The A’s have designated 27-year old righty swinging infielder Luke Hughes for assignment. Hughes played in 4 games for the A’s this year and he was 1 for 13 (.077 avg, .154 WHIP) without any runs scored or RBIs. He showed an utter lack of patience at the plate as he whiffed six times without walking. He also made 3 errors in his four games at 3B as he was awful with the glove. Hughes has played in 8 games overall this year for the A’s & Twins and he is 3 for 23 (.130 avg, .255 OPS) with 2 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The A’s need Hughes’ roster spot for new starting 3B Brandon Inge. The A’s aren’t going to miss Hughes at all the rest of this year.

UPDATE: (5/2/2012) - Luke Hughes has cleared waivers and he has accepted an outright assignment to AAA.

The A’s have signed 35-year old righty swinging 3B Brandon Inge to a 1-year deal. Inge played in 9 games this earlier this year for the Tigers and he was 2 for 20 (.100 avg, .400 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. He has now played in 1,408 games in his first 12 years in the majors and he is 1,083 of 4,626 (.234 avg, .691 OPS) with 527 runs scored, 140 homers, 589 RBIs and 45 stolen bases. This was a good move for the A’s as Inge will likely be the starting 3B moving forward and that has been a big black hole for them so far this year.

Last season, 26-year old lefty swinging 1B Daric Barton’s shoulder was barking most of the time.  He played in only 67 games for the A’s last year and he was 50 for 236 (.212 avg, .592 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 0 homers, 21 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.  He really doesn’t have an excuse this year.  Barton has played in 15 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 8 for 44 (.182 avg, .583 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI.  Barton has now played in 453 games in his first six years in the majors and he is 379 of 1,514 (.250 avg, .735 OPS) with 215 runs scored, 27 homers, 158 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.  The A’s need to send Barton to the bench and start Kila Ka’aihue or call up Chris Carter and give him another shot.

Righty starting pitcher Mike Norris had his day in the sun for the A’s back in 1980. Norris pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the A’s in 1980 and he was 22-9 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He completed 24 games (1 shutout) as he pitched an amazing 284 1/3 innings in 1980. Norris finished 2nd in the voting for the Cy Young Award and 15th in the MVP Voting in 1980. He also won a Gold Glove and made the All-Star team that year. Manager Billy Martin worked all of his starting pitchers hard in 1980 and none of them were the same afterwards, including Norris. Norris pitched in 201 games (157 starts) in his 10 years with the A’s and he was 58-59 with a 3.89 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He made it to two All-Star teams and he won 2 Gold Gloves in his time with the A’s.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Josh Donaldson just isn’t cutting it for the A’s so far this year. He has played in 9 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 3 for 32 (.094 avg, .188 OPS) with 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. Donaldson has shown an utter lack of discipline at the plate this year as he has whiffed 13 times already this year, without walking even one time. Donaldson is learning 3B on the job as he is a catcher by trade and that’s not going too well either as he already has 3 errors there. Donaldson has now played in 23 games in his first two years with the A’s and he is 8 for 64 (.125 avg, .339 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 homer, 5 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has walked 2 times and whiffed 25 times in his first two years with the A’s. He better turn things around soon, or the A’s are going to have to send him to AAA and try someone else at 3B.

The Oakland A’s have claimed 27-year old righty swinging 1B/2B/3B Luke Hughes off waivers from the Twins. Hughes played in 4 games for the Twins earlier this year and he was 2 for 10 (.200 avg, .382 OPS) with 0 runs scored, 0 homers, 2 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 102 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 68 for 304 (.224 avg, .627 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 8 homers, 33 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Look for the A’s to give Hughes a shot to play some at 3B as Josh Donaldson and Eric Sogard have not been giving them much there offensively so far this year.

The A’s have claimed 27-year old righty reliever Rich Thompson off waivers from the division rival Angels. Thompson pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Angels earlier this year and he was 0-1 with a 15.43 ERA and a 2.57 WHIP. He has now pitched in 81 games (0 starts) in his first six years in the majors and he is 3-4 with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. The A’s hope Thompson can help them out a little bit in middle relief in 2012.

UPDATE: (4/25/2012) - The A’s have designated Rich Thompson for assignment. He pitched in 1 game for the A’s, working 2/3 of a scoreless inning while allowing 1 hit.

UPDATE: (4/28/2012) - The A’s have outrighted Rich Thompson to AAA.

38-year old righty starting pitcher Bartolo Colon is off to an outstanding start this year for the A’s. He has pitched in 4 games (all starts) for the A’s so far this year and he is 3-1 with a 2.63 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP. Colon has only given up 20 hits and 2 walks in his first 27 1/3 innings pitched, while whiffing 19 batters. Colon has been maintaining his velocity late in games this year as he was hitting 92-93 miles per hour on his fastball in the 8th inning in his last start (a win against the Angels). But, the A’s would be smart to manage Colon’s workload as the last year he started more than 26 games was back in 2005 with the Los Angeles Angels. He won the Cy Young Award in the American League that year as he started 33 games for the Angels in 2005 and he was 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. The A’s hope Colon keeps up the solid work as he is a good example to the younger pitchers on the staff.

26-year old righty swinging outfielder Michael Taylor is killing the ball in AAA right now. Taylor has played in 11 games in AAA-ball so far this year for the A’s and he is 19 for 46 (.413 avg, 1.060 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer, 11 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He played in 11 games for the A’s last year in his first taste of the majors and he was 6 for 30 (.200 avg, .614 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. Taylor came into this season as the A’s #6 prospect according to Baseball America. He might get a shot with the A’s later this year as he could be a late bloomer.

23-year old righty Jarrod Parker and 24-year old righty Brad Peacock were two of the big keys in the Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez over the winter and they are both looking sharp in the minors so far. Parker has pitched in 3 games (all starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. He pitched in 1 game (a start) for the D-Backs in his first taste of the majors last year and he was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Parker came into this season as the A’s #1 prospect according to Baseball America. Brad Peacock was the Nationals’ #3 prospect according to Baseball America before the A’s picked him up. He has pitched in 2 games (both starts) in AAA-ball for the A’s and he is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP. Peacock pitched in 3 games (2 starts) in his first taste of the majors with the Nationals last year and he was 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Jarrod Parker and Brad Peacock are going to be big parts of the A’s future starting rotation as early as a little later in 2012.