The Oakland Athletics are going to be closely evaluating their roster this upcoming offseason to see who should stay and who needs to go. One position that will definitely be put under a microscope is third base mainly because the A’s currently have two qualified starting third basemen – Brett Lawrie and Danny Valencia. Assuming that the Athletics acquire a veteran middle infielder to play second, there could be some competition for the role of starting third basemen.
Lawrie initially held this job to start off the 2015 season. However, once Oakland claimed Valencia off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays, the A’s shifted Lawrie to second and started Valencia at third. With the A’s going through yet another rebuild this offseason, will both of these players still be on the roster come 2016?
It is likely that one of these former Blue Jays will be traded before spring training next year since both are very similar. Both are right handed batters, both have the skills to be an everyday starting player, and both will be free agents around the same time – Valencia in 2017 and Lawrie in 2018. Additionally, even though Valencia had a much high batting average than Lawrie, Valencia hit 18 homers while Lawrie launched 16, and Valencia collected 66 RBI this season while Lawrie was able to hit 60 – so their numbers are pretty similar as well.
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Ultimately, the Oakland Athletics do not need two starting third basemen especially since there are so many other players who can be backups at this position. This would include Eric Sogard, who had started practicing his fielding skills at third toward the end of the season, Max Muncy, and Tyler Ladendorf, who the A’s are trying to turn into a utility man. However, it all depends if Oakland decides to bump Lawrie from second base.
If the A’s do acquire a more veteran middle infielder this offseason, it is likely that Lawrie will go. His performance over the course of the season was just mediocre and definitely a disappointment in comparison to who he replaced on the team. Valencia had a better bat and his WAR jumped from 0.1 to 1.7 once he came to Oakland. He is also a much better fielder at third than Lawrie. Valencia had a combined .985 fielding percentage this season at third base and Lawrie had only a .937.
On the other hand, the Athletics could go in a different direction and pick up a quality third baseman. In this scenario, Lawrie would stay at second and Valencia would definitely go since he has predominately fielded at third base his entire baseball career. The A’s would lose a quality bat, but Lawrie would be the only adequate second baseman on the team.
There are obviously a lot of factors that could affect this position. However, it is likely that one of these players will not be on the roster come 2016 since the A’s will be rebuilding one way or another. Essentially, Lawrie should not play at third and Valencia should not play at second. Once the trades and acquisitions shake out, it will easily be determined who goes and who stays.