Now that second baseman Mark Ellis has signed, the A's will still have several free agents this winter: DH Frank Thomas, outfielder Emil Brown and right-handed reliever Keith Foulke. It's unlikely that any of those three will be retained.
Thomas is the only one of the three with even a slight chance of returning; he has said repeatedly that he enjoys playing in Oakland and would like to come back. In addition, A's general manager Billy Beane is an unabashed Thomas admirer and he has liked Thomas' impact on young players in 2006 and 2008. And the A's certainly always need right-handed hitting. Thomas, however, is 40, and he has had more injury-filled years than healthy ones the past half decade. One thing the A's want to avoid is more injuries after tying and then breaking the Oakland record for most disabled-list uses in back-to-back seasons. Even a mostly incentives-based deal probably won't do the trick this time.
Brown did what he was signed to do: He drove in runs, particularly early in the season. His playing time dropped off as the season progressed, with Oakland trying to work in younger outfielders, and as the season neared its end, Brown made it known fairly forcefully that he would have no interest in coming back based on his experiences in 2008.
Foulke, who was coming back from elbow surgery, wasn't healthy much of 2008, missing time with first a neck injury and then shoulder soreness. The 36-year-old appeared in just five games in the final month of the year and clearly is not in Oakland's future plans.
The A's are expected to pursue a hitter on the free agent market, but not necessarily a right-handed hitter, according to Beane.
