The Oakland Athletics are a team known to make playoff pushes after the All-Star break, yet this year it’s seemingly different. Bob Melvin’s team is struggling mightily.
Tonight the A’s seemed dead in the water against the red-hot New York Yankees. Yet were able to come back from an early 6-0 deficit to tie the game up before the struggling Trivino gave up a bloop two out single to Aaron Judge that scored pinch runner Tyler Wade.
Still the reality for Oakland is that a roster move is a must at this point. It’s time to go all in for the playoff push. Which means calling up Khris Davis from Las Vegas. He’s done all the organization has asked him to do. He’s now hitting .340, with seven home runs and 18 RBI, he’s also added two doubles and two triples in his 11 games played and 46 at-bats.
So what does that mean if Davis gets called up? It means the A’s move on from Chad Pinder as he’s now replaceable with Tony Kemp able to play second base and the outfield and Josh Harrison on the roster who can play the outfield and second base, short stop, and third base.
Pinder has also struggled mightily this year both offensively and defensively. It’s truly time for change of scenery for him. The only other option besides him is Mitch Moreland, yet his defense is too good and he can give first basemen Matt Olson a day off.
Also, Melvin needs to remove the struggling Mark Canha out of the leadoff spot. So far in August he’s hit .141 with a home run and six RBI, while striking out 21 times and walking 11 times. He is also hitting .186 since coming back from injury on July 17th. In that time frame he’s only driven in 10 runs with the aforementioned once home run.
Melvin needs to go with starting veteran catcher Yan Gomes over Sean Murphy. As for the lineup it needs to look like this:
1. Josh Harrison, LF
2. Starling Marte, CF
3. Matt Olson, 1B
4. Khris Davis, DH
5. Jed Lowrie 2B
6. Matt Chapman, 3B
7. Yan Gomes, C
8. Mark Canha, RF
9. Elvis Andrus, SS
The best argument for why a lineup change is necessary is that only two A’s who have been with the team for the entire season have batting averages over .250 (Olson and Lowrie). If the A’s are to save the season something needs to get done immediately and it all starts making a phone call to Las Vegas and bringing Davis up.