The realities of Minor League Baseball

After yesterday's game, the Oakland A's activated Daric Barton,who played in 136 games this season producing 9 home runs and 70 RBIs and batting .293. Barton was originally drafted by the Cards as a first round pick in 2003 out of high school (Huntington Beach) but ended up with the As organization. He moved quickly from the Ports to the Midland Rockhounds in 2005 and then on to the Rivercats Carrying on a Rivercats tradition, he has been a mainstay at First Base. His defensive work provided several thrilling moments during this season.

What is curious about the activation is the timing. The As are in the dumper. During the recent division playoffs Barton had four home runs including the game winning one yesterday. He had 69 strikeouts in 516 at bats for the season. The As are in good shape at first - Dan Johnson is batting .339. For the Cats there are some possibilities to replace Barton at First - might look at Closser, Brown or Merloni or someone from Midland.