Dallas Braden: Oakland A’s Pitcher Leading By Example

We all love Kurt Suzuki and Andrew Bailey, but Dallas Braden is the next player the A's need to lock up long-term.

All the starting pitching hype coming into the season was centered on former All-Stars Justin Duchscherer and Ben Sheets coming back from a 2009 season lost to injuries, and the expected growth of young Brett Anderson looking to follow up his brilliant rookie campaign.

Oh, and there was that big spring training battle for the fifth rotation spot between Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill.

Not that Braden didn't have noise of his own. Braden was also coming off an injury that left him sidelined from August 2009 on.

Braden dealt with a bizarre foot rash, which ultimately led to numbness in his foot. People had to be questioning how healthy and effectiv...

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