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The Oakland Athletics sit at 18-18, after losing four straight to the Cleveland Indians (aided by the efforts of reviled umpire Angel Hernandez, whose blown call Wednesday night robbed Oakland of a game-tying home run). They will regroup and head into a weekend series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday, but they’ll do so with a noticeable limp.
The team is without the services of outfielders Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp and Chris Young, as all are on the disabled list. With their top offensive performers out of the lineup, the A’s have struggled to score runs this week, so they should do something to shake things up, so to speak.
Infielders Grant Green and Jemile Weeks are both capable candidates to be called up from Triple-A Sacramento and at this point, they’ve got to be better options offensively than the Eric Sogard/Adam Rosales combination, which has scuffled lately.
Weeks’ strong suit is not his defense, but if he’s able to come back up and demonstrate some hitting ability (he’s hitting .287 in 31 games thus far for Sacramento this season) he might be a good option for a table-setter in the team’s current makeshift lineup.
I don’t know what, exactly, Green needs to do in order to be called up to the majors. He’s hitting .294 in Triple-A right now, and finished at a .296 clip with 15 home runs last year. The 25-year-old seems ready to hit at the major league level — or at least be given the opportunity to try.
The A’s need some kind of jolt in order to make it through this rough patch while the regulars heal up. Good teams weather the storm and tread water while key players deal with injuries, and that’s the situation the A’s find themselves in right now.
Calling up Green or Weeks to fill in for a while wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Adrian Garro is an Oakland Athletics writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter and/or add him to your network on Google.
