A's News Clips, Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Power-Hungry
A’s News Clips, Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Power-hungry Oakland A's ready to wine, dine former Houston Astros slugger Lance Berkman By Joe Stiglich, Oakland Tribune A's officials were scheduled to have dinner Tuesday night in Houston with free agent Lance Berkman, two sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Bay Area News Group. Berkman, a switch-hitter who's slugged 327 homers over 12 seasons, is known to have been on the team's radar. Presumably, the A's view him as their designated hitter if they sign him. Berkman hit just .248 with 14 homers and 58 RBIs last season, which he began with the Houston Astros before being traded to the New York Yankees. But Berkman, who turns 35 in February, told Fox Sports last week that he's fully recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery that bothered him much of last season. He hit 25 homers as recently as 2009 for Houston. Adding power is the A's most pressing need. They would have a hole at DH if they decide not to tender a contract to Jack Cust, which is a strong possibility. The A's must decide by 9 p.m. Thursday (PT) whether to tender contracts to their 10 arbitration-eligible players, including Cust. Other logical non-tender candidates: outfielder Travis Buck, reliever Brad Ziegler and either of two third basemen -- Kevin Kouzmanoff or Edwin Encarnacion. It's believed the A's would consider signing Berkman to a one- or two-year deal, though the team doesn't comment on free- agent negotiations.
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