Things are a little cuh-razy in Oakland right now.

Remember last season, when the Athletics couldn’t keep a player off the operating table for longer than four innings of organized ball? Remember the team nearly breaking records for number of injuries? Remember guys like Danny Putnam being pulled from AA ball to take up the slack?

Hello 2008.

A few days ago, fresh from taking Frank Thomas out to the back field to feed for a few days, the A’s have dumped three guys to the DL in one afternoon.

Reliever Joey Devine is on the 15-day list. So too is Mike Sweeney. Ryan Sweeney is also hobbled. Sweeney Todd, the team hairdresser, is day-to-day. 

At the same time, other guys are coming back - Eric Chavez returns, having supposedly recovered from his wrist, back, shoulder, coccyx, cleft palate, and external occipital protuberance injuries. I believe he’s also got Tourette’s and a pacemaker.

Also back is set-up man Kiko B.Ware Calero, who has been carrying an injury of his own since Moses was last spotted playing with water.

In addition, youngsters Travis Buck (of the ‘05 Vancouver Canadians), Zak Basch-wannabe Brad Ziegler, and Carlos Gonzalez step into the lineup fresh out of Triple-A ball. 

Doing the math at home? Yes, it’s true, more people have gone up than have gone down. How could this be?

Designated for assignment: Lenny Dinardo, Jeff Fiorentino and Kevin Melillo. 

Now, nobody cares about Dinardo being DFA’ed. This is why some refer to him as ‘Left-out’ Lenny Dinardo (actually, they don’t, but they should). And, let’s be honest, the ‘Fiorentino’ A’s jerseys aren’t exactly flying out of the Coliseum gift-shop.

But 2004 Vancouver Canadians 2B Kevin Melillo [seen above] is a prospect. He’s ‘this close’ to the bigs. Nobody expected to see him taken off the 40-man, especially when it means any other club can come along and say, "You don’t want him? We’ll have him."

But fight back those tears, Melillo host-family. In his case, being DFA’ed is actually a good thing.

Here’s why. First, Melillo was injured all last season with a niggling wrist issue that eventually required surgery, and he’s been favouring it in Triple-A so far this season. The kid needs time to heal, and you can’t have that if you’re taking up a spot on the 40-man. The pressure to be worth that spot, and hold off others, is intense.

Second, that pressure is for nothing if Melillo is no chance of getting a big league call-up, and right now, with his spot being filled by Mark Ellis, who is perhaps the best defensive second baseman in baseball today, he has no chance.

Lastly, the worst that can happen to Melillo is another team says, "Oh! You don’t want that guy? We’ll take him," and he ends up in Milwaukee or something playing for a team that might actually have a Major League spot available to him. That’d suck for Oakland, but I dare say Melill’s would take it.

And let’s face it, even if Ellis went down with injury in the coming days (you just know someone will), it’s not as if Melillo would get the call. Gregorio Petit is upstairs as infield cover, Jack Hannahan will be looking for a spot when Eric Chavez brings his Golden Sombrero routine back to the hot corner, and it’s not often that the A’s bring up someone hitting .260.

So enjoy a little stress-free baseball, Kevin, and get back to form for the second half. 

One interesting sidenote of the topsy-turvy world that is the 40-man - the number of kids being kicked upstairs to fill the holes left behind in Triple-A ball.

Big round of applause please, C’s fans, for Canadians alums Danny "The Grape" Putnam (’04), "Romping" Richie Robnett (’04), and Mike "Michiro" Massaro (’05) [seen left], who have all landed in Sacramento ready to show what they’ve got.

Massaro’s jump is the most surprising, being as he was dropped down to High-A Stockton a few weeks back after a woeful spell in AA Midland (.268/.302/.329 with 1 successful steal out of 6 attempts), before getting the call to jump two levels and head right to Sac Town.

Right down the other end of the system, a pair of 2007 Vancouver Canadians made moves when Carlos Arrieche was sent to extended spring training from the Low-A Kane County Cougars to make room for Mike "Runway" Richard, coming back off the DL.

And still no news on WTF happened to Benny Winslow to cause him to leave the A’s coaching fraternity. Answer an email, Jet.