Trading With The Steinbrenners

  Yesterday I made a "trade proposal"-type post in another member's diary that I at first intended to be sarcastic, but the more I think about it, the more it could make sense for both teams. The proposed trade would have the following players going from OAK to NYY:
  SP Dan Haren, SP Joe Blanton, CF Mark Kotsay, SS Bobby Crosby
The following players would be acquired by our beloved Oakland A's:
  SP Phil Hughes, SP Ian Kennedy, CF Melky Cabrera, 2B Robinson Cano
  Add-ons to this deal could include Mark Ellis to NYY to fill the void created by Cano's departure, Street to NYY, Chamberlain to OAK, NYY AAA ss prospect to OAK, etc.etc.
  This deal would make sense for NYY because instead of three rookie "maybes" competing for spots in the rotation, they would acquire two proven, durable, quality "yes's". A team with a $200m payroll cannot possibly feel good about maybes, and in NY thre's no margin for error, no "we'll shoot for next year"...
  This deal would make sense for OAK because BB would be exchanging two todays for three tomorrows. If you think we can compete "AS IS" with DET, BOS, LAA, etc., you should probably stop reading now. This deal only makes sense as the cornerstone piece in a rebuilding phase.

   BB has figured out that in the current market climate in MLB, a marginal #4 arm commands up to $10m/yr. That is really a frightening figure, one that Wolff will be loath to pony up. So we can forget pursuing pitching on the FA market for an indefinite number of years. As our better pitchers mature, improve, and come up for contract, they will fly the coop to the rich teams. Nothing new there--it's always been that way, ever since I was a kid and George bought Catfish like he was a side of beef in a butcher shop. It saddened me then, and it saddens me now, but it is part of being an A's fan and must be accepted. What needs to happen, better sooner than later, is that we (meaning BB) need to realize that even if all our wounded make miraculous comebacks, the only thing we would be in contention for is to be the 6th best team in a league that awards 4 playoff spots. Last year, we finished 18 games behind a team that has gotten a lot better since then in order to better compete not with us, but with the team that crushed them (BOS). Where do we factor in? Probably about 7-12 games back--IF we bring everyone back. Do we get any special prize for "staying in the hunt until mid-August?"
   NO! We need to realize that for the next few years, we will not be THE ONE--we will be one of the other 29, so what difference does it make if we are #9 or #15? It makes no difference at all. Make huge deals THIS YEAR while we can cash our chips out at max value. Can you imagine how receptive NYY would be to the kind of trade detailed above if they were, say, 7 or 8 games out in mid-July and one or more of their talented young pitchers were struggling? The Yankees NEVER think about next year, because they don't need to. When next year comes along, they plug holes by raiding the poorer teams (like ours) of players that have gotten too good (expensive). In July, though, with the season hanging by a thread, they do crazy things...like giving $22m to a 44 year old pitcher to make 15 starts and post an ERA of 5. They would blink and ship us their future in exchange for our present. That helps them in '08 (which, in my opinion, will be a lost year for us anyway), and would theoretically help us big time going forward by giving us 3 potentially solid starters with years of cost control in hand.
   What do you think? It does sound sort of crazy at first, but the longer I look at it, the more sense it seems to make...