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when Billy Beane stockpiles his position players, like he does practically every year, he grabs younger guys to do it with. You know, Kila Ka'aihue, Brandon Moss, Chris Carter, **ahem** Kyle Blanks... and then he doesn't keep 'em all on the roster at the same time. Because he doesn't have to; they're young. They have minor league options. He can give Chris Carter thirty games to show what he is, and then if that's not working demote him and here's Kila Ka'aihue, nope that's not working demote him too, Brandon Moss time, hey look Brandon Moss is demolishing RHPs and fueling the A's to an improbable 2012 playoff run! What a wonderful experiment! Note that he tried to do the same thing this year with SS/2B: first it was Japanese SS Hiroyuki Nakajima, then when he got hurt Lowrie got SS and it was Sogard at 2B, then Rosales, then Green, and then he traded Green for Alberto Callaspo... it's a tried-and-true strategy. There's a reason the A's are always way better in the second half. Teams have been doing this in the bullpen for years - in 2012 the Mariners built a bullpen pile, and it worked marvelously (well, for 2H2012 at least).
But the way Beane does it, with the younger guys, you don't eat like five roster slots trying to find The Guy at 1B/DH and thus nuke your depth everywhere else. You eat one, maybe two roster slots at a time, and the rest of the guys are in AAA. This year, with Morse/Morales/Ibanez/Bay/Smoak/Montero all trying to be The Guy, the roster was overloaded with guys who can't play defense, and the outfield DER seriously suffered as a result. Acquiring other teams' post-2012 Justin Smoaks and post-2011 Brandon Mosses, and keeping them in AAA to start the year, that's a good way to build a pile. Signing a bunch of veterans that have to stay on the major league roster can really hurt you elsewhere.