When you say that our pitchers will have more trade value than Sabathia, or approach the value we got in the Haren trade.

Blanton’s trade value is going to be nowhere near Sabathia’s, because although Blanton has more years of control, he is not as good as Sabathia. Sabathia elevates Milwaukee from a wild card contender to an NL World Series favorite. Blanton would certainly help a number of teams get to the playoffs, but no team is going to get stars in its eyes at the thought of Blanton as a playoff starter.

Duke has been amazing this year, but I think most teams are going to be skeptical of his ability to perform this year as his innings pile up, and he doesn’t have the type of “stuff” that is going to make GMs dream of Duke starting Game 7 of the World Series. I think the A’s should keep Duke, find a way to limit his innings as the year goes on, and sign him to a contract to let him be the anchor of the rotation for the next few years.

Harden is the wild card. His “dead arm” scares the hell of out me, and I would think it would scare the hell out of GMs from other teams. With Sabathia gone, however, Harden is the one pitcher available who can significantly elevate a team’s chances to win a World Series. All it takes is one team to fall in love with him to make a “Beane Fuckin’ A” trade, but I think that at the end of the day Harden either stays with the A’s or brings back a package just shy of what Sabathia brought.

Given the realities of the trade value of our starters (or Street), and the situations of other teams, it’s hard to see how we could ever hope to get anything close to a Haren type of deal from any team. Haren is a better pitcher than Blanton, has a far better health record than Harden, and has been healthier and had a longer track record as a successful starter than Duke. Haren also had three years of cheap control for Arizona. Combined with that, Arizona had depth in their minor league system and the willingness to trade that depth for a chance to compete in the next few years. I don’t know of another team that is in that position right now for the A’s to trade with.

This post is getting long, so I will start another one with teams I see as potential trade partners, and what we might expect to get as well as obstacles to a deal with those teams.

Rays

Players to target – Brignac, Jennings, Hellickson

Rays’ needs and reason for trading – The Rays have the best record in baseball, but could benefit greatly from the addition of Harden, who could team up with Kazmir, Shields, and Garza to form a devastating playoff rotation. The Rays could also be interested in Street as a closer with Percival out.

Obstacles to trade – The Rays have an incredibly deep farm system, but they also are notoriously difficult to trade with and have shown a great reluctance in the past to part with their prospects. The deep farm system also gives the Rays the opportunity to improve from within by calling up a guy like Price this season. If I were the Rays GM I would be intrigued by the idea of Harden, but I think I would stick with what I have for this year and preserve my options in later years.

Yankees

Players to target – Hughes, Jackson, Horne Tabata

Yankees’ needs and reason for trading – The Yankees need at least one starter, are always in “win now” mode, and have a new owner in Hank Steinbrenner who is every bit as insane as George was in his early days.

Obstacles to trade – One bad week may take the Yankees out of the playoff race, taking them out as a buyer. The Yankees are perceived as a team that needs pitching to go with their offense, but the Yankees’ offense has gaping holes as well. The Yankees may actually be more interested in a bat than a pitcher at this point. Cashman has been very protective of his prospects, and as long as Hank does not overrule him, I would think that the Yankees are not going to give away their prospects this season.

Cubs

Players to target – Rich Hill, Pie, Vitters

Cubs’ needs and reason for trading – The Cubs have been mentioned in trade rumors for almost every starting pitcher, and are now likely to be more motivated after Milwaukee acquired Sabathia.

Obstacles to trading – Hendry is a borderline moron, and it is always difficult to trade with morons. It is also questionable whether Beane would be interested in the Cubs’ prospects. Hill strikes me as a typical Beane pickup in that he has more talent than the Cubs acknowledge, but I’m not too sure Beane would like Pie or Vitters.

Dodgers

Players to target – Kemp, LaRoche, DeJesus, Hu, Meloan

Dodgers’ need and reason to trade – The Dodgers were part of the Sabathia sweepstakes, and are thus apparently on the prowl for a starter. The Dodgers have the depth to trade if they desire to, and seem to be down on Kemp, Laroche, and Hu.

Obstacles to trade – For all the talk of Coletti’s willingness to trade his prospects, he really hasn’t done so at this point. Given that the Dodgers allowed Sabathia to go to Milwaukee, it is questionable that they really were that motivated given that Milwaukee only gave up one real prospect in the deal. Beane may not like Hu, and may have soured on DeJesus.

Any other potential trade partners you guys see out there? I could see many teams being interested in a minor deal for a guy like Embree, but it’s hard to see any other markets for the types of deals it would take for the A’s to trade Blanton, Harden, Duke, or Street. I predict a relatively uneventful trade deadline for the A’s unless some team decides to take the risk of acquiring Harden.

Don’t you think we should target hitting prospects?
We look like we have some depth when it comes to pitching…

Also, don’t rule out the possibility of a three-way. The Cubs might not have the prospects we want, another team might.