23-year old righty swinging LF/1B Chris Carter is one of the best prospects the A’s have but they have sent him to AAA. Conor Jackson was activated off the D.L. to take his place. Carter was clearly overmatched by making league pitching in his brief stay with the A’s. He played in 6 games for the A’s and he was 0 for 19 (.000 avg, .050 OPS) with 1 walk and 9 whiffs. The A’s might give Carter another chance when rosters expand on September 1st if he plays well in the minors the next couple of weeks.

24-year old righty swinging outfielder Michael Taylor was supposed to be on the fast track to the A’s. He was the Phillies’ #3 prospect before this season started according to Baseball America. Taylor has played in 65 games in AAA-ball so far this season and he is 58 of 235 (.247 avg, .700 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 3 homers, 39 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. He has now played in 379 games in his four years in the minors and he is 418 of 1,388 (.301 avg, .865 OPS) with 216 runs scored, 48 homers, 244 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. Taylor might not even get a September audition with the A’s if he doesn’t pick up the pace.

The Oakland A’s felt that getting 28-year old righty swinging 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff out of Petco Park would guarantee them 25-30 homers in 2010. They look to be dead wrong so far this season. Kouzmanoff has played in 75 games for the A’s so far this season and he is 84 of 295 (.285 avg, .731 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 8 homers and 39 RBIs. Kouzmanoff is second on the A’s in homers (Suzuki has 10) and he’s leading the team in RBIs…..but it just hasn’t been enough. They need him to muscle up now!

26-year old switch hitting Cliff Pennington came into this season as the full time starting shortstop for the A’s. He has played in 47 games this season and he is 37 of 169 (.219 avg, .635 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 3 homers, 17 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Pennington’s bat is causing the A’s to rethink about the P.T. at SS. That’s because 27-year old righty swinging Adam Rosales did such a good job filling in for Mark Ellis (who is back) while he was injured. Rosales has played in 44 games for the A’s this year and he is 41 of 146 (.281 avg, .748 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers and 19 RBIs. The A’s just can’t afford to carry Pennington as the starting SS if he’s not hitting so look for Rosales to steal P.T. from him and he could eventually bump him to the bench.

The A’s were expecting a lot of power out of 28-year old righty swinging 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff after they pried him away from the Padres and Petco Park in a trade over the winter. But he is not hitting the ball well at all for the A’s so far this season. He has played in 41 games for the A’s this season and he is 42 of 163 (.258 avg, .641 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 3 homers and 21 RBIs. Kouzmanoff is also showing a alarming lack of discipline at the dish with 28 whiffs and only 5 walks. The lack of discipline probably concerns A’s G.M. Billy Beane as it’s not the “Moneyball” way of playing offense in baseball.