2012 Oakland A’s Top 16 Prospects

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

The Oakland A’s system is loaded with talent that is Big League ready this year and some upside plays in the low minors thanks to trades involving Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey.

Below are my top 16 prospects with 2012 opening day age, position, and comments on each player. Below the top 16 is a small list of additional notable names. Enjoy.

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A’s Receive Seth Smith for Fly Ball Pitchers Outman and Moscoso

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

The Colorado Rockies have struck a deal with the Oakland Athletics that is sending outfielder Seth Smith to the A’s in exchange for Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso.

Our very own Mikey Schwartze posted a week and a half ago that the A’s were not done dealing and listed Moscoso as a potential trade piece and the Rockies as a potential trade suitor. Kudos to Mikey for nailing that!

In Smith, the Athletics receive a player who will be 29 years old for most of the season and will earn somewhere in the $2.4M-$2.8M range via arbitration in 2012 $2.415M in 2012. Smith is an above-average defender in left field in his career with a +9.1 UZR in 1344 career innings there and should be a solid platoon partner with Collin Cowgill in left field. Smith also won’t hurt you on the bases with a career +0.2 Bsr and 17 stolen bases against only four times caught stealing.

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Are the Athletics Done Dealing?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

It is obvious that the Athletics are in a rebuilding process. They have dealt Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey this offseason for prospects in return. In an article I wrote the other week, I took a look at the Athletics potential future rotation with all the pieces in the organization. There are many top prospects and young pitchers that could make for one of the best rotations in the league. Well a handful of these guys are close to the big leagues and once ready, it could make for quite the logjam in the rotation. In the article I mentioned above I also took a shot at projecting the A’s opening day rotation which is as follows:

1. Brandon McCarthy
2. Guillermo Moscoso
3. Dallas Braden
4. Brad Peacock
5. Tom Milone

That rotation is solid looking but there are still a lot of guys that are very close to being major league ready; Jarrod Parker, Tyson Ross, and Sonny Gray. Brett Anderson should also be back in the rotation by the middle of the season. Well with those guys knocking at the door, some space may need to be cleared in the rotation. The perfect opportunity for that: The Trade Deadline.

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Athletics Future Rotation

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Michael Schwartze

Year in and year out the Athletics’ rotation has been very solid. Last year’s rotation featured a handful of young starters including Brandon McCarthy, Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, and Guillermo Moscoso.

This offseason though, the Athletics have entered rebuilding mode and they traded off two of these pitchers. First, the A’s traded Trevor Cahill (and Craig Breslow) to the Arizona Diamondbacks in return for Jarrod Parker, Collin Cowgill, and Ryan Cook.

Another move was made the other day when they traded Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals and received A.J. Cole, Derek Norris, Brad Peacock, and Tom Milone. The addition of those pitchers to the pitchers already in the system projects for a very good future rotation in Oakland.

There are already a handful of young pitchers in Oakland that have a couple years of major league service under their belt. The list includes Brandon McCarthy, Guillermo Moscoso, Josh Outman, Brett Anderson, and Dallas Braden.

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2012 Arizona Diamondbacks Top 16 Prospects

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Jonathan C. Mitchell


(Photo by Chip English/Mobile BayBears)

I am kicking off my top prospects lists with one of the deepest systems in all of baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have more pitching depth than any system in the game I have seven of their top eight prospects as pitchers.

Why top 16? Well, because I can choose which ever number I want and it is one of my favorite numbers thanks to my favorite athlete of all-time: Joe Montana. And the number is arbitrary enough to get people asking “why 16 prospects?” Other than those, there is no real reason as to why I chose 16.

Below are my top 16 prospects with 2012 opening day age and position and comments on each player. Below the top 16 is a small list of notable names. Enjoy.

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