A's Begin Off-Season Work; Outright Four

The Oakland A's made their first off-season moves on Friday, outrighting four players off the 40-man roster.

In the first of what is likely to be many moves this off-season, the Oakland A's have outrighted four players off of the 40-man roster: right-handers Edgar Gonzalez, Kevin Cameron and Dan Giese and catcher Eric Munson. The moves leave the A's with 37 players on the active 40-man roster.

Gonzalez was with the A's for much of the season after signing with the team as a minor league free agent in the off-season. After spending the first six weeks in Triple-A, Gonzalez appeared in 26 games for the A's, going 0-4 with a 5.51 ERA. He went 3-2 with a 5.22 ERA in seven starts for the River Cats. Gonzalez had spent his entire career with the Arizona Diamondbacks before this season. He is 26 years old.

Cameron had an injury-plagued year split between Sacramento and the big leagues. In 10 relief appearances for the River Cats, Cameron went 2-1 with a 2.77 ERA and 14 strike-outs in 13 innings. In 11 appearances with the A's, he had a 3.44 ERA and 15 strike-outs in 18 innings. He was on the River Cats' DL from mid-June until September 1 with a strained muscle in his neck. Cameron came to the A's during the off-season as a minor league free agent. He had been with the San Diego Padres. Cameron was a 13th round pick of the Minnesota Twins in 2001.

Giese was claimed off of waivers from the Yankees by the A's at the end of spring training. The right-hander made only one appearance with Sacramento before being promoted to Oakland, where he appeared in seven games, making one start. He had a 5.23 ERA and an 0-3 record. Giese landed on the DL in early June with an elbow strain and ended up having Tommy John surgery on that elbow. He had been on the A's 60-day disabled list before being outrighted. Giese had a 3.53 ERA in 43.1 innings for the Yankees in 2008.

Munson was added to the A's 40-man roster in September to act as the team's third catcher during the season's final month. He made only one appearance for Oakland, going 0-1 at the plate. Munson was a PCL mid-season All-Star this year and hit .265 with 13 homeruns in 99 games with Sacramento. The long-time veteran was a first-round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1999.

All four of these players are now free agents. Oakland has five other players on its 40-man roster who are eligible to file for free agency: Brett Tomko, Bobby Crosby, Nomar Garciaparra, Adam Kennedy and Justin Duchscherer. The A's also have six players on the 60-day disabled list, including Duchscherer. These players don't currently count against the 40-man limit, but they will need to be activated off of that 60-day DL following the World Series. Assuming that Tomko, Crosby, Garciaparra, Kennedy and Duchscherer all file for free agency, the A's will have 38 players on the 40-man roster once the 60-day DL players have been activated.