The A’s have acquired 27-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Kila Ka’aihue from the Royals for 24-year old righty starting pitcher Ethan Hollingsworth. Ka’aihue played in 23 games for the Royals this year and he was 16 for 82 (.195 avg, .612 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs. He has now played in 87 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 61 for 283 (.216 avg, .683 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 11 homers and 32 RBIs. Ka’aihue will get to compete for the 1B job in 2012 in spring training for the A’s. Hollingsworth pitched in 19 games (18 starts) in AA+AAA-ball so far this year and he was 7-5 with 1 save, a 3.76 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.

31-year old lefty swinging outfielder David DeJesus seemed like the perfect “Moneyball” player because of his career on base % coming into this year which was .360. But, DeJesus turned in by far the worst year of his major league career in 2011. He has played in 130 games for the A’s so far this year and he was 104 for 438 (.237 avg, .696 OPS) with 59 runs scored, 10 homers, 46 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. DeJesus has now played in 1,006 games in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 1,075 of 3,793 (.283 avg, .776 OPS) with 560 runs scored, 71 homers, 436 RBIs and 51 stolen bases. I don’t see any way that the A’s make an effort to re-sign DeJesus over the winter.

28-year old righty starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy has had a very nice comeback in 2011. He has pitched in 23 games (all starts) for the A’s so far this year and he is 9-8 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. McCarthy has only walked 26 batters in his first 155 2/3 innings this year for the A’s and that’s very impressive. He has now pitched in 133 games (79 starts) in his first six years in the majors and he is 29-32 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. The A’s found themselves a nice pitcher in McCarthy off the junk heap due to his past issues with his shoulder.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Scott Sizemore has played good enough for the A’s since coming over from the Tigers, that he has won a full-time job. Sizemore has played in 80 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 65 for 266 (.244 avg, .772 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 10 homers, 47 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The A’s will probably bring in competition for Sizemore at 3B next spring, but he is more than capable of doing a decent job for the A’s. He has shown surprising power for them and a good glove at 3B.

32-year old righty swinging LF Josh Willingham has turned in a solid year for the A’s. He has played in 120 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 107 for 434 (.247 avg, .798 OPS) with 61 runs scored, 24 homers, 84 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Willingham came into this season with career highs of 75 runs scored, 26 homers and 89 RBIs. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year, he should set new career highs in homers and RBIs. The impressive thing about his production numbers is that he’s putting them up without much help behind or in front of him in the batting order.