And here I was thinking we were about to bring up the whole AAA squad.

After Wednesday's disappointing loss to the Royals- completing the sweep, leaving the A's a depressing 2-10 since the All-Star break, dropping us below .500, and putting our team 13.5 games out of the division lead- the A's optioned BOTH Wes Bankston and Eric Patterson to Sacramento. This move seems to clear a roster spot for Big Frank, but even Mychael Urban's article that quotes Thomas as saying he is ready to return has Geren suggesting he may go on a rehab assignment.

So, what gives? The A's seem to be shopping anyone and everyone on the big-league team: Street (another poor outing tonight) and Duke (due to go on Friday in Boston) are clearly the odds on favorites to be traded, if anyone is going to go, though AN has also buzzed with the possibility of Embree, Crosby or Ellis being moved. Presumably these trades will bring back young, i.e. minor league, talent. So why are we CLEARING roster spots?

There are a few options.

The most boring would be Daric Barton is getting re-called, despite his 5 for 24 performance in his rehab assignment. Clearly the fact the guy went for a "rehab" assignment after banging his head on the bottom of a pool is an indication that he needed some at-bats in the minors, though it is not clear that hitting .208 for a week in AAA solved any (of his other) problems.

The more exciting options involve the A's making some moves.

SO, for 18 more hours, you are hereby invited to speculate (once again, for the last time) on who is filling out the A's roster on Friday. If we are limited to trades that bring us MORE major leaguers than we give up, that narrows the field considerably. My bet: Duke for a young hitter, with Gio getting the call-up. (I'll be in Boston on Friday and  am hoping to see GG make his first ML start...)