The more things change, the more they stay the same

Britt Reames has been called up from Triple-A Sacramento and Swisher has been activated from the DL. As result, Jermaine Clark has been designated for assignment, twice in as many weeks, and Matt Watson has been optioned to Sacramento. This is all found in today's Rivercats gameday notes.

It is highly unlikely that the A's are able to retain Clark for he has been called up and sent down twice and given the human condition, Clark will most likely decline a minor league assignment and sign somewhere else as a free agent. Apparently this also mean that Watson had one more minor league option then previously thought and so the A's decided to use an option on him instead of sending down Charles Thomas who has had 0:3 PA/game ratio in the past 7 days. Is it because Beane doesn't want a player he acquired for Tim Hudson to be demoted to the minor leagues? In the words of Robert Buan: "You said it man, not me..."

That leaves Scutaro as the final piece for Crosby's return. He does have another minor-league option but the problem is that he may lose trade-value to be in the minors; Scutaro should be traded to fill the minors' pitching dearth.

The sad part in all of this was that Watson was serviceable unlike Thomas, which is not a knock on Thomas just that he needs to get constant ab's in order for him to get his swing back. This also means that Byrnes will be showcased and hopefully a great night tonight will expedite his departure.