The A's always seem to have a surprise up their sleeve when announcing the Opening Day roster. Usually the big news is some hotshot rookie made the team.
This year that hot shot is Tyson Ross. Not bad for a starting pitcher who was only drafted in the June 2008 draft. Ross will make the club trying to help out a rather depleted bullpen.
Perhaps the bigger surprise announced by the A's front office was that Jack Cust had been designated for assignment. It's a move that caught everyone off guard, even Cust.
Perhaps we shouldn't be that shocked though. With the focus on many other position battles, Cust was quietly putting together a very poor spring:
11H, 51AB, .216, 20 Ks, 1 HR and just 3 RBI.
Not the kind of offensive production you want to see from your designated hitter. Since he's proved himself healthy the A's want to put Eric Chavez in the DH position with an opportunity to be in the line-up every day. This way both Chavez AND 1B Daric Barton can be in the starting line-up every day. That's also one less bat they need to worry about when it comes time to call up 1B Chris Carter to Oakland.
Designating Cust for assignment also likely gives the A's more roster flexibility for their other final roster decisions including which position players will be sitting on the bench Monday night for Opening Day.
The A's have a 10-day window to either trade Cust or subject him to waivers and hope he clears them en route to Triple-A Sacramento. The A's are hoping he'll clear waivers so he can get much needed ABs so he can get himself ready in case the A's do need him. Since Cust tested the free agent market over the offseason and still wound up with the A's, it's quite likely no one will take a flier on him.
I support this move 100 percent. I thought Cust's lack of roster flexibility was holding the A's back from developing young kids who need a chance to prove their worth at the big league level. Assuming Cust clears waivers and waits at Triple-A, he'll be ready to come on back to Oakland if any of those kids prove they just aren't cutting it.
Bring on the kids! Here's hoping though that the ball finally start jumping off someone's bats, because the A's pitching staff can't win games completely by themselves.
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