Much like Houston saved the Cubs, Washington has gone and saved Oakland.  What a wonderful baseball winter so far!

I just heard a report that the New York Mets have traded outfield prospect Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider.  A news conference is set for 3pm to clear all the details up.

Wow, this is a good sign for my Oakland team.  It was rumored that New York was the front runner for Dan Haren.  Lastings Milledge has been on Billy Beane's radar for a couple years now and with this trade, that almost kills a trade with the Mets unless Jose Reyes would be involved.  But, Omar Minaya, the Mets' General Manager, said that Reyes is untouchable and will not be discussed in trades.  So unless New York is going to give us a combination of players that is mostly made up of  Maine, Gomez, Pelfrey, or Humber, I don't see a trade happening now.

Kudos to Washington for pulling off this deal.  They seemingly got the better end of the trade by reeling in Milledge.  It seems that New York just added a couple bench players and that is about it.