Jaff Decker, Oakland A’s center field depth

At the beginning of every winter, baseball teams stock up on some veteran minor league free agents to fill out Triple-A rosters and provide depth in key areas. Most of these names never amount to anything, and many of them bounce around from system to system as the years go on. Occasionally they break through, and even carve out late-blooming MLB careers!

The A’s have had decent success with minor league free agents in recent years, as you would expect from a team that has to look for bargains whenever possible. Brandon Moss is the shining success story, but some other players who have at least reached Oakland since 2012 include* Chris Smith, Matt McBride, Pat Venditte, Eric Surkamp, Patrick…