Daric Barton has been DFA’s by the A’s for the second time this season. This time to make room for Chris Young. (Image Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports)

For the second time this season Daric Barton has been designated for assignment by the Oakland A’s. The move was made to make space on the active roster for the team to activate outfielder Chris Young from the disabled list, who’s return will allow the team to move Brandon Moss back to first base.

Barton had initially been DFA’d in late March after he failed to make the team’s Opening Day roster. He’d clear waivers and accept an assignment to the minor leagues, where he’d hit .287/.422/.465 in 128 PA. Barton returned to Oakland’s active roster earlier this month but has since seen limited playing time. The former top prospect (he was named to Baseball America’s Top 100 list four times from 2005-2008) has always been considered a strong defensive option and he’s hit well in the minor leagues – a career mark of .286/.407/.447 in 2,917 PA – but hasn’t been able to see that production translate at the Major League level over parts of the past seven seasons.

The 28th overall pick in the 2003 Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Barton was a big part of the package that Oakland received in 2004 when the A’s dealt Mark Mulder to St. Louis.

Young has been sidelined for the past two weeks with a strained quadriceps. In 101 PA on the year he’s hit .172/.277/.391, but has seen time at all three outfield positions. Young had primarily played center field with the Arizona Diamondbacks, from whom the A’s acquired him this winter, where he’d shown an ability to hit for power (20+ home runs in four of the past six seasons) and speed (20+ stolen bases in two of the last three). Having him patrolling the outfield in place of Moss is a certain defensive upgrade for the A’s.

This was the second DFA that the team has announced in the past 24 hours, as right-handed reliever Chris Resop was also removed from the active roster yesterday. That move was done to make room for Hideki Okajima to be recalled. Okajima had signed a minor league deal with the A’s late this past offseason after spending the 2012 season back home in Japan. In 16.2 IP at Triple-A he’s posted a 2.16 ERA and 0.780 WHIP, striking out 18 and walking just 2.

Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy writhes in pain on the ground after being hit in the head on a line drive by Los Angeles Angels shortstop Erick Aybar on Sept. 5. Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

The scariest thing about the 2012 baseball season was watching Oakland A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy get hit in the head with a line drive and then learning that the contact was life-threatening and the injury needed immediate surgery to save him.

Now, rather amazingly, McCarthy has already been cleared to begin baseball drills as he works toward 2013 spring training.

In a sport of fun and games there are not supposed to be casualty lists, but McCarthy’s brain swelling and close call reminded us all of how fragile, risky, and random life can be. There must be hundreds such near-misses per season when the ball rockets off a bat directly at the pitcher, or even another position player, and displaying quick reflexes hurls his glove in front of his face and either catches it or deflects it.

McCarthy was one of the unlucky handful who suffered serious injury, an epidural hemorrhage, a brain contusion, and a fractured skull when hit in the head by a shot off the bat of the Los Angeles Angels’ Erick Aybar in the fourth inning of a game in early September. The ball zoomed straight off the wood at McCarthy’s head. The pitcher was knocked down on the mound. McCarthy sat up fairly quickly, providing the illusion that he was not hurt as badly as he was.

When McCarthy left the field he was transported to a hospital and it was only after his admittance that we heard the frightning diagnosis. However, soon after, as the A’s stampeded to the American League West Division title and into the playoffs, we regularly received encouraging reports about McCarthy’s condition. As an active tweeter, McCarthy provided some of those updates himself, many of them in light-hearted, humorous fashion.

Head injuries are notoriously unpredictable and at first statements were made that everyone just hoped McCarthy would return to his usual self, would be able to walk, talk, and think. That stage passed quickly. McCarthy, 29, who was 8-6 with a 3.24 earned run average at the time of his injury, from the start seemed not to focus on those basics so much as seeking an answer to the question of when he would be able to pitch again.

This is an obvious place to steer one’s thoughts when your profession is professional sports. Being cleared to resume baseball activity this soon seems somewhat surprising. Of course what is exactly meant by that is vague. The good news is that McCarthy must be physically stronger. The open-ended aspect of his rehab and return is how McCarthy reacts when another batted ball comes flying at him. He can’t afford flinch time.

Also there is the issue of what happens to McCarthy if he is hit again, not an impossibility, even if the odds are against it. At one point in his recovery McCarthy had visions problems. Now he has passed all such acuity tests. There has been only one death on a Major League baseball field and that was Ray Champman of the Cleveland Indians, dying after being hit in the head with a pitcher ball in 1920. Other players have incurred concussions and not come back as strong as they were. Their vision may have been impaired, or that special something inside them that gave them their world-class instinct may have been altered.

What level of baseball drill is McCarthy ready for? Hopefully, he will take things very slowly and make sure he is all of the way back before playing in a real game. It is one thing for McCarthy to be nervous when he takes the mound in a game situation. It is quite another thing for his long-term health if he were to get hit again. You hope his reflexes are sparp and his mind is clear.

