26-year old switch hitting Cliff Pennington will be the starting SS for the A’s in 2011. He played in 156 games for the A’s last season and he was 127 of 508 (.250 avg, .687 OPS) with 64 runs scored, 6 homers, 46 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. The A’s are hoping that Pennington can get his average up to around .270 so that he can fully utilize his speed in 2011. Pennington had 25 errors in 150 games at SS last season for the A’s but he showed outstanding range as he gets to a lot of balls other shortstops only can dream about.

27-year old righty swinging Adam Rosales will back up Pennington when he gets healthy. Rosales had 2 errors in 14 games at SS last season while showing awful range.

27-year old righty swinging Steven Tolleson played in 25 games for the A’s last season and he was 14 of 49 (.286 avg, .748 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs. He also played in 80 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 97 of 292 (.332 avg, .915 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 9 homers, 43 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Tolleson didn’t make any errors in 11 games at SS for the A’s last season but he showed pretty awful range. He will have a shot to make the team this spring as Rosales won’t be ready to start the season.

24-year old lefty swinging Eric Sogard will battle Tolleson this spring. Sogard played in 137 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 154 of 514 (.300 avg, .798 OPS) with 82 runs scored, 5 homers, 65 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Sogard also got a cup of coffee with the A’s last September as he appeared in 4 games in which he was 3 for 7 (.429 avg, .984 OPS). Sogard had 4 errors in 25 games at SS in AAA-ball last season as he is a natural 2B.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE A’S 2B IN 2011: C

33-year old righty swinging Mark Ellis will be the starting 2B once again for the A’s in 2011. Ellis played in 124 games for the A’s last season and he was 127 of 436 (.268 avg, .740 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 5 homers, 49 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Ellis will likely get back to cracking double figures in homers in 2011 as he averaged 13.0 homers per year over the previous five seasons before 2010. Ellis only made 3 errors in 116 games last season while showing outstanding range as he has always been a solid defensive player. Ellis’ biggest issue has just been staying healthy as he has only played in over 125 games twice in his 9 years with the A’s.

27-year old righty swinging Adam Rosales will be Ellis’ prime backup in 2011. Rosales played in 80 games for the A’s last season and he was 69 of 255 (.271 avg, .721 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 7 homers, 31 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. I think what you see is what you get with Rosales as a hitter as last years numbers were probably near his ceiling. He didn’t make any errors in 47 games at 2B last season while showing slightly below average range. That being said, Rosales is a solid utility man as he’s very versatile in the field.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE A’s 2B IN 2011: B-

The Oakland A’s need better power numbers out of the 1B in 2011. 25-year old lefty swinging Daric Barton will be the starter at 1B once again in 2011. Barton played in 159 games for the A’s last season and he was 152 of 556 (.273 avg, .798 OPS) with 79 runs scored, 10 homers, 57 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Barton isn’t afraid to take a walk as he had 110 of them in 2010 but he also whiffed 102 times which is too many for a player with very little power. Barton is not a good defensive 1B either as he had 10 errors in 157 games for the A’s last season.

28-year old righty swinging Conor Jackson will be Barton’s backup in 2011. He will get most of his ABs in the outfield and at DH in 2011. Jackson made 0 errors in 3 games at 1B and he’s a slick defender there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE A’S 1B IN 2011: C-