[The Elephant Walk is my somewhat regular column on Oakland Athletics baseball. Results, performances, transactions or other thoughts I might have about the A’s]

Can You Say Ownage.. How About Stonage?

As I pointed out yesterday, the A’s swept the Giants to be 5-1 on the season against their Bay Area rivals. At said event, a fellow blogger on Sportszilla noticed some similar features in Oakland’s team pictures. As an A’s follower, this is no shocker, actually its something I tended to avoid; its not typically a strategic maneuver no matter how good your info is, to write about something that can harm your team. But now that the cat is out of the bag that half the team would have failed a drug test on photo day I thought I’d pick up where they left off and include a few additional players who may or may not have been rocking the ganghe that fine day. My personal favorite: Chad Gaudin (far right, second row). I also enjoy Bobby Kealty’s apparent homage to Bozo the Clown with that haircut (if you can’t figure out this one you might too be stoned).

Lovin’ Lenny DiNardo

Are you kiddin’ me?

First of all, Lenny DiNardo has stepped out of the bullpen to throw 12 shutout innings in two starts, and the A’s may have found the lefty they have been searching for. But then again, maybe not. I know its a small sample size, but I think that his next start will say a lot. Why? In his first two outings Lenny posted a 1/2 K/BB ratio. Typically 2.5 or higher is what you are looking for, so 0.5 is not looking good. On Sunday though, it was 2.5, and if his next start sees him at or above a 2.0 K/BB I’ll be ready to endorse him for the starting rotation.

In addition to that, you have to love the work that’s being done by Joe Kennedy, Chad Gaudin, and Mr. DiNardo: In the past 13 games Oakland starters have not allowed more than two earned runs. The biggest boost these guys will have in my opinion is in allowing Rich Harden to ease back into action by getting outings in the bullpen. The last time Harden worked in relief he was lights out, so if these unheralded hurlers can keep close to this pace, you have to like the A’s down the stretch run with Santiago Casilla, Alan Embree, Justin Duchscherer, Harden, and Huston Street all waiting to clean up from the ‘pen. This also means that they A’s ‘pen is so solid that it can take over the game in the 6th inning and the starters realistically only have to throw 5 good innings. it’s not the perfect scenario, but it looks damn good and I’m excited for another late summer run into the playoffs.

Aloha Kurt

Good by Adam Melhuse, who was traded for “cash considerations” to the Texas Rangers. The importance of course is that it freed up the spot on the roster for Kurt Suzuki, who is looking more and more like he will be catching opening day 2008 since the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the A’s have had no contract talks whatsoever with current starter Jason Kendall. So it will probably be Suzuki and JD Closser on the opening day roster next year; Kendall’s status as a possible trading piece is most likely completely contingent on the success of Suzuki in the next two months. I also don’t know who the hell is going to trade for him while he is hitting .194, so the most likely scenario is that Suzuki winds up getting to play every-other day sooner than later.

Wheeling And Dealing

Billy Beane has had a busy few months so far, but by no means do I think he is nearly finished trading this year. MLB Trade Rumors reports that the A’s may be looking into the possibility of buying low on Tigers lefty Nate Robertson. The Tigers could probably use some bullpen help, and might also be interested in either a first baseman or third baseman. At first I could see the A’s letting go of Jason Stokes (who has actually been moved to the outfield in AAA) or Dan Johnson.

Eric Chavez On The Move?

Complete speculation on my part, but lately in Sacramento the River Cats have been getting Daric Barton a lot of playing time at third base (he had been used primarily at first previously) and have been using catchers JD Closser and Jeremy Brown at first. Kurt Suzuki has already gotten the call up to the A’s, leaving Closser and Brown in a battle for the 2008 backup job, and I am sure that the A’s would prefer that each is able to play more than one position in the mold of the Pirates’ Ryan Doumit.

But the focus is on Daric Barton, uber-prospect. His move from first to third signifies that Chavez could be traded at some time and then Barton would be the heir apparent at the hot corner. In my mind, teams looking for a third baseman include Detroit (who I have already discussed might be talking with Beane about Robertson), Philadelphia, Minnesota, Los Angeles (Angels - although it should be noted Beane would have to get one helluva deal to send Chavez to a division rival), and possibly Atlanta.

Another team which I think is a long shot is Tampa Bay. Iwamura has had too many injury problems to be reliable and worst comes to worst they can trade for Chavez and move Evan Longoria to first. The A’s could be interested in taking a filer on Elija Dukes to be their long-term center fielder - Nick Swisher’s health is too important and he needs to be a corner OF or 1B.