Game Recap - February 28th vs. the Angels

The A's took their first loss of the preseason today, 8 to 7 against the rival Angels. I didn't get a chance to listen to the broadcast today, but there were a few prospects who saw playing time today.

• Adrian Cardenas went 1 for 2 after entering the game for Mark Ellis.
• Michael Taylor hit a 3 run home run in the 8th inning with 2 outs. He went 2 for 5 overall.
• Josh Donaldson went 1 for 2 with a run scored.
• Michael Choice went 1 for 2 with a run scored. 
• Chris Carter started in left field, and made two errors out there in the game. I wasn't able to see what happened, but these things are going to happen when you've got a player learning a new position.
• Other prospects who saw action: Anthony Recker, Josh Horton, and Jemile Weeks.

Taylor seems unlikely to me to make the club out of Spring Training due to the season he had last year and the sheer depth in Oakland in the outfield, but if he can have a great spring he could force the issue to some extent.

One of the other position battles that seems to be ongoing is the backup catcher role. Landon Powell held the job last year, and Josh Donaldson was up for a short time when Kurt Suzuki was hurt as well.

Kevin Goldstein's Top 101 Prospects

With all of his top 11 prospect lists complete, Kevin Goldstein released his top 101 overall prospects list over at Baseball Prospectus this morning. It, along with the chat he will be doing later, are both on the free side of the site, so you can take a look at the whole list there.

The A's had 4 prospects make the list:

• Chris Carter at #30
• Grant Green at #49
• Michael Choice at #74
• Ian Krol at #89

Goldstein had rated Carter and Green as 5-star prospects on his A's top 11 list, and Choice and Krol as 4-star prospects. Krol's ranking here really stands out to me, as the other 3 players have been on pretty much all top 100 lists at other sites to this point. That said, I am planning to take a look at Krol sometime this week, as he seems like he could be one of the more interesting prospects in the system right now.

Game Recap - February 27th Spring Training vs the Cubs

With the first game of Spring Training in the books, we saw quite a few of the top prospects make their Spring Training debut. I listened to a large part of the broadcast on the radio, and got quite a few little tidbits from the broadcast about some of them as well.

- Grant Green will start the season at AA according to the broadcasters, and recorded the second fastest time in a sprint amongst all invitees. The broadcasters also suggested that he could be moved to center field eventually, as Cliff Pennington is likely to hold down the shortstop position when Green would be ready to to hit in the Majors. Green made an error when he tried to backhand a ball in the 6th inning, and they speculated then that he will probably stay at shortstop until he proves he can't.
- Michael Choice went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, and the broadcasters also mentioned that he was the one who recorded the fastest sprint time amongst the ST invitees. They thought he could move fast up the system, but I'd want to see him play a full season in the minors at least before even speculating on that.
- Jemile Weeks had a 2 run opposite field single in the 7th inning, and he advanced to 2nd on the throw.
- In the 7 run 7th inning, Michael Choice, Chris Carter, Anthony Recker, Josh Donaldson, Grant Green, and Jemile Weeks all had hits.
- Eric Sogard played in this game as well, starting at shortstop, and had an RBI sac fly in the 4th inning as well. Sogard, along with Steve Tolleson, are expected to compete for a utility infielder roster spot.

On the pitching side, the only players who were somewhat prospects were Bobby Cramer (2 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB), and Danny Farquhar (1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H). I'll be interested to see if any other prospects start making appearances once Minor League ST starts up in early March.

Always good to see a victory, even if it is just in a Spring Training game.

John Sickels' Sleeper List for 2011

John Sickels over at Minor League Ball posted his list of sleeper prospects for 2011, and there was just one Athletics prospect on the list: Matthew Thomson. Looking at his performance last year after being drafted, I can see at least some of what Sickels likes about Thomson.

Thomson was drafted in the 12th round of the 2010 draft out of UC San Diego, and signed quickly. He reported to Vancouver in the Northwest League on June 22nd, and made 9 statrs with the Canadiens. In 46 innings pitched, he struck out 61 batters, walked just 8, and allowed a 2.15 ERA. He earned himself a late-season call up to Stockton in the California League, where he made 1 start. It was also a pretty good start, as he struck out 10, walked 2, and allowed 2 hits over just 5 innings. Here's what Andy Seiler over at MLB Bonus Baby had to say about Thomson after the draft:

Thomson was drafted in the twelfth round a year ago by the Tigers, and a solid season in the bullpen at San Diego allowed him to be a solid senior arm. He has average stuff, but plus command, making him a possible middle reliever with polish. He still has an attractive frame, as well, so this is about where I thought he'd go. He's already signed and should do well in the lower minors.

Thomson was someone I hadn't really heard mentioned much previously, and I'm looking forward to trying to see him play when he gets to Stockton.

Athletics and Baseball America's Top 100 List

Baseball America has been releasing their top 10 team lists for most of the offseason, and they released their top 100 prospects list today. There were only two A's on the list, Grant Green at #63 overall, and Chris Carter at #91 overall.

Green is the 9th player listed with shortstop as his position, with the following in front of him:

• Manny Machado
• Dee Gordon
• Billy Hamilton
• Christian Colon
• Jose Iglesias
• Nick Franklin
• Wilmer Flores
• Miguel Sano

Of that group, I'm not sure that Billy Hamilton or Christian Colon should be higher than Green, but the order is of more concern to me than the fact that they are above Green.

Historically, the Athletics had 3 prospects in the 2010 list (Green at #52, Carter at #28, and Michael Taylor at #29). Hopefully Taylor can rebound back to the status that had him that high on the list.

2011 Non-Roster Invitees

Nathaniel Stoltz over at Fansided's Call to the Pen broke down the non-roster invitees for the Athletics earlier in the week.

Basically, a non-roster invitee is a player who is not on the 40 man roster, but who will be working with the Major League club at the start of Spring Training. Usually, the team will invite players that they'd like to try out for potential Major League spots, as well as rewarding minor leaguers potentially.

The only really true prospects that received invites were each of the last 2 first round draft picks, Michael Choice and Grant Green. There's some other players on the list who are interesting, but nobody that's really likely to make a huge impact on the make up of the Major League roster. You've got some former prospects in Andy LaRoche and Fernando Cabrera, but I imagine that a majority of the players invited will end up either in AAA, or even possibly released at the end of Spring Training.

Oakland Farm System Strategy Article

Satchel Price over at Beyond the Box Score did a great write up of the farm system and the strategy employed by the team to use that farm system to their greatest advantage. You can find the post here.