The A's added Tyler Ladendorf to the 40-man roster today. Ladendorf is a middle infielder of little repute who the A's got from the Twins way back in the Orlando Cabrera trade. His 2010-13 batting numbers are pretty pitiful, his OBP topping out at .328 in that span and the SLG at .381, but he turned it up a notch in 2014, hitting .297/.376/.407, though he played just 78 games because of a midsummer drug-of-abuse suspension. Still, he would be a minor-league free agent if the A's didn't add him to the 40-man, and he probably showed just enough at a weak position for the A's for them not to want to have to compete with other teams over a minor-league contract.

Meanwhile, the A's also claimed Andrew Brown from the Mets. He's a theoretical lefty-masher, though even against them he's managed just a .229/.300/.375 major-league line in 160 career PAs over four years. He has flat-out crushed the ball at Triple-A, though, compiling a .298/.380/.555 line over those same four years, though it's worth noting that three of those seasons were spent in Las Vegas (2) and Colorado Springs (1), which are fantastic places to hit. Still, as minor-league sluggers who might show up and do something weird in 100 emergency PAs go, I'm not unhappy to have him, and it's not like it'll hurt me overmuch when/if the team DFAs him to make room for the next guy. Which may well happen in a month, who knows.