Oakland should have been coo coo for CoCo (Puffs)

The Royals acquired Coco Crisp today for Ramon Ramirez, a deal the A's should have made (acquiring Crisp, that is).  The A's have basically the same player as Ramirez in Santiago Casilla, who is probably the A's third best right handed reliever.  Casilla is a little more than a year older than Ramirez and has virtually the same amount of service time (a little over two years).  Ramirez has been a little better over his major league career, with an ERA of 3.62 compared to Casilla's ERA of 4.74, but Casilla had better minor league numbers with awesome peripherals.  Regardless, if the A's could have had Crisp for a decent reliever they should have made the deal.

With the A's trading for Matt Holliday it looks like they're trying to win this year and though they have a handful of decent outfield options already, none of them are too appealing.  With Crisp you can pretty much bank on him hitting .280/.330/.410 (roughly his career numbers) while playing great defense in center field and providing good speed.  The A's best options right now for center are Ryan Sweeney and Aaron Cunningham. 

Cunningham has performed better as a minor leaguer, putting up good numbers while also being young for his leagues.  However, he only about 150 ABs above AA ball and its uncertain if he could handle center everyday in the majors.  If you're looking to compete right now, this is not the type of player you should count on to produce.  Cunningham could certainly start the year at AAA and if he forces his way to the majors it would be a good problem to have.

Sweeney hit .286/.350/.383 last year and will be 24 this season.  His defense, depending on who you talk to and/or what numbers you look at rates as fair to poor.  Will Sweeney improve next season?  His minor league numbers are a mixed bag.  He was always young for his league, playing a full season at AA as a 20 year old, and a full season at AAA as a 21 year old.  Scouts have always liked his tools, but he never really dominated the minors, not having posted an OPS of over .802 higher than Rookie ball, but held his own for being young for his leagues.  All this to say that Sweeney's a big question mark, and not someone I would bet on to outperform Crisp.  Even if Sweeney or Cunningham does have a break out season, he could take playing time away from Travis Buck, who "hit" .226/.291/.432 last year and may or may not bounce back in 2009.

The A's may consider Chris Denorfia for the centerfield job, but he'll be 28 next year and is as much of a question mark as Sweeney and Cunningham.  If the A's had Crisp, they could start him most days in center, Buck most days in right, and start Sweeney a few times a week, while keeping Denorfia on the bench and Cunningham at AAA.

Crisp is signed for $4.75 million for 2009 with a club option $8 million for 2010 (wih $0.5 million buyout).  This amount of money shouldn't prevent the A's from acquiring other players, via either free agency or trades, that would increase the payroll.  The A's with Crisp wouldn't be a surefire contender, but he'd be a key offensive upgrade - one of several in addition to Matt Holliday they'll need to be a contender in 2009.  The changes they'll need to make will be the subject of my next post.