29 year old lefty swinging Eric Chavez played through injuries all of last season but the A’s hope the winter of rest will help him rebound this year. Chavez played in 137 games last season and only hit .241 with 22 homers, 72 RBIs and a .786 OPS. His injuries didn’t effect his defense as he only made 5 errors last season while showing off outstanding range. Look for Chavez to have a big season now that he’s healthy.

26 year old Antonio Perez will likely be Chavez’ back up this season. But he also needs to rebound with the bat in his hands as he only hit .102 with a .389 OPS in 57 games for the A’s last season. This was coming off a season where Perez hit .297 with a .758 OPS in 98 games for the Dodgers in 2005 and the A’s need him to produce like that if he’s going to make the team. Perez is starting to look a lot like Charles Thomas…another player that had a good NL season that Billy Beane traded for that turned into a bust. Perez did show great range at third but he made 4 errors in 27 games there and he needs to improve on that.

31 year old Marco Scutaro can play third in a pinch, but he’s not a good defender there. He only played in 12 games at 3B and made 3 errors. 36 year old Lou Merloni could also fill in at 3B. He played 3 games there for the Indians last season and didn’t make an error.

It looks to me like the A’s made a huge mistake letting Miguel Tejada bolt in free agency and giving the keys to Bobby Crosby. Sure, he won the Rookie of the Year award in 2004, but that was a weak rookie class. Crosby could be the most overrated player in major league baseball! He’s just not a good player. Last season, Crosby hit .229 with 9 homers, 40 RBIs, 8 steals and a weak .636 OPS in 96 games. He’s only played in 180 games the last two seasons as he proving to be an very injury prone, brittle baseball player. Crosby did show slightly above average range while making 12 errors in 95 games. He needs to improve his defense a little bit, stay healthy and prove that he can hit at the major league level. He will have another injury filled, underachieving year again this season.

31 year old Marco Scutaro will likely get a lot of playing time at shortstop this season for the A’s. Scutaro doesn’t have much range at short and he made 9 errors there in only 69 games there. He will need to improve on defense this season, but he’s still a nice bench player for the A’s.

27 year old Antonio Perez could also play shortstop in a pinch as he played 4 games there and didn’t make an error.

29 year old Mark Ellis could probably win a Gold Glove if he could ever stay healthy. Ellis played in 123 games for the A’s at 2B last season and he showed fantastic range and only made 2 errors all season. He didn’t hit as well as he did in 2005 (.316, .861 OPS), but he wasn’t totally awful either. Ellis hit .249 with 11 homers, 52 RBIs and a .704 OPS last year. Look for Ellis to hit a lot better than last season but not as good as he did in 2005. Defense is his main contribution to the A’s and that will still be the case this season, and if he plays in 140+ games….his glove will be Golden.

31 year old Marco Scutaro is an unsung hero on the A’s as he backs up both Bobby Crosby and Mark Ellis and that is a full time job. He hit a solid .266 with 5 homers, 41 RBIs and a .747 OPS in 117 games last season. Scutaro only made 1 error in 37 games at 2B last season for the A’s and he showed decent range there. Look for Scutaro to be an important player for the A’s this season as either Crosby/Ellis will probably miss time this season to injury.

The A’s brought in 24 year old Donnie Murphy from the Kansas City Royals. Murphy only hit .249 with 14 homers, 45 RBIs and a .737 OPS in 94 games in AA ball. He last played in the majors with the Royals in 2005 and he’s played in 39 major league games in his career and has a career batting average of .163 with a .497 OPS. The A’s would likely have to have some major injuries before Murphy got a chance, but with the injury history of the A’s infield he could get a chance at some point.Â

Soon to be 36 year old Lou Merloni has been brought in to compete for a bench job on the A’s. He played in 9 games for the Indians last season (3 at 2B) and he hit .211 with a .549 OPS. Merloni did play in 91 games in AAA last season and he hit .285 with a .776 OPS. Merloni has a career average of .271 in 9 years in the majors, so he’s a great insurance policy for the A’s.

27 year old Antonio Perez could also get some playing time at 2B, but he only played 2 games there last season.

The A’s re-signed Hiram Bocachica to a minor league contract and invited him to camp. Bocachica thought that he would be able to hook on with another major league team and that’s why he refused a minor league assignment by the A’s. He was wrong and can’t play for the A’s until May 1st because of the refusal to go to the minors.

The A’s released Hiram Bocachica because they needed the roster spot to claim Lenny DiNardo. This isn’t much of a loss for the A’s as he hit only .156 in 17 games for the A’s in 2005 and 2006.