Belated - Crisp back, Patterson gone

In an effort to avoid writing about how the A's season is effectively over (losing 8 games in the standings in less than two weeks will do that to you), I just wanted to mark the end of the Eric Patterson era, at least for now.  I speculated weeks ago that Gabe Gross would be the first to go in a roster crunch, but I'm glad to see the A's decided to let Patterson go instead.  His numbers had dipped to an atrocious .204/.255/.408 clip (.224/.301/.340 career) and with his lack of average defensive ability at any position had become essentially worthless.  He was designated for assignment to clear room for Coco Crisp's return from the DL.

I would be pretty surprised, though, if another team claimed Patterson and most likely he'll be outrighted to AAA and probably make his way back up tot he A's at some point.  If this season and the performance of the offense has shown us anything, it's that trading for and acquiring quad-A players just is not a way to build a team.  Consider Patterson another casualty on what hopefully is Billy Beane's path to learning that.