This gives my current sense, as of the date above, with prior versions archived below, of my understanding of the current roster: who fits where, what the lineups are, etc. etc. (In the offseason, this is more guesswork than empirical.)
This version change is occasioned by Ryan Cook I guess being bad at baseball now. (He'll start the year at Triple-A Nashville after struggling to do anything worthwhile in the spring.) The interesting thing is how much easier this makes it for Kendall Graveman to make the team, not a relief pitcher. There's been chatter for the last two weeks that Graveman has been really impressive, but I was having a hard time seeing how he'd make it. The A's could option Drew Pomeranz, I suppose, but it wasn't clear to me whether that made the most sense in the world. Now those problems are taken care of by moving someone into the bullpen rather than Triple-A. My guess is Jesse Chavez.
I wonder whether Barry Zito could make the team at the expense of Evan Scribner.
Starters
| Position |
v. LHP |
v. RHP |
| C |
Josh Phegley |
Stephen Vogt |
| 1B |
Mark Canha |
Ike Davis |
| 2B |
Ben Zobrist |
Eric Sogard |
| SS |
Marcus Semien |
Ben Zobrist |
| 3B |
Brett Lawrie |
Brett Lawrie |
| LF |
Coco Crisp |
Coco Crisp |
| CF |
Craig Gentry |
Sam Fuld |
| RF |
Josh Reddick |
Josh Reddick |
| DH |
Billy Butler |
Billy Butler |
Notes
- Butler could get time at first base in order to clear DH for Crisp, particularly against lefties, because Canha can shift to left field, leaving the batting order unchanged. There's a sense in which this is now even easier because Gentry is already the center fielder and doesn't have to get bounced back and forth based on Crisp's position.
- It's harder to make that work against righties, however, because Davis isn't going to play outfield, but you could see, in that situation, Semien starting at shortstop and Zobrist in left, on the assumption that you'd rather have Semien at shortstop against a righty than Gentry in left (or in center with Fuld shifting to left, either way), which is probably a fair assumption.
Starting rotation
| Mythical slot |
Pitcher |
| 1 |
Sonny Gray |
| 2 |
Scott Kazmir |
| 3 |
Jesse Hahn |
| 4 |
Kendall Graveman |
| 5 |
Drew Pomeranz |
Relief
| Player |
Role |
| Tyler Clippard |
Closer |
| Eric O'Flaherty |
Eighth inning |
| Dan Otero |
Seventh inning / groundball specialist |
| R.J. Alvarez |
Middle |
| Fernando Abad |
Middle / lefty specialist? |
| Evan Scribner |
Middle / mopup |
| Jesse Chavez |
Long |
15-day disabled list
| Player |
Position |
Date of return |
Effect of return |
| Sean Doolittle |
RP |
May 2015? |
Top half of the bullpen down a slot; Alvarez to Triple-A |
| Jarrod Parker |
SP |
June 2015? |
Pomeranz to Triple-A |
60-day disabled list
| Player |
Position |
Date of return |
Effect of return |
| Taylor Thompson |
RP |
??? |
DFA Chad Smith |
| A.J. Griffin |
SP |
June 2015? |
Graveman to Triple-A; DFA Eury de la Rosa |
Minor leagues
| Player |
Position |
Role |
| Sean Nolin |
SP |
Sixth starter (probably seventh behind Chavez) |
| Chris Bassitt |
SP |
Seventh starter (probably eighth) |
| Arnold Leon |
SP |
Eighth starter (probably ninth) |
| Raul Alcantara |
SP |
July 2015 return from Tommy John? |
| Ryan Cook |
RP |
Eighth bullpen man, assuming he gets his shit together |
| Eury de la Rosa |
RP |
Ninth bullpen man |
| Chad Smith |
RP |
Tenth bullpen man |
| Nate Freiman |
1B |
Platoon 1B if Canha doesn't hit |
| Rangel Ravelo |
1B |
Prospect |
| Renato Nunez |
3B |
Prospect |
| Tyler Ladendorf |
UT |
First line of injury defense for Semien, Sogard, Zobrist, Lawrie |
| Billy Burns |
OF |
Fifth or sixth outfielder |
| Alex Hassan |
OF |
Fifth or sixth outfielder |
Prior Versions
March 4, 2015
February 28, 2015
February 26, 2015
January 31, 2015
