If the Trade Deadline Was Two Days From Now, What Would You Do?

I would scale Mount Davis during a game, get up to the top with a long length of rope and a bullhorn in hand. Then I would fashion a makeshift noose from the rope, tie it around my neck, and shout through the bullhorn to the assembled, stunned crowd:

“IT’S ALL FOR YOU, BILLY BEANE!!!!!”

Then I’d jump and on the way down, just before the rope snapped my neck like a springtime twig and left me dangling like low-hanging Strange Fruit in front of the CF batter’s eye, I would scream “GET US HANLEY RAMIREEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZ!!!!” as loud as I could for my last words on Earth.

Complete sell.

Try to trade: Willingham, Crisp, Ellis, DeJesus, Wuertz, Fuentes and possibly Suzuki.

I think you play Carter a lot at first, give him a real shot, moving CoJax to f/t left field.

Untouchables: Anderson, Cahill, Gonzalez, McCarthy, Ross, Carter, Weeks, Pennington. Everyone else can be had for the right price.

The A’s do not have the team that appears ready to stay in the hunt in the long haul. One of these AL West teams are going to go on a run sooner or later. The A’s need to be able to do the same, and they do not have the team to do it (doesn’t mean they won’t, it’s just unlikely). That being said, getting value for their veterans makes sense, and it can be done without cashing in on the season. Plus it gives a chance to add depth for next year when the A’s will be in better position to win. Considering the production you’re getting out of veterans that are clogging up roster space at the big league level, you are not giving up by trading the ones you can. And this way, Taylor, Carter, Miller, Donaldson — anyone who the A’s see as part of their future next year — should all come up to play everyday, and will thus be more primed to have a successful campaign next year.

The A’s have tons of expendable assets, and the Phillies are built to win the next 1-2 NL pennants. Brown has been very disappointing, and I don’t think the Phillies should be willing to wait around for him and see if he develops.

If the A’s send them Willingham (who will be Type A), a couple of lock-down pen guys…that’s a good start.

Oh.

What about someone who’s into a more laser like approach. If you could make one move, what would it be? Do you think a significant upgrade in power at 1B or RF would make a difference…or at least enough of a difference to get us from -6 to even?

Right now, I’m willing to make the case that it would. Note the jolt that Weeks has had on the team? Note the jolt that BoMel has had on the team. If we had one, just one, consistent power hitter in the middle of the lineup, and the team could, on average score two more runs per game, where would we be? For example, would Pena at first make a significant enough difference to make us competitive? (personally, I don’t think so) Aramis Ramirez at 3B? Hmmm…perhaps. Pick one player that you think might be available and let us know if you think they’d be a game breaker.

because I think it oversimplifies and forces a narrow way of thinking that isn’t good for the team. Nevertheless, for this year I lean pretty strongly toward the traditional “sell” attitude.

The one essential piece of information you’ve left out in your hypothetical is how other 29 teams are doing. You say “the A’s are still 5-6 games out”, but you don’t tell me how many other teams are out of contention. That’s what really matters. If there are a lot of “buyers” this year and not many “sellers”, that’s when we should sell. If, on the other hand, a lot of teams are sure they’re out of it and ready to unload their veteran stars so that it’s a buyer’s market, then we should not sell and should possibly even buy a little.

No one is untouchable, but some players fit the sort of trade we’d want to make more than others. Someone like Willingham is an obvious fit to trade away, whereas someone like Weeks really isn’t a good fit, so it seems unlikely we’d move him, but I wouldn’t rule out him or anyone else. Some of the players people are naming as untouchables — eg, Bailey, Ross — seem like top trade candidates to me. Our young starting pitchers are nice to keep, but they’re also particularly attractive to other teams. I don’t think it would be such a terrible idea to trade Cahill, Anderson, or Gio for a good offer.

I think we will be in the race when the All-Star break comes around. The next two series seem very winnable, and those final 2 series before the break will be huge. Still, there are only 3 “game changers” I think we have a chance on. Hunter Pence, B.J. Upton and Carlos Quentin. I’d prefer Justin Upton, but what can you do. I think Hunter Pence would require the most prospects, followed by Quentin and B.J. Upton.

