A’s Sign OF Brandon Moss

The Oakland A’s have signed outfielder Brandon Moss to a minor-league contract today reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The 28-year-old outfielder appeared in five games for the Phillies last year, going hitless in six plate appearances while striking out twice. The once-prospect originally drafted by Boston was part of the 2008 trade that sent Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles and Jason Bay to Boston along with former Oakland Athletic Andy LaRoche (who went from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh in that trade). In 749 career plate appearances spread across parts of five seasons, Moss has a career slash line of .236/.300/.382 with a .294 wOBA being worth a total of 0.3 WAR.

I suspect that Moss will be Triple-A filler and just add to organizational depth, but last year for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs he hit a strong .275/.368/.509 with a .380 wOBA and 23 home runs in 124 games. I don’t expect him to put it all together and contribute to the 2012 Oakland A’s cause despite the extreme lack of depth in the outfield. Moss, a plus defender, can play both corner outfield positions.