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	Tuesday, January 9
	Damon gives A's multi-purpose upgrade By Jayson Stark ESPN.com
	The A's easily could have felt sorry for themselves after A-Rod sent Jason Giambi's price tag launching moonward. Instead, they took stock of where they were, realized they might only have Giambi for another year and decided to make this the year. They know Johnny Damon is just a one-year rental. But for that one year, he upgrades their offense, their outfield defense, their team speed and their leadoff hole. His acquisition also means Seattle doesn't get him. So when the small type settles on this deal, Damon makes the A's the clear-cut team to beat in the AL West. Damon obviously won't match Ben Grieve in home-run trots. But he actually had a higher slugging percentage (.495 to Grieve's .487). And Damon is a big defensive upgrade in left field, where Grieve's weak arm and lack of range were suggesting his best position down the road might be DH. Offensively, the most important quality Damon gives the A's is on-base percentage at the top of the lineup. Oakland leadoff men had a .340 on-base percentage last year. Damon's OBP was .382 for the season, .413 after the All-Star break. He'll also allow Terrence Long to hit deeper in the lineup. He'll give Adam Piatt and Jason Hart another year to develop. And then, in a year, the A's can take the draft picks for Damon, allow Piatt to move in to play left, and have Hart as their safety valve if they can't re-sign Giambi. Cory Lidle, meanwhile, will get a shot to be their fifth starter. And he earned that shot, ironically, with a seven-inning two-hit shutout of the A's in September -- a game Oakland GM Billy Beane couldn't get out of his head. Now Lidle, Mark Guthrie and Omar Olivares battle for the fifth starter's job. The losers add even more depth to a very good bullpen. And the A's emerge as the most well-rounded team in the AL West. For this year, anyway. Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.		ALSO SEE Damon traded to A's, Grieve to Rays in three-team deal Jayson Stark archive