallback plan, though he’ll almost certainly play regularly in Triple-A initially. Ideally, Cardenas would step up this year and challenge for the spot if Kouzmanoff falters again. … Tolleson was recently bumped from the 40-man roster, but since it looks like he cleared waivers, he’s an insurance policy on the left side of the infield.

Left field
1. Josh Willingham
2. Conor Jackson
3. Ryan Sweeney
4. Hideki Matsui
5. Chris Carter

Center field
1. Coco Crisp
2. Ryan Sweeney
3. David DeJesus
4. Jai Miller
5. Michael Taylor

Right field
1. David DeJesus
2. Ryan Sweeney
3. Michael Taylor
4. Chris Carter
5. Sean Doolittle

Designated hitter
1. Hideki Matsui
2. Josh Willingham
3. Conor Jackson
4. Chris Carter
5. Sean Doolittle

Hit hard by the injury bug so frequently in recent years, A’s GM Billy Beane has focused on building the deepest team he can, and it really shines through in the outfield and the bullpen. As a result of the Willingham and DeJesus additions, Jackson and Sweeney will be fighting for at-bats as reserves, while Carter and Taylor will both head back to Triple-A. Matsui probably won’t see any outfield time aside from interleague play.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

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Right ankle injury ends Rosales' season

If Adam Rosales had it his way, he'd be back on the field within the next week, contributing to a team he says "still has an opportunity to make the playoffs."

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A's Rosales on the mend

Adam Rosales isn't one to ever really slow down, but Oakland's ultra utility man will have to do just that for the next month after learning he has a stress fracture in his right ankle.

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Athletics place Rosales on DL

The Oakland Athletics have placed infielder Adam Rosales on the 15-day disabled list because of a stress fracture in his right ankle.

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