The Oakland A’s will be without righty starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer for a while as he is scheduled to undergo right elbow surgery next week. He started 22 games for the A’s last season in which he was 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Duchscherer has now pitched in 219 games (27 starts) in his major league career in which he is 31-24 with 14 saves, a 3.14 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. This is a big blow to the A’s who were depending on Duchscherer to be the leader of the starting rotation in 2009.

The Oakland A’s have signed 31-year old lefty swinging catcher Eric Munson to a minor league deal. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2007 with the Astros. Munson has played in 360 games in his major league career and he is 226 for 1,055 (.214 avg, .683 OPS) with 97 runs scored, 49 homers, 147 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Munson will start the season in AAA and serve as a insurance policy for the A’s in 2009.

The A’s have acquired 25-year old righty swinging catcher Curtis Thigpen from the Blue Jays for either a player to be named later or cash considerations. Thigpen played in 10 games for the Blue Jays last season in which he was 3 for 17 (.176 avg, .616 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. He has now played in 57 games in his major league career and he is 27 for 118 (.229 avg, .586 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 1 homer, 12 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Thigpen will give the A’s a nice insurance policy in case rookie Landon Powell isn’t ready to handle the backup job for them in 2009.

25-year old lefty swinging Travis Buck will be the likely starting RF for the A’s in 2009. He played in 38 games for the A’s in 2008 and he was 35 for 155 (.226 avg, .723 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 7 homers and 25 RBIs. Buck is a good defensive RF making 0 errors in 34 games there while showing good range. If he can just stay healthy the A’s should be o.k. in right field in 2009.

28-year old righty swinging Chris Denorfia will likely back up Buck in 2009. He played in 29 games for the A’s last season in which he was 18 for 62 (.290 avg, .749 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer, 9 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

Jack Cust could also get some time in RF but the team would be smart to keep him at DH. He played in 5 games in RF and didn’t make any errors but his range was about the size of a phone booth.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: C-

24-year old lefty swinging Ryan Sweeney and 28-year old righty swinging Rajai Davis could be working in a platoon in 2009 unless Sweeney wins the job outright. Sweeney played in 115 games for the A’s last season and he was 110 for 384 (.286 avg, .733 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 5 homers, 45 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Sweeney didn’t make any errors in 51 games in CF last season while showing poor range. Davis is the much better defender of this pair. He played in 88 games in CF for the Giants & A’s last season making only 1 error while showing good range. He played in 113 games for the Giants & A’s last season in which he was 52 for 214 (.243 avg, .618 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 3 homers, 19 RBIs and 29 stolen bases.

The long shot in CF is Rule 5 Draft Pick Ben Copeland. Copeland played in 125 games in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 127 for 458 (.277 avg, .763 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 5 homers, 46 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if the A’s keep him on the roster all season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: D+