Billy Beane had played this game before.
On Dec. 20, 2004, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics dealt Mark Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals, bringing the A’s a big league reliever, a top hitting prospect and a young starter coming off of an uninspiring second season as a Major Leaguer.
That uninspiring starter was 23-year-old Dan Haren—the same Dan Haren who developed into the ace that served as the American League starting pitcher in last season’s All-Star Game.
On
Dec. 15, 2007, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics dealt Dan
Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a collection of young, talented
prospects.
Billy Beane had played this game before—and he played it again 19 days later.
On Jan. 3, 2008, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics dealt Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for a collection of young, talented prospects.
This is just the way things work in Oakland.
Well, Fremont, that is.
With a dismal 2007 campaign in the books, Beane did exactly what he had to do this offseason to make the A’s into a competitive ball club—by the year 2011. He traded away an ace of a starting pitcher and arguably the most beloved fan-favorite that Oakland could call its own.
And in the year 2011, the A’s will have something very different to call their own: Cisco Field and the City of Fremont, Calif.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the stars aligned so perfectly for the A’s to skip out on Oakland a few seasons early to start building a product worth selling by the time the team could call Fremont home.
Dan Haren and Nick Swisher are not Fremont’s favorite sons.
Maybe Gio Gonzalez or Carlos Gonzalez could be.
Reflecting upon the two blockbusters that Beane pulled this offseason—paired with the prospects the team previously held on the farm—it becomes clear that the A’s have already said their farewells to the City of Oakland.
As
evidenced by Oakland’s one-time “Big Three” of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson
and Barry Zito, strength in arms leads you to the playoffs and puts you
in a position to contend.
The “Big Three” is long gone. They’ve all been traded for prospects or draft picks—prospects and draft picks that have put the Fremont A’s in a position to contend the same way they always had with Captain Beane stirring the ship. The process isn't flawless—Dan Meyer, Juan Cruz and Charles Thomas for Hudson didn't exactly work out—but that's the way the A's have learned to contend.
And by going “Big Three” on Haren and Swisher, the A’s will contend once again—in the year 2011.
A
product of what the A’s have sent away this offseason, the team now
holds an entire rotation's worth of pitching prospects: Gio Gonzalez,
Brett Anderson, Fautino De Los Santos, James Simmons and Trevor
Cahill—and guys like Henry Rodriguez, too, who are no longer good
enough to crack this kind of five-man staff.
The
message rings loud and clear: this is the team formerly known as the
Oakland A’s that we’re talking about. The team that has rebuilt by
saying sayonara to the likes of Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Co. to
curl up into a cocoon for two-to-three seasons before emerging as a
contender once again.
Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada are long gone—and now Nick Swisher is, too.
Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito are long gone—and now Dan Haren is, too.
Enter Gio Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Fautino De Los Santos and Trevor Cahill. Enter Daric Barton, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham and Ryan Sweeney. Enter James Simmons, Corey Brown and the rest of a stellar 2007 draft class—Sean Doolittle, Grant Desme, Josh Horton, etc.—that was one of the stronger ones in all of baseball.
What does all this chaos mean? In a nutshell, it means a new A's Top 10:
1. Daric Barton, 1B (8/16/85)
2. Gio Gonzalez, LHP (9/19/85)
3. Carlos Gonzalez, OF (10/17/85)
4. Trevor Cahill, RHP (3/1/88)
5. Fautino De Los Santos, RHP (2/15/86)
6. Brett Anderson, LHP (2/1/88)
7. James Simmons, RHP (9/29/86)
8. Aaron Cunningham, OF (4/24/86)
9. Corey Brown, OF (11/26/85)
10. Ryan Sweeney, OF (2/20/85)
These prospects should all be good to go on the Major League scene by the year 2011—which still isn’t a coincidence.
This is, after all, Fremont A’s baseball that we’re talking about here.
While it’s hard to say goodbye to what was once a good thing in Oakland, the A’s have made the task at hand easier by embracing Fremont with open arms.
Joe Blanton—pack your bags because you’re next. Your ship, like Oakland’s, has already sailed.
Adam Loberstein will be camping out at Cisco Field for the next three seasons, waiting for A's baseball to return once again. While he waits, he can be reached at aloberstein@projectprospect.com