The first thing i did when I looked at the Haren trade was to see if it had the potential to be like the Mulder trade. So looking for this trade's "dan haren" and "daric barton", i find Dana Eveland and Carlos Gonzalez pretty intriguing.

Dana Eveland- Although he hasn't exactly been steller in the major leagues with his 1-0 record and 14.40 ERA, he has been pretty good in the minors. The thing is he's major league ready just like Dan Haren was, and he has put up some pretty decent stats in the Mexican Winter league. He is 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 13 games there, including a 10 strikeout 6 inning performance with an A's scout watching according to the following website:. (http://www.the-signal.com/?module=di...)

Here's his description from http://www.azsnakepit.com/:

Dana Eveland His time in Arizona ends with the non-impressive line of 5 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 8 ER, and an ERA of 14.40. It's worth noting that half the players we are losing came to the team in trades - here, as part of the Doug Davis deal with the Brewers. Eveland has been lights-out in the minor-leagues, posting a 2.61 ERA over 413.2 innings since his 2003 debut, but has not been able to stick in the majors, where his ERA is 7.55 in 64-plus innings, over the past three years. He missed a month with a finger injury but came back strong for Tucson, posting a sub-two ERA in seven games and 27.2 innings, despite a 1.41 WHIP. He's a lefty, so that likely gives him more rope than most, and only turned 24 in October.

Carlos Gonzalez is also pretty intriguing too. I found articles comparing his potential to be like bobby abreu or carlos beltran. definitely a Wow. He was the Dbacks' number 1 prospect, and one of the best prospects in the league. All-star potential definitely. I'm pretty excited about him. On most teams, this guy would be untouchable, but with so many people ahead of him, Gonzalez was expendable to the Dbacks. Lucky us. This is what was said at the AZ Snakepit:

Carlos Gonzales Our top prospect, according to Baseball America - only 22, but I would not be surprised to see him in the outfield for Oakland before very much longer, if not on Opening Day. The major knock is his poor plate discipline - he spent most of the season in Double-A Mobile, where he struck out 103 times while walking only 32. Given this, it's a surprise Beane wanted him, as he's the very antithesis of the OBP-based philosophy described in Moneyball. Whether it's corrected or exacerbated by his arrival in the majors will likely determine whether this is a boon or a bust.

Much as with Quentin, the signing of Eric Byrnes likely sealed CarGon's fate, locking up the third outfield spot. I do worry how thin this has left us in the outfield; in five months, we have lost Hairston, Quentin and Gonzales. I guess the next imminent prospect coming up the pipeline is Alex Romero, who batted .310 with the Sidewinders. But that was with only 5 homers in 131 games and an overal OPS of .775, not good for that park, I did briefly get excited about Jarred Ball's .346 with Tucson last year, until I saw a) that was in 23 games, and b) he hit a hundred points lower than that at the Double-A level over 2005-2007.

Besides these two players, we also got 4 other prospects that are not bad at all. In fact, they are all rather good prospects.

But definitely, billy beane was trying to sell high on Dan Haren. If Haren doesn't improve, and plays at the level he played last year, it is hard to find his value increasing any more than now because of his 3 years at cheap money.

Beane may have just pulled off a major coup. This package is as good or maybe even better as the one the Marlins got from Detroit for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Think, Haren and Conor Robertson got possibly a better haul than what Cabrera and Willis hauled in. Wow.

And if Eveland turns into the next Dan haren, and Carlos Gonzalez becomes an All-star, we may have just seen the Mark Mulder Trade Part II. Or maybe even better because of Anderson, Cunningham, Carter, and Smith.

I been questioning my faith in Beane recently, but this trade has me believing in Billy Beaneball once again.

Only time will tell.

(P.S. This is my first ever post!!!)