The A’s decided to take a chance on Chris Denorfia who will miss the entire 2007 season due to Tommy John surgery. The A’s have agreed to give the Reds 2 players to be named later and cash. Denorfia has the talent to be a starting player for the A’s as soon as next season. In his 2-year career, Denorfia has played in 67 games and he’s got a .278 career batting average (.740 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 2 homers and 9 RBIs.

The A’s have had major problems on offense so far this season but you can’t blame Nick Swisher for that. Swisher has played in 20 games so far this season and he’s 18 for 68 (.265 avg, .919 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBIs. The great thing about Swisher is that he’s a switch-hitter and he he’s very versatile in the field. He can handle any position in the outfield and he’s a pretty decent first baseman. In fact, it seems like Swisher is now the best player on the A’s team.

The A’s have placed Milton Bradley on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. He has played in 11 games so far this season and he’s 10 for 38 (.263 avg, .786 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBIs. Look for the A’s to shift Nick Swisher to centerfield and to start Todd Walker at 1B until Bradley is ready to return.

The Oakland Athletics have placed Rich Harden on the 15 day disabled list with a shoulder problem. Harden was outstanding in his first three starts of the season as he was 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. In 19 innings Harden only allowed 13 hits while whiffing 20 batters. Harden has #1 starter stuff but it won’t matter if he tries to follow in Kerry Wood or Mark Prior’s footsteps. The A’s have called up 24 year old lefty Dallas Braden to take Harden’s spot in the rotation. He won his major league debut today against the Baltimore Orioles as he pitched 6 innings and only allowed 3 hits, 1 earned run and 1 walk while whiffing 6 batters.

The A’s need more from Bobby Crosby as they are having trouble scoring runs this season. The A’s decided to let Miguel Tejada leave as a free agent because they thought that Crosby could give them similar numbers, and they were wrong in a big way with that thinking. Crosby has played in 17 games this season and he’s only hitting .237 with a .630 OPS. He’s 14 for 59 with 7 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs this season.

The A’s were 3-2 last week and they outscored their opponents 26-16. The pitching has remained excellent this season and their bats started to come alive last week. The are tied with the Angels for first place in the American League West, 1 game ahead of the Texas Rangers.

Jason Kendall has had a rough start to the season hitting the ball. He’s played in 14 games this season and he’s only hitting .175 with a .410 OPS. Kendall only has 10 hits in 57 at bats with 3 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The A’s need him to get his act together soon as the A’s have been wasting a bunch of good pitching so far this season because the A’s offense has not been good.Â

The Oakland A’s went 3-3 last week as they were outscored 23-19. The A’s did get a dramatic victory yesterday to salvage the week when Marco Scutaro hit a walk-off, three-run homer off of Mariano Rivera. They are now in third place in the American League West with a 6-7 record, 1.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners.

The Oakland A’s need someone to step up after Esteban Loaiza injured himself and Chad Gaudin has answered their call. Gaudin has started two games for the A’s this season and he’s 0-0 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He has thrown 10.2 innings and whiffed 9 batters so far this season. He has had his share of bad luck this season between the A’s lack of offense and the bullpen hasn’t pitched well behind him. Look for him to continue pitching well for the A’s as long as he throws strikes as he’s had control issues in his past major league career.

Kiko Calero and Jay Witasick are both off to rough starts for the A’s. Calero has thrown 2.1 innings so far this season and he’s allowed 6 hits and 4 earned runs. He has lost a game and has a 15.43 ERA and a 3.00 WHIP. He’s better than that so look for him to turn it around soon. Jay Witasick is pretty much the mop-up man for the A’s and he’s done a poor job of that so far this season. He has pitched 2 innings and allowed 4 baserunners (2 hits, 2 walks) and 3 earned runs. He has a 13.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP so far this season which is awful.