30 A's in 30 Days – Trevor Cahill

Acquired: Drafted in 2nd round (2006).
Contract: One year thru 2010
Position: On the bubble.

Projected ERA: 4.70

Over/Under: Prior to 2009, Cahill had yet to pitch above Double-A. He broke camp with the A's out of Spring Training last year and I was in the stands for his Major League debut in Anaheim. His performance foreshadowed Cahill's entire season: not enough strikeouts, too many walks, but somehow just enough to keep his team in the game. Cahill won 10 games in his rookie season, but enters the 2010 season in a competition for the team's fifth starter slot.

He needs to turn around three disturbing trends, if he's to tighten his tenuous hold on a big league roster: (1) His K/9 rate has fallen off a cliff in just two years (10.61 in A-ball (2008); 8.03 in AA (2008); 4.53 in Oakland (2009). (2) In the same three stops, his K/BB ratio – chronologically – is 3.32, 1.74 and 1.25. (3) Cahill completely ditched his plus-curveball after repeatedly falling behind in the count. I'm not sure he can improve enough in these areas for me to take anything except the OVER.

By the Numbers: 18 – The number of starts in which Cahill surrendered two earned runs or less. In another 8 starts, he allowed five or more earned runs. Cahill made 32 starts on the year and it was usually pretty clear within the first few innings which version A's fans would be watching.

Surefire 2010 Prediction: Last week, I predicted that Gio Gonzalez would win the #5 starter sweepstakes. I'm already hedging on that one, so…let's go ahead and call Cahill the new #5 starter, too. I'm getting at least one of these right.

Snoop Dogg Track for the Season: What Cha Gon Do?