Oakland’s late-September rush to capture the AL West Division title on the last day of the season by swiping it out from under the noses of the Texas Rangers was as dramatic as any team maneuver over the summer. But the Orioles were right there in the suspense department, too, in hand-to-hand combat with the New York Yankees day after day until the last. (more…)

What gives? What’s going through Billy Beane‘s mind? Colon does not deserve this opportunity. He let his team down big-time and now the A’s are inviting him back into the fold? I just don’t see it. (more…)

They can afford a new statue in New York. What the Yankees couldn’t afford was to lose to the Baltimore Orioles at the wrong time. They didn’t, thanks to Ibanez, who was riding the bench, but in a bold stroke by manager Joe Girardi found a bat and pinch-hit for designated hitter Alex Rodriguez. Then he pinch-hit for himself. Actually, Ibanez just quietly stayed in the lineup as the DH out of sight, until the batting order got around to him again. He promptly hit another solo home run for the 3-2 victory and the 2-1 lead in games in the American League Division Series. (more…)

Both the Giants (2-1 in 10 innings) and the A’s (2-0), avoided being swept three straight games in their Division Series’, living to fight another day, if only one more since both trail 2-1 in games. It was one of those nights in baseball that no matter who a manager trotted out, for six innings or one out, the hurler did his job. They always say pitching matters most in the post-season and it certainly did Tuesday. Meanwhile, with four games Wednesday we’ll probably see winning scores in double figures, just to prove all theories incorrect. (more…)

This is a polite way of saying that the two teams representing the region are in big trouble, both of them trailing 2-0 in best-three-out-of-five series. Concurrently, the Cincinnati Reds and the Detroit Tigers look like easy conquerors as the scene shifts for both division series. The Reds are rolling after two games that weren’t even close and it’s difficult to picture the Giants taking three straight at the Great American Ball Park. At least the A’s kept their games against Detroit close and they will be home for the duration now. (more…)

Actually, what’s next is the beginning of Major League baseball playoffs that I don’t have a clue who will win. Is there a favorite at all in either league? I mean a solid, clearcut favorite to capture either pennant. Not really. It all begins with what should be wild wild-card playoffs Friday, two games of Russian roulette baseball. (more…)

October 3, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics infielder Brandon Inge (7) is poured with champagne after the win against the Texas Rangers at O.co Coliseum.The Oakland Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers 12-5 to become the American League west champions. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Don’t let anybody tell you that baseball isn’t insane. Both the Oakland A’s and the Baltimore O’s will play baseball in the postseason and I literally don’t think anyone saw this coming. Sure, there might have been a rouge contrarian or two out there who predicted the A’s to sneak into the Wild Card, but no way was there any talk of the division. And the Orioles? Show me one person who correctly called their season back in April and isn’t like, a violent schizophrenic, and I’ll gladly eat my hat. Anyone who foresaw this for both teams should be immediately elected as the next President of the United States.

(more…)

Texas is the two-time defending American League champs. They are the team that was supposed to waltz into the playoffs. The Rangers haven’t been challenged often this season, but on the two previous occasions that they had, the Rangers had turned away their challenger. In early August, it was an Angels club that made a run. Last week, in Arlington, Texas turned back an A’s uprising.

This Oakland club doesn’t seem to know when they were supposed to be beaten, however, and now the team that should have finished last will play game 162 at home and with a win versus Texas Wednesday afternoon, will be AL West champions.

Gomes helped Oakland’s cause with a solo homer on Tuesday. Image: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Rookie pitchers have started an amazing 12 games for the A’s thus far and that number will reach 103 when A.J. Griffin takes the hill in the division-deciding game. Griffin comes into the contest with a 7-1 record and sparkling 2.71 ERA in 14 starts this year. Even better, Griffin owns a 2.52 ERA at home this year and in his lone start against the Rangers, he twirled six shutout innings.

When Griffin made his major league debut on June 24, The A’s were sitting a full 10 games behind Texas and in third place in the division. On Wednesday, Griffin will try to pitch Oakland to a division crown.

For Texas, the entire team has to almost be shocked to be in this situation. It’s been a foregone conclusion for weeks, if not months, that the Rangers would salt away another AL West crown. After all, the A’s weren’t seriously going to stay in the race. Even if they held off the much more talented Angels, Oakland would be happy just to be the Wild Card.

Someone must have forgotten to tell the A’s.

Ryan Dempster, the prize right hander acquired at the trade deadline, will attempt to hold off Oakland on Wednesday. Dempster was leading the NL in ERA at the time of the trade, but has struggled to a 4.64 ERA with the Rangers. He has not faced Oakland this season.

It’s true that both Oakland and Texas have wrapped up a playoff spot, but the loser of Wednesday’s game faces the specter of a one-game, winner-take-all, playoff with the loser of the AL East race (Baltimore trails New York by one game). The Rangers certainly have the offense capable of out-slugging any opponent. It’s also a team that lacks a true ace. Their rotation is deep enough to play a series and match-up fairly well, but a rotation full of number two and three starters is at a disadvantage when one game decides the season. The only consolation is that if they were to face Baltimore in the Wild Card game, starting pitching is not a strength of the orioles at all.

Balfour has been dominant down the stretch. Image: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

The Athletics have used their closer, Grant Balfour, in each of the past four games and he’s been dominant. Is it reasonable to think he can rise to the occasion five days in a row? If Oakland has a late lead, you can bet that manager Bob Melvin will find out. The A’s were four games back in the division as recently as last week, but the team that leads the league in walk-off wins has caught fire, and caught the Rangers.

Momentum, however, is only as good as your next starting pitcher. Oakland will turn to a 24-year-old rookie with 14 career starts. Texas goes with a veteran of 15 big league seasons. The best story in baseball this year has one final chapter to be written.