Brandon Allen Era Begins
The Athletics demoted two players today including Jordan Norberto and Adam Rosales. Replacing them are two 2011 trade acquisitions: Brandon Allen (who accompanied Norberto in coming from the Diamondbacks to the A’s in the Brad Ziegler deal) and Bruce Billings (he came in exchange for Mark Ellis).
Allen was the centerpiece of the Ziegler trade, a power-hitting first baseman who has spent his time since joining the A’s with Sacramento. In nine games with the River Cats he has shown off his prodigious power with a .257/.297/.543 line including two home runs. His BB% is an unimpressive 5.4% and his K% a high 24.3% but he’s expected to mash more than draw walks. Today he gets the start at first base hitting sixth versus Colby Lewis and the Rangers. I hope we see a lot of him, because Conor Jackson is not the future at first base for this organization.
Billings has been decidedly less than sharp. Since coming from the Rockies organization he has pitched in 12 games for Sacramento including two starts going for a total of 21.0 innings. He has 8.1 K/9, 5.8 BB/9 and 0.4 HR/9 which add up to a bad 5.14 ERA and a still bad 4.01 FIP. Makes you wonder why the A’s let Willie Eyre – a PCL All-Star – go while calling up someone like Billings instead.
