30-year old righty swinging Bobby Crosby might have a slight edge at the start of spring training but he will have to earn the job in February and March. Crosby played in 97 games with the A’s last season and he was 53 for 238 (.223 avg, .652 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 6 homers, 29 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Crosby didn’t make any errors in 6 games at SS for the A’s last season but he showed poor range. Crosby does have the reputation of being a solid defensive SS so he should do fine in the field.

27-year old righty swinging Ronny Cedeno will battle Crosby for the starting gig at SS this spring. He played in 46 games for the Pirates last season and he was 40 for 155 (.258 avg, .701 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 5 homers, 21 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Overall, Cedeno played in 105 games for the Pirates and Mariners in which he was 71 for 341 (.208 avg, .593 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 10 homers, 38 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Cedeno played in 82 games at SS last season and he made 9 errors while showing above average range.

33-year old lefty swinging Ramon Vazquez will likely just be a backup in 2010 for the Pirates. He played in 101 games for the Pirates last season and he was 47 for 204 (.230 avg, .614 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 1 homer and 16 RBIs. Vazquez only made 1 error in 28 games at SS last season while he showed slightly below average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE SS IN 2010: D