The A’s have lost rookie lefty starting pitcher Josh Outman for the next 12-18 months due to Tommy John Surgery. Outman was the #12 prospect in the A’s minor league system coming into this season according to Baseball America. Outman pitched in 14 games (12 starts) for the A’s this season and he is 3-1 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. It’s a shame that Outman hurt himself as he was really pitching well this season.

The A’s expected much more out of Matt Holliday than they are getting. He has played in 69 games this season for the A’s and he is 69 for 256 (.270 avg, .790 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 8 homers, 39 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. It appears that Holliday really misses Coors Field. After all, Holliday came into this season with a career batting average of .319 (.938 OPS) in 698 major league games. The A’s can only hope that they can get close to what they gave up to get Holliday in trade and that’s likely a pipe dream. The A’s gave up outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, stopper Huston Street and lefty starting pitcher Greg Smith to acquire Holliday over the winter.

25-year old rookie righty reliever Andrew Bailey is pushing 29-year old sidearming Brad Ziegler for the closer’s job.  Bailey has pitched in 27 games (0 starts) for the A’s this season and he is 4-0 with 5 saves, a 1.93 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.  Bailey has great stuff as evidenced by the fact that he has allowed only 20 hits while whiffing 44 batters in only 37 1/3 innings this season for the A’s.  Ziegler has pitched in 22 games (0 starts) so far this season for the A’s and he is 0-1 with 5 saves, a 4.07 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP.  It appears that the league is starting to catch up to Ziegler the second time around.   The A’s would be smart to stick with Bailey as the closer.

The Oakland A’s have lost righty reliever/starter Dan Giese for the season due to Tommy John Surgery.  Giese pitched in 7 games (1 start) for the A’s this season and he was 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.  This hurts both the A’s and Giese as they were made for each other.  The A’s needed a swingman on the pitching staff due to the young starting rotation they are using and Giese might have been the right guy for the job.

The A’s have signed 29-year old lefty reliever Justin Hampson to a minor league deal. Hampson pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the Padres last season and he was 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. He has now pitched in 79 games (1 start) in his major league career and he is 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. This was a good move for the A’s as Hampson will likely help tham at some point this season.