A's get Holliday

[ChaosLex]

I'm usually one of Beane's biggest supporters, but I have no idea what he's doing here.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Again, this makes zero sense. If the players are worthless, how in the world is MacPhail going to trade them, short of just giving them away.

That's not for him to figure out, just for him to complain about :laughlol:

[Mackus]

particularly since an unproductive Eric Chavez comes off the books (not sure how many more years Beane has to suffer that) perhaps relatively soon.

He's owed $11M next year, $12M in 2010, and then has a $12.5M 2011 option (with $3M buyout).

[Mark Carver]

Right. IF being the operable word there.

Would you care to name 1 good player that has been represented by Boras, that was traded with 1 year to go on the their contract. That has signed an extension with the team they were traded to.

[JTrea81]

I'm usually one of Beane's biggest supporters, but I have no idea what he's doing here.

Trying to win the division.

[Hank Scorpio]

I think this move is worse for the Rockies. He carried them in 2007, and I don't see any way for them to make up for his offense. Who is our ROX correspondant??? Break this down for us! I like the Rockies, but I'm afraid they made a bad move... let them use the picks themselves!

I have no response until I can see what the Rockies got in return (for sure.)

[ScottieBaseball]

This per SI/RotoWorld/MLBTraderumors....Can Am take a clue and trade:

Hernandez/Cabrera/Baez/Walker and or it does not take months to make a deal.

So the first deal of the off-season goes down, it didn't involve the O's, and that makes Andy MacPhail clueless?

There is no comparison between Holliday and Hernandez/Cabrera/Baez/Walker in terms of marketability.

[ScottieBaseball]

This thread does not belong in this forum, and telling AM to "take a clue" doesn't make it Oriole-related. Are we going to have one of these every time some other team does something?

I moved it and no.

[Crazysilver03]

If the deal is Smith, Street, and Gonzalez for Holliday, I dont really like the deal for the Athletics.

An amazing deal for the Rockies if true.

[Richmond Bird 9]

OK, this will now go to the rant thread. A person in my fantasy league has said about me I can not connect the dots. I quess this is another case. A better place would have been on the MLB and or rant threads.

[blueberryale77]

Two people who can't possibly be happy with this deal are Holliday and Boras. No star hitter wants to go to a bad team in a pitcher friendly park (at least a LOT more pitcher friendly than his current one) in his contract year. On the other hand, if he excels in Oakland he can erase the "his stats are inflated by Coors Field" label. Still, I bet he and Boras are IRATE!

[BRob51]

If it is Smith, Gonzalez, and Street, that's a steal for the Rox. I heard on MLBTR that Street might get flipped. Smith is a great young pitcher, Gonzalez is very good defensively and could develop nicely as a hitter. Great deal for the Rox.

[McNulty]

I really wonder why Beane makes this trade without the thought of locking up Holliday longterm. Perhaps he's planning on an increased payroll with the new stadium?

I suppose he's thinking that either Street or Holliday will net him two high picks, so essentially he gave up one year of Street and 50% of Dan Haren for one year of Holliday....assuming he has no intention of signing him. I just don't see that being the case.

[Ruzious]

Two people who can't possibly be happy with this deal are Holliday and Boras. No star hitter wants to go to a bad team in a pitcher friendly park (at least a LOT more pitcher friendly than his current one) in his contract year. On the other hand, if he excels in Oakland he can erase the "his stats are inflated by Coors Field" label. Still, I bet he and Boras are IRATE!

Talk about going from the hitter's penthouse to the hitter's outhouse.

Most people are looking at this as a Bean strategery thing, but it's possible he's doing this to try to compete next year. And I wonder if Street is damaged goods.

[Sports Guy]

I have been wondering why Beane would make this deal and here are a few things that come to mind:

1) Thinks Anaheim may be catchable next year.

2) Beane sees that the 2 young players in the deal are nothing special...Gonzalez has had back to back blah years and doesn't take a walk. Smith had a bad K/BB ratio last year and perhaps that is what Beane thinks of him.

3) He has been shopping Street for a while and probably can't get enough back for him that beats out 1 year of Holliday and 2 draft picks.

After thinking about it, this appears to be a trade that, at the end of the day, will be win for the A's and perhaps also for the Rockies.

I think Beane decided to take advantage of the rep for Smith and Gonzalez while recognizing that they have plenty of depth and that losing them will be no big deal.

Brilliant move by Beane when I really think about it and look at stats.

Now, of course he needs Holliday to have a very solid season this coming year so that he can either deal him in July or get 2 picks for him...That is the one risk for the A's here but it is probably a reasonable risk.