UPDATE: The A's released Santiago Casilla.

To make room for Cassevah on their 40-man roster, previously full, the A's designated for assignment right-hander Santiago Casilla, who had been one of their five candidates to not receive a contract offer by Saturday night's tender deadline.

Link

• With the 9th pick of the 2009 Rule V Draft, the A's selected Bobby Cassevah from the Angels.

• baseballamerica.com: Cassevah’s sinker tops out at 93-94 and helped generate 4.03-to-1 groundout-to-airout ratio in ‘09 at Double-A.
• mlb.com: A's scout Randy Johnson, after seeing Cassevah in July, called his slider one of the best he had ever seen.

• In the AAA phase, the A's selected Beau Vaughan from the Rangers.

Scouting Report:

Scouting Report: Aggressive righty has a fastball reaching 91 mph with good sinking movement.  Vaughan is able to throw his biting slider for strikes often.  Four strong pitches, but needs a little work on keeping a consistent delivery for all of his pitches. Gets a lot of groundball outs. Struggles against left-handed batters.   Fierce with a good mound presence. Good control.  Vaughan has moved through the system slowly but surely - he was actually drafted the round before Jonathan Papelbon in 2003.  Despite being old for his leagues along the way, Vaughan still has a very good chance to be an effective MLB reliever. 

• The A's did not lose any players in the MLB or AAA phases of the draft.

Bobby Cassevah:

Official Minor League Stats

Beau Vaughan

Minor League Stats 

Rule V Notes:

baseballamerica.com

• The Nationals take Jamie Hoffmann first overall, and he’ll be traded to the Yankees for Brian Bruney. The Pirates follow with speedster John Raynor out of the Marlins system.
• Orioles take lefty Ben Snyder from the Giants and will trade him to the Rangers in the Kevin Millwood trade. The Royals follow with lefty Edgar Osuna from the Braves.

Scutaro turns down more money from the A's to sign with Boston:

per Rosenthal:

• Scutaro turned down a slightly more lucrative three-year contract from the A's before signing his two-year, $12.5 million deal with the Red Sox, according to major-league sources.
• The A's would have used Scutaro at shortstop and made Cliff Pennington their utility man.
• Clearly, the A's are operating with a measure of financial flexibility.

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What players did your team not protect that may be a decent pick in the Rule V draft on December 10?

It would be interesting to hear Mr. Sickels thoughts on the subject as well.  In the 2009 Rule V, will there be a hidden gem like Josh Hamilton, Joakim Soria, Dan Uggla or a Johan Santana?

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The A's selected the following players on November 20, 2009:

• Oakland Athletics called up Chris Carter from Sacramento River Cats.
• Oakland Athletics called up Fautino De Los Santos from AZL Athletics
• Oakland Athletics called up Pedro Figueroa from Stockton Ports.
• Oakland Athletics called up Justin Souza from Midland RockHounds.

The aforementioned players are no longer eligible for the Rule V draft on December 10.  The A's roster now stands at 39.

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*There has been some discussion as to the status of Chris Denorfia after he was outrighted by the A's last week.  According to this LINK at the Game of Baseball.com, Denorfia's name appears on the list of A's players eligible for 6-year minor league free agency.*

Oakland (17)

Pitchers: RHP Daniel Barone, RHP Andrew Brown, RHP Shawn Chacon, RHP Dewon Day, RHP Leonardo Espinal, RHP Angel Garcia, RHP Chris Gissell, LHP Daniel Haigwood, LHP Justin Hampson, RHP Scott Mitchinson, RHP Scott Patterson, RHP Jerome Williams

Catchers: Raul Padron

Infielders: Carlos Arrieche, Frank Martinez

Outfielders: Chris Denorfia, Archie Gilbert 

In a move that we all expected, the A's outrighted Chris Denorfia to Sacramento and freed up another spot on the 40-man roster.

Official Release:

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland A's outrighted outfielder Chris Denorfia to Triple-A Sacramento, the club announced today.

Denorfia spent most of the 2009 season at Sacramento where he batted .271 with nine home runs and 49 RBI in 107 games. He also went 0 for 2 with a run scored and RBI during a four-game stint with Oakland from June 9 to 17. Denorfia is a .279 career hitter with three home runs and 19 RBI in 100 games with the A's (2008-09) and Cincinnati (2005-06).

via media.scout.com

Bill Beane and staff got right to work on the off season today by removing Edgar Gonzalez, Kevin Cameron, Dan Giese and Eric Munson from the 40-man roster.  No big surprises here.  Of the group, I could see Munson returning on a minor league deal.  After all, he is Eric Chavez' BFF.

Official Release

Scout.com Article:

In the first of what is likely to be many moves this off-season, the Oakland A's have outrighted four players off of the 40-man roster: right-handers Edgar Gonzalez, Kevin Cameron and Dan Giese and catcher Eric Munson. The moves leave the A's with 37 players on the active 40-man roster.

more from the article:

All four of these players are now free agents. Oakland has five other players on its 40-man roster who are eligible to file for free agency: Brett Tomko, Bobby Crosby, Nomar Garciaparra, Adam Kennedy and Justin Duchscherer. The A's also have six players on the 60-day disabled list, including Duchscherer. These players don't currently count against the 40-man limit, but they will need to be activated off of that 60-day DL following the World Series. Assuming that Tomko, Crosby, Garciaparra, Kennedy and Duchscherer all file for free agency, the A's will have 38 players on the 40-man roster once the 60-day DL players have been activated.
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I noticed this interview with Farhan Zaidi on Scout.com yesterday.  Melissa Lockard and Zaidi discuss many issues that we've all debated over the past year.  I just wanted to pass it along and see what AN thinks.  Here are some of the key points:

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Official Release

The Oakland A's recalled left-handed pitchers Jerry Blevins and Dana Eveland and selected left-handed pitcher Brad Kilby from Triple-A Sacramento, the club announced today.

Eveland, oh boy - check out his last 5 starts!  Congrats to Kilby, well-deserved - 77 K's in 63.1 innings!  I think one or two positon players would've have given the A's some flexibility.  I wanted the A's to purchase Munson's contract, so Powell could get some ABs at DH and 1B.  Once the River Cats finish their title run, it's possible we'll see him, Buck and Petit.  I know he's not a prospect, but Carson's had a helluva year for Sacramento.  It would be nice to throw the guy a bone and give him a September call-up.

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Official Release

The Oakland A's recalled outfielder Eric Patterson from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned infielder Tommy Everidge to Sacramento, the club announced today.

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Official Release

The A's have now signed or agreed to terms with 29 of their 49 selections from the draft, including each of the first eight and 15 of the first 18.

According to Slusser, the Oakland A's and the 13th pick in the 2009 amateur draft, SS Grant Green, agreed to terms.  Kevin Goldstein reports that Green will receive a $2.75 million straight bonus.

According to the baseballamerica.com, the team also came to terms with pitcher Ian Krol, who was drafted in the 7th round. 

Illinois prep lefthander Ian Krol has agreed to terms with the Athletics, who drafted him in the seventh round. Krol missed his senior season due to a suspension and was committed to Arizona. He signed for $925,000.

As for another notable pick, Sam Dyson, it was previously reported that he would be attending college.

With the signing of Max Stassi earlier in the day, it appears as though the A's had a relatively successful draft. The organization was able to come to terms with their first eight draft picks.

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