Third base wasn’t supposed to be this big of a hole. I mean, this was the position of the guy we actually signed. And he’s a Gold Glover!

But alas, it is The Big Hole, even with Eric Chavez still employed as an Oakland Athletic. And it’s still The Big Hole, even with top prospect Brett Wallace waiting in the wings, because, in a perfect world, he spends a good chunk of 2010 in AAA for more seasoning – defensively as much as offensively.

Adam Kennedy was an impostor as a stopgap. He was a second baseman who had a hot couple of months, and the A’s put him at third base and hoped no one noticed. Signing him to return is OK with me – just not as the team’s third baseman.

Names like Chone Figgins, Troy Glaus, and Adrian Beltre have been thrown around a lot by A’s fans, but with Billy Beane’s announcement last week that the team will not likely go after free agents and and will commit to youth, this seems unlikely. (And no, I’m not buying that these comments were part of a Billy Beane psych-out.)

And then over the weekend, the A’s signed former Angels top prospect Dallas McPherson to a minor-league deal. These are the kind of moves we’re going to see from the A’s this offseason – low-risk, low-cost moves that may or may not work. There is just less chance of looking like a failure at the end with moves like these than with moves like Billy was making a year ago at this time.

If McPherson works out as a year, or even half-year, stopgap at third, great. If he doesn’t, then we didn’t lose anything.

And as long as Brett Wallace can stick at third, we may not be talking about The Big Hole much longer this decade.