I'm excited that the A's have decided to call up Brooks Conrad to see if he can add some life to the offense from time to time. He'll apparently play third base against lefties instead of Jack Hannahan, who's, to be charitable, not really doing so well with the bat. Conrad, who's 28 this year and has yet to play a day in the majors, isn't a high-average hitter (just .242), but he does have some pop in his bat: exactly half of his hits have gone for extra bases, and his SLG is double his batting average.

Donnie Murphy was DFA'd to make room him. Murphy's young enough, versatile enough, and has hit well enough in the minors that he might not make it through waivers. He's only hit .192 in 362 career major league plate appearances, but his career minor league line of 281/346/436 might intrigue someone, especially since he's still just 25.