[The Elephant Walk is my weekly wrap-up of Oakland Athletics baseball. Results, performances, transactions or other thoughts I might have about the A’s]

What a week… what a week. Not the greatest ending, dropping one to Kameron Loe and the Texas Rangers 0-7, but a good week indeed. And I don’t know if you can have a better start to the week than they did this week.

I know the Yankees pitching staff is right up there with some AA teams because of injuries, but this was Mariano Rivera, and it definitely was the highlight of my Sunday afternoon.

Pitching

Despite a great performance against the Yankees, I was amazed to see Oakland seemingly learn from its prior mistakes and pull Harden after a 93 pitch count and six innings of work. I know that the bullpen subsequently blew the shutout in the seventh, but at least they seem to understand that, especially early on, its not going to be a good idea to ask your young ace to throw 120 pitches every outing. Just look at King Felix in Seattle: two 111 pitch outings and then.. oops, elbow problem. That is frightening similar to Rich Harden’s 2006 season, and I hope the Mariners’ management does not rush the kid back into action to help salvage what is not looking like a promising season at the current time (they’ve lost 5 straight games).

On the negative, I’m not so sure its such a good idea to have Joe Kennedy shuffled in and out of the rotation. He is the reliever who came in and blew the lead against the Yanks on three days rest from his last appearance: a five inning no decision effort against the White Sox. I know he is a pro and has both started and relieved, but I really think the A’s need to stick to one or the other and allow him time to settle. Other than that, things are looking good with Chad Gaudin only allowing 4 earned runs thus far and Houston Street coming back strong from a loss the week prior to the White Sox.

The only thing that is scaring me right now is the lack of consistency out of the rest of the bullpen. Justin Duchscherer is right now the only guy I would call a sure thing, and they really need a lefty-counterpart to step up with him so they can have a solid 7th-8th-and 9th reliever combo. If the Brewers weren’t demanding a king’s ransom in prospects for him, I’d say I’d love to see the A’s make a play for Jose Capellan, but that’s not going to happen unless Billy Beane has another trick up his sleeve and can manage something unexpected.

First Base

Todd Walker did a great job this week, and really that’s why the A’s signed him. With Marco Scutaro around, Todd is going to be a great addition and a guy who can help spell at 1b and 3b. Obviously right now his value to the A’s is greatest at 1b, but once they get 1b aligned for the rest of the year, Walker is going to be invaluable in being able to spell Eric Chavez, who gets dinged up a lot and although he doesn’t go on the DL as often as other guys do on the team, when he plays hurt he is largely ineffective offensively. Walker should help Chavo get some rest. That’s not going to happen yet, but with Milton Bradley back in the lineup, Swisher can play 1b again, and Dan Johnson’s return is probably only a month away.

On The Farm

Speaking of 1b, the A’s have two guys right now in Sacramento who are competing for a callup… most likely permanent considering Dan Johnson’s injury history and the fact that Mike Piazza only signed a one year deal, so the DH slot will be open in 2008. Jason Stokes, the prospect recently acquired from the Florida Marlins, actually might challenge uber-prospect Daric Barton for the callup, who A’s fans have been waiting for a few years to develop. Stokes is not hitting for average right now (.222 in 27 at bats), but he is walking about once every 5 plate appearances and has 2 homers, and 6 RBI. This is in comparison to Barton who is hitting .259 in 54 at bats and has only one home run, but also has 5 doubles. I think the average is probably what’s holding both of them down right now, as its hard to call someone up who is only hitting in the low to mid 200’s in AAA. Also, Barton is only walking once in every seven plate appearances.. not really in the mold of Beane’s philosophies. I think the difference maker right now are the srikeout ratios; Stokes is K-ing in almost half of his at bats, and that low of a contact rate means that it’s going to take a lot for him to raise that .222 average. I’ll keep a good eye on these guys from this point on, but right now Barton has the edge in the situation of a Nick Swisher or Todd Walker injury. I also say this because Stokes is not getting a lot of time at 1b right now, and is mainly the DH, which suggests that he is being groomed to take the DH slot in 2008 or 2009.

Another guy who might be seeing some time if Jason Kendall gets hurt (or traded) is Kurt Suzuki, the first-team All American from Cal State Fullerton and the Johnny Bench Catcher of the Year in 2004. Right now Kurt is leading the River Cats with a .340 average. He is not hitting for power, but when you think about it, neither does Jason Kendall. Kendall is a free agent after this year, so I’d expect a July/ August callup for Suzuki who will most likely be expected to take over in 2007 as I don’t see the A’s resigning Kendall unless he comes cheap, and only for a year or two to help Suzuki develop.

I also see Brad Halsey getting a callup within the month if the bullpen (or Joe Kennedy) continues to struggle. Halsey has two wins, a strikeout per inning, and about a walk per game. He’s got a 1.06 WHIP and if he has one or two more outings with similar success the A’s may have no choice but to give him another shot in the Show.