It’s Not Just The A’s
by baseballgirl on Nov 25, 2007 10:53 AM PST
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PrintFor all of us who have suffered through the loss of home-grown stars here in Oakland; Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Mulder, Zito--just to name a few--we can certainly empathize with the Minnesota Twins as they make the difficult decision of trying to decide what to do with their superstar, who is pretty unanimously considered the best pitcher in baseball.
The A’s have been forced to make the same choices over the years, hamstrung by the label and the finances of a small-market baseball club; one that is able to train, support, and market superstars, but are unable to keep them once they reach the pinnacle of their career.
It’s not an easy decision; and a lot of factors must go into making it. Do you break the bank and possibly tie up multiple years of your team’s finances in order to sign one single player? Do you trade early, before the last year, in hopes of getting the very best possible return from a big name team? Do you start the season with your player and make the decision at the halfway mark--if you are winning, keep the player and go for all the marbles, or make an immediate trade to perhaps an unlikely contender?
The Minnesota Twins might be well-served to look at the road already paved by the Oakland A’s; we have lost our superstars in a variety of ways. If the Twins management wants to know what to expect from every possibly scenario of trading a superstar, just take a look at the last six years of the A’s history. But beware; as we know all too well, short of winning a World Series as a direct result of a trade, it will never be a ‘good’ trade. Losing a superstar, no matter how necessary, is no cause for celebration.
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Well, it could be worse
Johan Santana, if you're gonna trade him, is gonna fetch you a boat load of talent in return. If the Twinkies play their cards right, they should be able to start a bidding war between the Red Sox and Dodgers, just for starters. In a couple more years, the Twins are gonna have to have miney for guys like Morneau and Mauer etc....
So, even though it would suck to lose Santana, it would suck even more if the Twins don't maximize his value while he is at the top of his game.
Why would the Sox give up a boatload of talent
for Santana? From their perspective, they can just sign him as a free agent next year and give up only a first-round draft pick.
To keep him away from
the Yankees or anyone else in the east. I'm just speculating PT but they have the money and the prospects to go either way. We'll see what happens.
Who knows.....maybe the Twins will surprise everybody and extend him an offer he can't refuse????
Because there are a whole bunch
of teams with boatloads of money to spend. Teams with as much money to spend as the Red Sox. Once he hits FA, he can field offers from every MLB team
By giving up a boatload of young talent and getting a new contract signed, they guarantee that they get him.
And I'm sure that's what they'll do
That's what keeps them competitive. Good for them. Makes us look like more than an aberration, huh Buddy boy?
by A'sfansince1970 on Nov 25, 2007 12:12 PM PST reply actions
Twins' dilemma
Boy, I'd hate to be in their situation, I must say.
On the one hand, this next year is their best chance to make a run at the title. They've got the best pitching staff in the AL with Santana, Liriano, Garza, Baker and Slowey. Morneau and Mauer are getting more expensive, but they're still not being paid close to market wages. Joe Nathan is still their closer.
On the other hand, they're in a world of hurt after next season. They've already lost Torii Hunter, and unless they raise their payroll, they'll be hard pressed to keep even two of their three stars (Mauer, Morneau and Santana), much less all three of them. The loss of Hunter leaves a yawning abyss in center field for the team. They have Jason Bartlett, the definition of mediocrity, at shortstop and an unproven Alexi Casilla at second. They have no power at either LF or DH. Worst of all, they have Nick Punto as a starter.
So: you've got a good but not great team with a bunch of gaping holes, a 40-man roster filled with raw Rule 5 protectees, and a self-imposed salary cap forcing you to lose some of your few star players.
Sound familiar?
I'm not so sure about Garza...
I know this is a ridiculous thing to say, but apparently he's under the impression he may be dealt to Arizona. My kid goes to school with his younger brother and met him a couple weeks ago.
dealt to arizona?
maybe if they offered justin upton...
J.J. Furmaniak goes Japan.
J.J. Furmaniak sign with Yokohama Baystars.
salary : 1 year, 65 Mil Yen (about $ 0.6M)
- I'm A's Fan in Seoul, South Korea.
Huh
Whaddya know. Good for him, I guess. Maybe I'll check out one of their games if I make it back to Japan next year.
Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Mulder, Zito....
I want precisely zero of those players on my team in 2008 (maybe Hudson, but he's an injury risk).
Isn't it possible that the lack of a high budget forces a team to be smarter? In the same way that a business that is in debt will spend their money only on things that are essential?
Parallel example: You're a chef, building a kitchen. You can buy a 10 year old stove that you know will be the best on the market for the next 3 years, but may start to malfunction after about 40 months of use. This stove costs $25,000.
Or you can buy a brand new stove that has a 50/50 chance of being just as good as the other stove, and will most likely improve with time. This stove will cost about $3,000. And you have $65,000 to spend on all kitchen products.
Weird example, but you get the point.
And the whole thing about rooting for your favorite players shouldn't factor in at all. I'd say most A's fans were plenty happy with Dan Haren last year, just like they were happy with Mark Mulder in 2002. You don't root for guys you like, per se. You root for guys who are good, who wear your favorite laundry. Just wait, when Gregorio Petit gets his first walk off hit, we'll stop "missing" Marco Scutaro.
Established talent can get a franchise a long way, even if they don't hold on to it. Look at what Cleveland got for Bartolo Colon, or what the A's got for Mulder.
Zito's just coming off his worst year
and there's still absolutely no question that the A's would be a massively better team if he was still with them.
Your analogy would be great
if players were stoves, fungible commodities.
They're not. Bobby Crosby is not a better stove than Miguel Tejada by any stretch of the imagination.
Dan Meyer is not a better stove than Tim Hudson. Look at what the A's got for Hudson.
First off, I love the idea...
of calling baseball players "stoves." And I may continue to do this well into the future.
But I added the line, "[The] brand new stove that has a 50/50 chance of being just as good as the other stove." The point is, of course prospects don't always pan out, but you gotta give them the chance. I'd rather see the A's give shots to Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer, and the like (guys who didn't live up to the "hype") than see them take the Dodgers/Coletti approach (give AB's to vets instead of promising, cost-controlled youngsters).
Sometimes you have to go through 5 Juan Cruz's to find 1 Huston Street, and I'd rather see that approach than see Keith Foulke stick around 3 years too long.
Yes, and what happens
when your stove ends up burning your food, or not being able to work at all (Meyer)?
What are you doing in the meantime while you are going through 5 Juan Cruz's?
You can't go out for some takeout.
What is this, Bizarre Analogy Week?
Players are stoves, Eric Chavez makes tables... next thing you know we'll be evaluating relievers by how analogous their work is to Detroit auto manufacturers.
Didn't Jose Canseco
carry a stove out of a burning building once?
Didn't Zumaya carry a
burning rotator cuff out of forest fire recently?
Huh
by vandoppli on Nov 27, 2007 4:19 PM PST reply actions
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