The Astros need prospects for the future, plus a few major league ready players to give their fan base the false sense that they care about putting a decent product on the field while they wait for the future. So, we give them a major league ready OF and SP, coupled with two prospects that project to be MLB players down the line at positions they need, 2B and OF. The A’s get a great player in Hunter Pence, who would immediately bat 3rd in the lineup. The A’s also get the Astros to throw in a 3B prospect, just to even the numbers out. The Oakland A’s trade: Tyson Ross, David DeJesus, Eric Sogard, and Michael Choice to The Houston Astros for Hunter Pence and Mike Kvasnicka.

Reason for Hope: Last season at the trade deadline, the Astros dealt Lance Berkman to the Yankees for 2 prospects: Mark Melancon, Pitcher, who is currently on their MLB roster, but was only ranked a “C” prospect when dealt; and Jimmy Paredes, 2B, who is also a “C” prospect now in the Astros farm.

The 2nd team I’d like Billy to target would be to either the White Sox or the Rays. I figure both teams will be in the race, so both will be wanting to add to a position of need. The White Sox want RELIEF Pitching. It seems that the White Sox are very high on Brent Lillibridge, so the loss of Quentin would immediately be filled, while they also bulk up on their position of weakness. Likewise, the Rays have the following OF: Johnny Damon, Sam Fuld, Matt Joyce, B.J. Upton, Ben Zobrist and Justin Ruggiano. What the RAYS need is CATCHING (which we don’t even have at the MLB level — maybe we could trick them though) and relief pitching.
The Oakland A’s Trade: Kurt Suzuki Josh Donaldson, Ian Krol, Grant Balfour, and David DeJesus to the Tampa Bay Rays for B.J. Upton and Brandon Guyer.
or
The Oakland A’s: Trade Michael Wuetz, Ian Krol, David DeJesus and Aaron Shipman for Carlos Quentin and Tyler Flowers.

Hey, let me dream. I understand 1 of these trades is unreasonable, perhaps 2. But not all 3. It could happen. GO A’S! Lets sweep Florida and Arizona.

I would sell our surplus starters: DeJesus for starters has no business being on this team. And with Weeks manning the leadoff spot, I’d be willing to part ways with a healthy Coco Crisp, too. Our outfield will consist of Matsui, Willingham & Sweeney, with CoJax backing up when he’s not manning first base. We could also call up either Taylor or Jai Miller, who I might add is raking in Sac.

I’m also willing to trade my boy, Penny. I loved his glove a year ago, but he hasn’t shown any significant improvement with his bat this season and his defense hasn’t been that great this year. Penny hasn’t showed me that he wants the job. He’s playing like he’s keeping the seat warm for someone else returning from the DL or something. Stick Rosales at ss, and call up one of the AAA kids.

Suzuki too, get him the bleep out of here! He along with (Barton) has been so over hyped by AN, it’s not even funny. Call up Recker or Donaldson. I’m tired of watching that overrated, weak-hitting catcher hit pop-ups to the infield.

That’s my $0.02, and keep the change.

Braves could use a CF who plays defense competently, and who can hit better than Nate McLouth. That means pretty much anyone. And anyone includes Coco Crisp. They also could take a good setup man because unless Johnny Venters is a cyborg (debatable) they need another eighth inning guy. Balfour seems like a logical person, as he is a righty (Venters is a lefty) and he is putting up good numbers. I suggested we go after Mike Minor in another thread and I got some shit for it, but its not out of the realm of possibility considering the Braves insane depth at SP in the majors and minors, and that they seem to hate him.

Reds need a frontline starter, a shortstop, and possibly another OF bat (Johnny Gomes anyone?). They also have probably one of the biggest surpluses of frontline prospect talent who are also close to the majors. I’d check on the availability of Grandal, Mesoraco, Alonso (Catcher and First Base are two obvious places where we could upgrade offensively). I’d dangle Pennington (he’s better than Paul Janish and Edgar Renteria, and represents a known commodity in contrast to Zack Cosart), Willingham/Matsui, and gasp Gio. But if we give up Gio, I’d want the god package, and I’d like Mike Minor from the aforementioned Braves deal to replace him. A smaller deal of Pennington and the Hammer for Zack Cosart, Travis Wood, and a high upside Low-A kind of guy would be alright. Wood would be a great back of the rotation guy and is being wasted at AAA and Cosart plays just as good defense as Pennington if not better, and his stolen base and hr numbers indicate a facet of his game that Pennington just doesn’t have. The risk of course would be that he hasn’t tasted the majors yet and he could tank.

