19th Inning Repercussions Part 2: Depletion

The A’s exciting win last night was definitely a morale booster especially after the last week and a half of sweeps and near sweeps. Nineteen innings of battle eventually gave way to another walk off win by the Green and Gold this morning. There were two negatives to come out of this game though. I will highlight the second part in this post. Here is the link to Part 1.

Apr 25, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics center fielder

(4) and left fielder

(25) and shortstop

(8) are unable to catch a fly ball during the seventh inning at O.Co Coliseum. The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Oakland Athletics 10-2. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

A’s GM Billy Beane’s primary goal this offseason was to add above average depth to a roster that was thin beyond the starting nine each day. Players like Chris Young and Jed Lowrie were acquired, Bartolo Colon was resigned, Nate Freiman was claimed, and etc. Little did Beane know the depth would be put to the test so early in the season.

Last night’s marathon game saw the departures of both Coco Crisp and Chris Young. The game also took a weird twist when Brett Anderson came into pitch. Dan Straily got the nod to start instead of Anderson to give him another five days to rest his sprained ankle. He eventually had to come in and left after throwing five and a third innings pitched apparently due to the ankle injury.

The A’s used the entire bullpen in the game as well. Jarrod Parker’s start tonight along with what I am assuming will be multiple transactions between Oakland and Sacramento will go a long way in decided if the Beane will need to look outside the organization for help.

If Young and Crisp can’t go for awhile they will need to recall presumably Shane Peterson and Michael Taylor. If Anderson has to go on the disabled list Straily will probably just stick around.

The A’s will need to call up a reliever or two for tonight’s game seeing as only Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle will be available for short stints if at all. That means Evan Scribner and/or Jesse Chavez more than likely unless Melvin wants another lefty reliever in the bullpen in which case Hideki Okajima may get recalled from Sacramento along with one of the two previously mentioned.

Beane added a multitude of depth to the roster this offseason and it already has paid dividends. The A’s will need to withstand the storm of injuries currently plaguing the team. Even though it is early on in the season the wins in the win column still count the same as they on the first week of October.