At 24-32 on the season and 9 games back in the American League West, the Oakland Athletics are far removed from the surprise team them were just two weeks ago and are pretty much exactly where we thought they would be. A  young team with plenty of pitching but a complete lack of hitting, the A’s over-performed for the first two months of the season and then reality caught up to them in a big way.

And reality was the only one carrying a big stick.

For their part, the A’s have gotten a lot of production out of Josh Reddick, whom they acquired in the Andrew Bailey trade. However, with no one else stepping up to help out, and Yoenis Cespedes just recently returning from injury, the A’s have struggled to put together any sort of offense whatsoever.

So why haven’t we seen hide nor dreadlocked hair of Manny Ramirez at this stage in the season. We’re past the 50-game point, and Manny’s suspension has officially ended, yet the A’s have made no moves to bring him into the fold.

Well, there is a reason for that.

For all the struggling that the A’s line-up has been doing at the major league level and against major league pitching, Ramirez has struggled more so at Triple-A Sacramento. A veteran of 19 major league seasons with five different teams, Ramirez is barely kicking the tires with a .243 batting average with 4 RBI and 4 runs scored.

Oh, and did I fail to mention that he has yet to muster a single extra base hit?

That’s right folks, a man with 555 career home runs and a career slugging percentage of .585 has just nine singles to his name thus far, giving him a slugging percentage of just .243 in the Pacific Coast League which is known to be hitter friendly. I don’t know about Billy Beane, but Ramirez may be a bit out classed at the Triple-A level and may need to start with something a little softer so that he can get those old bones going.

Long story short, Manny isn’t Manny anymore and he isn’t going to come to the rescue for the Oakland Athletics. They’ll just need to ride the Reddick wave as long as it lasts and hope that Cespedes gets back into a groove.

Regardless, the long season is still ahead for A’s fans looking for some runs.