Others: Yanks need bullpen help. That could be a fit. And I’d like to see Devine take over the 8th inning RH role and FDLS get called up. Rangers need a coach that knows how to manage a bullpen, as Wash as absolutely been brutal with Feliz lately. May I suggest Bob Geren?

(Which lord knows, I am not) I would not hesitate to blow the A’s up. The reason being that a vast majority of the A’s roster has underperformed with regards to career statistics. Instead of their infield being UZR porn, or the outfield actually performing at a league average level, the A’s got the opposite of that kind of thing. Point is, the A’s can’t be afraid to blow it up because in some cases the alternative is not worse at all.

So, my ultimate worst case scenario: Cahill is the only ‘untouchable’. If someone proposes a ridonkulous trade for any guy on the A’s, Beane should pull the trigger. This includes my personal favorites like Gio. So, I’ll float some random trade ideas out here.

Gio Gonzalez to the Rangers for Jorge Alfaro (#TeamLegend), Mike Olt and Robbie Erlin I have a feeling this would end up being a fair trade. The Rangers get Gio, who we know can be an ace when he’s on, and who would probably fare well in Texas. (More so than Cahill or Anderson). This gives the Rangers rotation depth, which we know they need. A’s get the 3B they’ve desperately needed, and a pretty good pitching prospect in Erlin. Alfaro ends up being the prize in the deal, as his approach at the plate is absolutely tremendous and if he sticks behind the plate it’ll be a total steal. He’s far away, but the talent is there.

Cliff Pennington to San Francisco for Eric Surkamp Pretty self explanatory. Giants need a SS, but Sabean is notoriously cheap with his prospects. Surkamp is being aided significantly by his park in Augusta, but the K rate will still be good enough to play in the majors.

Coco Crisp and Michael Wuertz to Atlanta for Randall Delgado Okay, this one might be a bit of a stretch. But this would be a fuckin a trade if I ever saw one. Vizcaino can be inserted in place of Delgado here, I like them both. If Beane asked for Teheran or Minor he’d get laughed off the phone, but I think Wren listens if it’s Delgado or Vizcaino. I could be very, very wrong though. Laughably wrong. Oh well, this is why you ask.

Josh Willingham to Philadelphia for the corpse of Raul Ibanez and Domonic Brown I feel that the A’s would need to throw something else in the deal to sweeten the package, because Brown’s only fault has been breaking his hand which is a notoriously hard injury to regain a stroke from. But maybe I’m wrong. Again, it’s why you make the phone call.

Alright, that was fun. I got my inner-GM out. Let me know what you think, eh?

We’d win more. I don’t know what it would take to do that though, I assume Ludwick would cost a couple low level prospects, Beltran would cost money and a decent prospect and Bourn would cost Outman, Moscoso and a prospect. We in turn could trade all our OF for prospects. Willingham, Crisp & DeJesus all have value still. Sweeney+Jackson might have interest too, who knows…

I’d also check in with Boston to see what they’d offer for Suzuki. We are only 6 games out, its a coin flip as to sell or buy, but we really aren’t that far off here. I say try and remodel the OF and see what happens.

But what if we traded Fuentes, DeJesus and Anderson to Toronto for Jose Bautista? Probably wouldn’t work, but it’s just an idea.
Or, how about Fuentes, Wuertz, and Cardenas (plus something else) for Hunter Pence? That might work.

and thought Harden found a new ligament to injure.

Unfortunately I don’t think we have enough on the farm to get us Reyes and Beltran, and so I’d trade the major league roster. I wouldn’t trade Cahill, Anderson or Gio till the offseason, but I’d trade everyone else for the highest upside prospects I could get. I wouldn’t place much value on “likelihood of reaching the majors”, since all of the players on the team have 100% likelihood of reaching the majors and they aren’t very good.

I bet its good.

He strikes me as our best trade chip, in terms of the balance of how much we could get for him against how valuable he is for us.