39-year old righty starting pitcher Bartolo Colon is showing no signs of slowing down for the A’s. Colon started 5 games in July in which he was 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. Colon has now pitched in 20 games (all starts) for the A’s overall this year and he is 7-8 with a 3.78 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. He has given up 136 hits in only 123 2/3 innings this year, but he has only walked 20 batters while whiffing 78 batters. The A’s hope that Colon can keep up the good work, but they have a lot of guys rehabbing (Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden and Brandon McCarthy) unless he runs out of gas.

The A’s have signed Ricky Ledee to a minor league contract and have invited him to Spring Training. Ledee had a rough time last season as he only hit .188 while playing for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. Ledee has played in the majors for nine seasons and he has a career batting average of .244 and a OPS of .738. Ledee will need some luck to make the A’s as their #5 outfielder.

The Oakland A’s must feel very confident in their roster they finished with last season because they have not done much to improve the roster. Mike Piazza was signed to replace Frank Thomas as the designated hitter for the A’s. Piazza could have a good season now that he can just concentrate on hitting the baseball. He hit .283 last season with 22 homers and 68 RBIs in only 399 at bats. The A’s traded for 2B Donnie Murphy from the Royals to provide infield insurance in case both Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby go down again. The A’s signed free-agent Lou Merloni to battle Murphy for a roster spot. The A’s also added Rule 5 pick Ryan Goleski to the outfield mix.

The A’s made some minor moves to try to improve the bullpen. They signed 37 year old lefty Alan Embree who had a fine season in San Diego last year. He had 16 holds and a 3.27 ERA as he got his velocity back into the 96-97 mph range. The A’s also selected lefty Jay Marshall in the Rule 5 draft and they would like to keep him if they can. Scott Dunn and Erasmo Ramirez was also brought in to compete for bullpen jobs.