Despite Oakland's race for the playoffs in the majors, the A's waited until their AAA affiliate had won their league title before substantially expanding their major league roster this September. Oakland activated Jermaine Dye from the DL and called up Steve Sparks on September 2nd, but OF-R Mike Edwards, Jeremy Fikac, Esteban German, Jason Grabowski, Mark Johnson, and Graham Koonce all only joined the major league club on Sunday. Sacramento secured the Pacific Coast League title and Oakland is 4.5 games up on Seattle, but I still disapprove of the decision to short the major league bench in order to accommodate minor league playoffs when the major league team is in the hunt.

We took a look at Edwards and Koonce when they signed minor league deals with Oakland last off-season. Edwards hit .298 with a .387 OBP and .466 SLG on 130 H, 23 2B, 2 3B, and 14 HR with a 60:78 BB:K and 5/7 SB% in 436 AB at AAA Sacramento this season. He'll need to produce immediately to receive any consideration for substantial playing time since he's already 26. However, the A's outfield has not been one of their strengths this season and both Jose Guillen and Chris Singleton are hurt.

Guillen broke the hammate bone in his left wrist during his second inning at-bat on Sunday. While he's determined to attempt to play through the injury, a broken hammate bone causes a great deal of pain that will likely lead to ineffectiveness at the plate. Although he may try to return to the lineup when he completes his therapy on Friday, I doubt he'll be able to produce at a level sufficient to persuade Oakland to continue to give him substantial playing time. He should be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. If he were to undergo the surgery typically associated with this problem, he might be able to return in as few as four weeks, making him available help the team if they remain in the playoffs at that point. However, he could easily need more than six weeks to come back from the procedure, which would prevent him from participating in the post-season.