which means we get 2 first round picks, and the Sox get the A’s 2nd round pick.

You get a pick for losing a player. It’s compensation. Why should a team be compensated for re-signing their own player?

First of all, the A’s offense this past season, and in 2007, was pretty awful. This is not conducive to a couple key things- one, the positive development of a young pitchers because they’re pitching under way too much pressure to be perfect instead of pitching to their strengths and developing their game, and secondly it doesn’t help you attract any free agents you might want to add in retooling your offense to improve it. Yes, free agents will generally take the best deal offered in terms of money/years, but they also have to take you seriously as well and it doesn’t help your cause if they don’t see your club as one likely to contend and win at least over the long haul.

So it’s not fair to say Holliday isn’t a positive addition, even for just one year- he’s a very good hitter that plays a decent LF, and he instantly improves the credibility of the A’s in terms of offense and possible contention in 2009.

As for Street, Smith, and Gonzalez- which of them figured to seriously help the club in 2009 more than other players the A’s already have? I’d say the answer is “none of the above.”

The big question with the Holliday acquisition, and everybody’s been speculating on this, is what about the future beyond 2009? This is where the players traded away come back into play. Would Street have been a major part of the A’s future beyond 2009? Not likely. Would Smith have been? Perhaps, perhaps not- the A’s have a decent number of young starting pitchers that can most likely do whatever he could’ve done for them, just as young and under club control for the same number of years. So it’s down to Gonzalez, really. And here, again, the A’s have a huge number of young outfielders in their system now, so in terms of 2010 and beyond they’ve got this area covered. Is Gonzalez a better potential MLB player than most of those other outfielders? Perhaps. We won’t know for a couple more years. But at the very least the A’s have plenty of organizational depth in this area.

Back to the MLB level, and what the team needs. There are serious holes in terms of position players that have not been adequately filled the past couple seasons, and weren’t likely to be filled internally for 2009 or maybe for 2010 either- the most glaring one is SS in terms of specific positions, but arguably something needs to happen with 1B and 3B too. But regardless of position, the offense has been lacking high average hitting with power and particularly of the right-handed variety. This is not all going to be solved by the acquisition of one player, for 2009 or beyond, but you certainly have to start somewhere.

Holliday is a start. The question becomes- what about beyond 2009? It seems highly unlikely that the A’s will be able to sign him to an extension before he hits free agency (Boras clients don’t do that typically, if ever) and it also seems really unlikely he would pick the A’s over other teams once he hits free agency.

So, what gives?! Do the A’s really expect to contend in 2009, and are they really loading up to take a shot at the series this year? Doesn’t seem likely, does it? And if that’s not the plan, then what is the plan and how is Holliday valuable now?

Holliday in 2009 is valuable for a variety of reasons, I think- he improves the offense and solidifies LF defensively which helps the pitchers, he is going to be the focal point of the offense which should take some pressure off the other hitters… and since the A’s are trying to build a better offense going forward his presence might also help the A’s lure other free agents to Oakland (like Furcal, for one) and sign them to longer deals so they will be around beyond 2009 as the young pitchers and position players develop and the team becomes more competitive.

What Nico was suggesting that I found really interesting was the concept that the A’s are already thinking beyond Holliday with their plans based on acquiring another player to fill the same sort of role he’s going to fill in 2009- namely, Jason Bay who would bring the same sort of attributes Holliday does (though not quite the same caliber perhaps) in terms of being a solid RH bat with solid LF defense to hit somewhere in the middle of the line-up for 2010 and beyond.

I think his idea is a good one- the A’s get Holliday now to fill that role and build around him in 2009, planning to let him hit free agency and then make a strong play for Bay who would then slot right into the picture for 2010 through say 2014 or 2015.

By having Holliday this year, the A’s guarantee he will hit free agency. They know that the Red Sox would rather get Holliday than keep Bay, and the Red Sox know the A’s aren’t going to be able to extend Holliday or be a serious contender to sign him long-term, so they will let Bay reach free agency rather than extend him, which then means Bay’s available on the open market after 2009 and the A’s can go after him. And as Nico pointed out, Bay would be a little older at that point and most likely a lot easier to sign than Holliday will be… for less. Especially if the A’s go after him aggressively early in the free agency period, with an offer he can’t readily refuse.

So the idea is that no, the A’s aren’t really looking or expecting to contend in 2009 (if it happens, hey- bonus!) but they are looking to get the pieces in place to seriously contend starting in 2010 and expect the pitching to be ready and to have the other details sorted out by the 2009 offseason so they can try and add Bay or another RH bat (I’m sure they have other targets if Bay doesn’t work out) through free agency or trade if necessary to complete the basic framework for 2010 and beyond.

This makes a lot more sense to me than the idea of going “all in” on 2009. My initial thought, as many have also voiced, was that Holliday was a temporary upgrade to the offense for the first half of the season and then a big trading chip to acquire infield help at the trade deadline- and that may actually be the case in the end and would also make good sense. But Nico’s idea is a clever and interesting one, too.

You are why I love AN…always thinking about the A’s and why what happened happened, or what might happen…
Cindi’s gonna have a Holliday!!!

Weird.

Who woudn’t ? What do you all say to Giambi and Swisher back on the team?

Is Furcal supposed to be Kendall or Fasano?

Maybe Crosby will demand a trade? Maybe he’ll take a buy-out of his current contract so he can shop his “services” to other teams? Please.

and he also has been mr. dependable, playing 162 games 2 out of the last 4 years, with 149 or more the other two. If the a’s could plug him in the three spot, with holliday and chavez, to follow, that would be pretty awesome. You could even put Cust in the two spot. Also, Ibanez shouldn’t command more than a two-year deal.

They both need to be DHing. Period.

despite shopping at prestigious places such as Ross and Old Navy. And no, iglew, Poochini was not a puppy six years ago (he’s 13) and while he likely has some Jack Russell in him he is mostly Beagle. Plus the statute of limitations has expired, so I’m not paying your medical bills.

“Lower” = lower number. 15th pick is lower than 25th pick.

it’s not in my nature.

Though in Grieve’s defense, he wasn’t horrible.

As if “Randy Wolf” wasn’t already evocative enough.

Maybe have his salary paid in order to trade him to, say, Detroit or Los Angeles (assuming they don’t resign Furcal) for a B level prospect or something.