From Staff Writer Susan Slusser at Kauffman Stadium

It was apparent for quite some time that one of the A’s two left-handed hitting first basemen would be the most logical choice to be sent out as Oakland began welcoming players back from the DL, especially once outfielder Collin Cowgill made himself a little more indispensable by reaching with some regularity.

Daric Barton has options left, and Kila Ka’aihue has played more often and had some better stretches than has Barton, and it was Barton who was the one to get sent out this morning. It’s clear Barton is valued by the club; I’m sure we’ll see him again at some point, but extensive playing time right now is only going to help him – he’d been playing two or three times a week here.

Barton didn’t want to talk about the demotion, but he clearly isn’t very happy about it. I know he’s a popular target for criticism, and there’s no doubt he’s gotten a lot of opportunities here, but to play devil’s advocate, he hasn’t had regular at-bats this year and he’s coming off shoulder surgery. This was the right decision, no doubt about it, but after a long rehab and missing a lot of last year and not playing a ton this year, I also can see why Barton is frustrated.

Before the game, manager Bob Melvin said that it was difficult to get consistent at-bats for either Barton or Ka’aihue, but that Ka’aihue has done more to warrant an extended shot at first now – he’ll be there essentially every day, although Josh Donaldson and Adam Rosales also can play first. No first base for Jonny Gomes, though as I have said before, I think they should work him out there every day and then throw him into a lopsided game to see how he goes does, just to have a right-handed hitter with a little more power as an option at first base.

Melvin mentioned the fact that with a first-base competition this spring that there were no opportunities to try Gomes there. Gomes hasn’t played first in the bigs. Still, if he could play there, it would give the A’s a little more flexibility and a little more pop some days.

Melvin noted that Ka’aihue was forecast to be the first man to go in the first-base competition between Ka’aihue, Barton and Brandon Allen, but here he is, the last man standing. “He’s showed he’s earned the spot,” Melvin said.

Here’s the lineup, with Cowgill back in: Weeks 2B, Cowgill RF, Reddick DH, Cespedes LF, Ka’aihue 1B, Inge 3B, Crisp CF, Suzuki C, Pennington SS. McCarthy P.

Brandon McCarthy came off the DL for this start, so the A’s have all their short-term DL guys back now and await only Manny Ramirez, who was a late scratch again last night at Sacramento. I continue to wonder why the A’s don’t just bring him up – even if they haven’t seen what they want from him yet, Oakland’s offense is dreadful and at the very least, Ramirez could provide some new energy, a different vibe in the clubhouse, shake things up a bit.

I also wonder how long Ramirez is willing to stick around Sacramento waiting for the call. Of course, if he has leg tightness, that needs to be resolved before he takes up a big-league roster spot, but otherwise – he should be here. The A’s have scored 12 runs in the past nine games.

Ramirez is traveling with Sacramento to Tacoma this morning, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t hop a relatively short flight back to the Bay Area should the A’s summon him for Monday or Tuesday.

Then it gets tricky – because if Ramirez doesn’t come to Oakland this week, the A’s head to National League parks for a week, starting Friday, and they obviously won’t have a DH at Arizona and at Colorado. So do the A’s bring Ramirez in for four games against Texas and then have him only pinch-hit for a week? Or do they leave him to play in as many games as possible at Sacramento?

I hear Ramirez has continued to be cheerful at Sacramento, but after spring training and two weeks at Sacramento, how psyched is he going to be about another nearly two weeks there? There were no guarantees for him, zero, but he must have been thinking he’d be up on May 30 and if not, pretty soon thereafter.

Best moment of the day so far: reliever Grant Balfour, out of nowhere, unleashed a torrent of profanity about how much he hates losing. “Tweet that!” he hollered. There were only a handful of players in the clubhouse at the time – a shame, if it was potentially a little motivator – but one player told me he’d heard the rant and wasn’t even in the clubhouse, while Melvin heard it in his office.

“It’s good, I don’t mind a little emotion,” Melvin said.