The A's claimed Alex Hassan off waivers yesterday from Baltimore, who needed room to add Everth Cabrera to the roster. Oakland cleared room on their own 40-man by moving A.J. Griffin, who isn't due back from Tommy John surgery until something like June, to the 60-day disabled list. Hassan's a Duke product with a .396 career minor-league OBP but not much power. He's limited to the corners and has a total of nine career major-league plate appearances. He's unlikely to make an impact for the A's, but he's a nice bit of depth at a weak position for the A's: The corner outfield chart has Josh Reddick, which is a good thing to have, but it also has Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld, with Billy Burns waiting in the minors in case of injury. Hassan isn't an upgrade on any of those players, but at least gives Oakland someone to turn to if, say, Fuld eats the whole wheel of cheese.

I have updated the current roster page, the fringes of the 40-man page (where I rank Hassan fourth most likely to be DFA'd), and the generations of A's page, which also now includes Chad Smith, giving the A's a total of 19 first-generation players out of the 42 on the 40-man roster plus 60-day disabled list.