How can Blanton and Street not follow?

Most of these guys are pretty young.

Dealing Blanton now is a must...

If Gonzalez doesn't pan out I don't think the A's got enough pitching back to justify the move. Anderson's good but a couple years away and Smith is... well, OK. Maybe.

Can Eveland show more than he has so far? Hope so.

Can't they assess the team health without having a "team meeting"?

Do I use "scare quotes" enough?

let's face it, haren and blanton's future with the a's being dependent on the health of chavez, harden, duke, crosby and kotsay was NOT a good sign.

what are the chances those guys are healthy and productive next year?  15%?

There's no such thing as a plethora of prospects.

Or am I just being pedantic about the correct definition of "plethora"?

Carter is a ways away. Gonzo is the key to the deal. (Yes, I have hereby dubbed him Gonzo. We need more muppets!)

Smith and Eveland... bordering on meh.

Can find the veterans who were solid, healthy stars, only to get "run over while covering 1st base" etc. and never performed as well.  Haren, like every player, is vulnerable to the unexpected, even out of ST (see Ellis, Mark, "collision with Crosby"). Look at high-salaried Mike Hampton. So it is best IMO to get as much as possible for a prime player when the rest of the club is medically marginal.  Harden must've given no assurances Tuesday, Chavez has three surgeries, previous to this never having gone under the knife (and it wasn't as if a collision caused his need for surgery, like the case of Mark Ellis).

I think the lack of a Santana trade drooped the stakes of the "rejoinder is Haren" potential trades.  

The A's Front Office does well, even if they only bat .750 on these deals.

Please enlighten me as to when the last time was we rebuilt under Beane. And don't mention Hudson/Mulder because we received MLB-ready talent in return. Blanton will probably be traded, Street as well, and the prospects we receive in return for them could be very nice and it's still possible that we can compete this next year. When I say compete I mean somewhere around 80-85 wins. Time will tell...

what went through my mind was that they're trying to build a dynasty up there in Sacramento. They'll be Pacific League Champions for years to come..

But a lot of A's fans are VERY spoiled as they have been in competition in every season since 2000 or so....This is rebuildign and will be ugly for a while.  Easy to say it's ok now....but it will be a long summer and the games wont be very interesting from a standings perspective.

I think Beane is likely doing the right thing for the franchise going into Fremont, but I also think people are underestimating how tough rebuilding can be.  Last year will look pretty compared to 08.

... Haren was never projected to do as well as he did last year, and Beane could have figured (accurately or not; we won't know for several years) that Haren just had his career year.

And, just for the sake of continuing my string of irresponsible speculations, maybe Beane had other good reasons to get rid of Haren ...

Undoubtedly. Beane saw way too many holes on the team to pass up this deal.......I really have a feeling that  this trade will look good in the long run.

But I'm still really sad that Dannyboy is gone........

:(

Add Bonds, and watch the continued development of Buck and Barton, sprinkled in with a full year of Cust, and you have a contender.

Anderson and Gonzalez are both good prospects and Cunningham and Carter have a chance of turning into mashers.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story...

Good news for those who have Haren in a keeper roto league, getting him into the NL West.

that if we HAD stayed pat, we would have been just good enough to fill seats, but not contend for a WS.

The goal of this trade, right or wrong, is to get the team to be good enough, in the future, to make it to the world series, since we can't do it now.

Anderson might be the next Mulder (healthy version) but that's 2 years away.

i understand your general point, but i wouldn't say haren was just average in 2006.  i mean, i guess his ERA+ was only 108 that year, but he's a 4 k/bb guy who gives you 220 ip a year.

I give Haren a little more credit than you do, but I feel basically the same way. I think he's a pretty solid #2, but I think the first half of last season wasn't indicative of his norm.

Street & Blanton are the only two A's really worth anything right now. Get what we can from them, and let the chips fall where they may.

Spring Training should be fun--tons of guys competing for spots.

They get a real setup man for Mo, and an heir apparent as well.

But boy do I disagree about 08..I dont think they were competing without a major addition.....81 wins or so maybe, but not seriously competing.

I love the A's more than anyone, but even TO COMPETE with the Angels, they needed:

a) Healthy and productive Eric Chavez
b) Healthy and productive Bobby Crosby
c) Healthy and productive Mark Kotsay
d) Healthy and productive Rich Harden
e) Healthy and productive Justin Duchscherer

Not a chance in the world that a-e all happened in 2008, even with Haren on the team.

... Lew is one step closer to his destruction of the Fremont real estate market!!!

is the fact that you really love the Nationals for some reason.

