Gray looked decent, Zito looked good, then bad, and Zobrist is in a class all his own.
Do I really need to summarize a spring training game? I'm not sure. But here we go.
Mark Canha hit a rocket homer. Canha is looking like he may serve a role on this team; namely, power. While Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry keyed the offense by getting on base and motoring around the bases today, Mark Canha provided the big blast. Vis-a-vis the outfield, Coco Crisp, Fuld, Gentry, potentially Billy Burns...they all are speed guys with little to no home run power. We may see a fair amount of doubles from that crew, but a guy who can knock it out of the park will be valuable. Today, Billy Burns crushed a ball above the head of the centerfielder...for a ground rule double. Which, if you're as fast as Burns, is a triple that got robbed. Power is a great equalizer.
Jake Lamb will apparently lead the majors in home runs this year. Well, maybe not. But he knows how to take advantage of mistakes. And Barry Zito knows how to make mistakes. He went deep again, off of Eric O'Flaherty (who is about as blah as it gets, in my opinion).
(Zito did pitch two solid innings before unraveling. Bob Melvin was not really committing to any more starts in an interview today, but wouldn't rule out the possibility of making the team.)
The infield situation is interesting, particularly the battle for the utility spot. Tyler Ladendorf really wants Eric Sogard's job. Sogard doesn't really want his job. Andy Parrino wants a job...in Nashville. I'm not sure how this will eventually play out, but given that Semien and Zobrist can both play shortstop, it's not inconceivable that the backup could be Ladendorf or Sogard. I initially thought Parrino might have the inside track given his stellar fielding at multiple positions, but the guy really can't hit.
Ben Zobrist hits the ball hard, and consistently. This man is going to be fun to watch. He just seems ready to go, and a cut above the rest of the lineup.
In the end, Burns' ground rule double broke a 5-5 tie in the 8th and won the game for the A's who move to 5-2-1 on the spring.
My overall observation is that this lineup seems like it could be capable of scoring, but some power will be more helpful. With Hector Olivera's asking price rising, it's unclear where that will come from. Canha's jack was encouraging. I'd like to see Ike Davis flex some muscle this spring as well.
Also I want to note that Trevor Cahill is going to make $12 million this year.
Finally, Daric Barton's spring stats with the Blue Jays so far: 1/14, .071/.235/.071.
For observations on the pitching, my esteemed colleague Jeremy F. Koo has that covered here.