It's been a long while since I've even thought about doing a post about the A's, because I was so mad at them throwing away the second half of the season, but now I have a little bit of hope for next season.
It appears that the A's are in the midst of making a deal with Colorado for Matt Holliday. He is certainly the type of offensive player that the A's need, but what exactly is it going to cost?
Some of the pieces rumored to be involved are Greg Smith and Brett "Don't call me Brian" Anderson.
While I am all for Oakland acquiring players to help out on the offensive side of the ball, I don't think giving up MORE pitching is what they need to do. Sometimes it is a requirement though. It all depends on what Billy Beane thinks this team can do with what they have as of now.
I guess Huston Street is still on the block as well, so I'll be interested to see if he can draw anything of immediate importance back to the team.
I can only blindly guess as to what Beane will do.
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Comments
I think it would be ridiculous to give up Gonzalez in that trade.
I have no clue what Beane is doing anymore. Watching him ship player after player out of town, it is quite frustrating to see him actually go after a big time player now. I just don't see the long term plan at all.
I would think that he would try to get more prospects later in the season, but I doubt he will get Holliday's full worth since his numbers should go down in Oakland.
I need to adopt a new team.
I don't see how this is a bad move by Beane. You know the Red Sox, Yanks, Rays, Phils, Mets, etc. are going to be looking for a bat come the trade deadline. Even if he held onto Holliday wouldn't they get two draft picks for him?
Chris Carter will take Gonzalez's spot as the OF of the future for OAK. 39 hr, 104 rbi's last season
Is two draft picks worth more than those three players? If he turns around and turns Holliday into a better package at the trade deadline, good for him, but he also gave up one of his other big chips (Street) to get this deal done.
Look at it this way, any package he gets for Holliday needs to be better than Gonzalez and Smith plus whatever he could've gotten for Street.
The thing that has me scratching my head is how this seems to go against everything Beane's been doing out there. I mean, if he hadn't traded his top 4 starters in the past 13 months he might actually have a solid team to put on the field. Then I'd love this move for them. Right now, it's a head scratcher. Who knows, maybe he goes out and spends a little more money on a guy like Furcal, maybe Giambi, and then they could possibly contend in the West, depending on what the Angels do. As the team stands, it's a little baffling.
I spent way too much time thinking about this, and I've flip-flopped about ten times. If he's doing this just to position himself as the best seller at the deadline, it could be a smart move. He's taking a gamble with a somewhat limited downside.
I'm pretty sure it's unprecedented for a team to trade for someone in the offseason for the soul purpose of trading him for a greater return later in the year. The Piazza trade to the Marlins was the only thing I could come up with, but that was a different story. I have a post up on it now.
I don't think acquiring Holliday is a bad move in itself. He is the type of player the A's need, but I just don't see what Beane is doing. He has turned the team into a AAAA team right now with hopes of competing in the future. Then, he turns around and does the opposite by trading for a big time bat. Maybe this is just a move to block the bigger teams from getting him until they absolutely need him this summer. But, like Brian said, that package would have to be outstanding to be give up Gonzalez, Street, and Smith. Those are three guys that are ML players now and to send them away and parlay Holliday into more prospects would make the rebuilding process that much longer.
It looks like it's a done deal, they're just ironing out the players. The most-recent that I read was Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith and Huston Street.
Here's the thing, is Beane trying to make this team into a contender this year? If so, why did he trade the team's four best starters in the past 12 months?
If he isn't, then he either has to (a) sign Holliday to an extention (unlikely) or (b) flip Holliday for a better package than he gave up for him by the July trade deadline. Right?