I came across this September thread in which the "pay to contend now" versus "profit take and contend later" versus "suck cash and suck on the field" theories are pretty elegantly discussed.  I think the profit prophets come off nicely, of course, but I'm biased.

the A's are notorious for giving huge workloads to starters? That their "arms wear out" (see Huddy and Mulder's early goings with their new teams)?

I'm not a numbers cruncher, so I don't know how Total IP per season look across the league; but I'm just wondering if the A's shelf-life for some of these players are based on how they are used (i.e. state of the bullpen, unique game situations, etc).

about this team that "we" over-value the players?
i mean, this fuckin' trade just plain stinks like a true salary dump. plain and simple.
On days like these I really miss "oaktoon".

by bigelephant on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 04:52:19 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

are we so "over-the-top" by bigelephant, Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 04:52:19 PM PDT (1.25 / 0)
[new]No (1.25 / 0)
But Beane set the price when he traded Hudson. I think this is a better package than we got from Atlanta but Beane couldn't push it higher because of his previous deal.
Yep. Warm and fuzzy... that's me.

by grover on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 04:55:11 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

[new]do ya REALLY think it's better??? (1.25 / 0)
this haren doesn't look like anything special and the other dude is a bullpen guy- good numbers like cruz.
haren better than meyer?

On days like these I really miss "oaktoon".

by bigelephant on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 04:59:06 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

[new]Haren = Meyer (1.25 / 0)
But Barton is the type of prospect I wanted Beane to get the first time around instead of Thomas.
Yep. Warm and fuzzy... that's me.

by grover on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 05:01:19 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

[new]agreement again (1.25 / 0)
I find this to be just a mind boggling deal??  What did we get besides a 1 inning set-up guy???
Beane's World!! Excellent!!! Rock On, Beane! Rock On, Geren!

by Satchmo22 on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 05:01:19 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

[new]fuck, i gotta believe... (1.25 / 0)
...beane is settin' something up here.
i mean, there is re-tooling- and then, there's
RE-TOOLING.

but, i think beane is loving this in his own, deep, dark way. i really think that he wants to rip this all down and start again.

 

On days like these I really miss "oaktoon".

by bigelephant on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 05:05:32 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

[new]Well I hear it all the time (1.25 / 0)
'If it weren't for the Big 3 Billy wouldn't be so respected as this great G.M.'
Well maybe he wants to prove he can do it again.

by CDN Athletics Fan on Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 05:08:00 PM PDT

when the a's traded mulder for haren, barton, and calero?
and how is this ownership and not beane??

wasn't 2006 just ONE year ago?

the negative doomsayers return.

but blame the BaBoH8Rs.

at which the other stadium is coming along, you just might.

Unit was traded two months before he would hit free agency. Haren still has three full seasons.

but there will almost certainly be other trades.

Kiko Calero, Daric Barton, Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham and Carlos Gonzalez, and a 2006 playoff appearance.

There we go.

...the opposite of last year.

I want a World Series dammit! Personally, I ENJOY a "fun, exciting, competitive team," but I WANT a trophy.

and it really reinforces the speculation that Beane had decided that '08 was a lost cause anyway.

So now we've got 2 starters with balky hips?  Can we just junk some of our 40-man roster, cannibalize them for parts, and rebuild the injured guys we actually play?

ugh...

well not the gaudin thing specifically, but this is based on the health assessment.  and this shouldn't be a surprise, since that's exactly what beane has been saying all along.  or does that make it a surprise?

2007 was the original.

In order to give ourselves a shot at going to the ALCS in 2006.  

so after harden reinjures himself, the ace will be gaudin.

Meyer, and the other two in the Hudson deal (who shall not name here) were all considered to be major league ready.  In fact, all three had had cups of coffee or even multiple months at the big league level.

but those teams mixed in some savvy vets with the young guys stars they already had around, Mulder, Hudson, Zito, Giambi, Tejada and Chavez. Also there was a competent manager and a system already in place.

What is there now? Confusion? A less than competent manager. No this is trying to start from scratch, with a bunch of young AND old guys who cannot even stay healthy complete and entire season.

I was never much for the "blow up the team" argument, but I welcome this news nonetheless.

I don't know enough about the prospects to say whether it's a good trade, but I think the team will be a lot more fun to watch for the next couple of years.

We're gonna lose Gaudin, who is a good enough 5th starter, but at least he's halfway decent, but now you trade your ace for 5 guys who have ZERO ML exp and a journeyman middle reliever?

WTF? Billy...WTF?