[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]

The Week That Was

It really could not have been more of a roller coaster for the A’s this week: loss, win, loss, win, loss, win. At least we can say they are consistent that way… and also in the way they consistently keep shuttling guys onto the DL. This week’s victims were Mike Piazza (shoulder) and Bobby Kielty (calf). Maybe its time for the A’s to fire their trainer too (a la the New York Yankees): sprained right shoulder, strained left calf, strained left hamstring, right shoulder strain, spasms in right trapezius, herniated disc in back. At least a few of those had to be preventable. But considering the injures the A’s have had thus far, to be only one game out of the division lead is really quite good.

Let’s Make A Deal

More trades this week. First off, the A’s got outfielder Ryan Langerhans from the Atlanta Braves. He wasn’t exactly helping them out much so they shopped him out to Oakland. Only three days later, the A’s sent Langerhans off packing again, this time to Washington and Oakland got outfielder Chris Snelling in return. Snelling is a guy who Oakland has had their eye on for a while, and its my guess that Seattle was not exactly thrilled about trading with their division rival. From the looks of it, the same thing was going on with Langerhans, Atlanta, and Washington. It may have been a bit much, but in the end the A’s got an outfielder who can play all three outfield slots, something that is desperately needed with Kielty, Kotsay and Bradley on the DL.. and with Nick Swisher, Shannon Stewart and Travis Buck banged up.

The A’s also made a move that has me starting the Jason Kendall trade countdown; they got JD Closser from Milwaukee, the catcher once considered to be the franchise catcher of the Rockies… a role now filled by Chris Iannetta. But Closser is a Billy Beane kind of guy, walks a lot, switch hitter, and is still only 27. With Jeremy Brown, Kurt Suzuki, and Adam Melhuse, it really does not make sense to add a another catcher to your AAA and major league teams… unless of course, as I insinuated before, that Jason Kendall is on his way out.

The other reasoning behind it, as far as I can tell, is to get a mentor for Suzuki. A guy in the mold of Crash Davis, who can help coach the young guy up and get him mentally ready for the show. I know Closser didn’t exactly excel with his opportunities to shine, but he definitely knows what its like to be counted on as the catcher of the future and maybe if he can better prep Suzuki, its a deal well done.

Finally, the last deal of the week was for 29 year old minor leaguer Jack Cust. Jack is a leftfielder-DH who draws a lot of walks and can hit for some power. Its a decent, and cheap, deal that lets the A’s put Cust into the lineup and keep Nick Swisher as the DH for now until he is healthy. It’s also going to let Shannon Stewart get some rest… because otherwise you might as well book his trip to the DL as well.

Coming Up

Should be a good opportunity to keep pace with the Angels: a series with the Royals and a series with the Indians.

Right now the Royals are really not hitting or pitching all that well, so two out of three is a must for the A’s. As for Cleveland, they are hot right now, but Oakland is at home, so again, I’d say its a must to take two out of three.