SB Nation User Blog: walk off bunt

The problem with trade ideas

walk off bunt — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:14:33 -0000

First, we don't know if the A's are buyers are sellers. In fact I'm not even sure the A's know if they're buyers or sellers.

They have one legitimate sell chip in Zito and another reasonable one in Payton, but that's it. NOBODY wants Kendall. NOBODY wants DJ. NOBODY wants Kotsay. There are a lot of guys on this team who probably actually have negative trade value, so assuming we can not only get rid of them, but get rid of them for something of meaning is a pipe dream. That being said, if they choose to sell, Zito would figure to bring in a sweet haul (the Milledge/McCarthy/etc. names abound) and Payton could find himself on a team like the Yankees in return for some decent, cheap, controllable youngsters like perhaps Darrell Rasner, Colter Bean, TJ Beam, or Bronson Sardinha. Not top flight prospects, mind you, but guys definitely worth having.

Buying would be a bit difficult. The A's real prospectish chips would probably include Windsor, Casilla, Komine, Melillo, and some of the lower minor league guys. The problem ultimately with this is that the market offers little in the way of B level talent. There are the superstars out there, DTrain, Abreu, Soriano, Carlos Lee, etc. but not many guys, hitters especially, that the A's could probably get to help them. I think Julio Lugo would be attainable, but that would effectively mean giving up on Crosby, and I highly doubt Beane and co. are ready to do that, nor am I especially positive they'd be wrong in not wanting to do that anyway. Getting a guy like Wilson Betemit would perhaps help, and I think we have what it takes to get him. I think we have what it takes to get Ryan Shealy, with the Rockies considering Rodrigo Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt deals according to MLB.com (and while in a previous post I stated I wasn't a big Shealy fan, if Rodrigo Lopez is the price to pay I'd be heartily dissapointed if we didn't bother to top it.) Sean Casey or Craig Wilson would offer some help, though not necessarily a ton, and Pittsburgh has had some weird asking prices in the past. There's also Eric Hinske, whom someone made a diary about a few days back. I personally think he'd be the best option, filling in at third (though sloppily) to give Chavez a spell and being able to shift around at 1B/DH. I think it'd perhaps be even possible to get him without having to dangle Windsor either. Anyway my point is that none of these options would be likely to have a huge impact unless we managed to acquire 2 or 3 of them, and I wouldn't think twice about that kind of activity playing out in Oakland on this deadline.

So, ultimately, my point is that a lot of the trade ideas, while certainly fun, don't seem to take into account the actual trade deadline market. I'd love to see some creative ideas floated out there, and to be honest I'd be lying if I said I didn't see a number of them I did in fact like, but the majority seem to be, for lack of a better word, a little clueless, and admittedly there's really nothing I could come up with myself that'd be any better. And really that's ultimately the problem. It's going to be a dull deadline this year, there just isn't the market fluidity we're used to out there. Too many teams that think they're in it and too many teams shopping big names with huge price tags that few teams can meet.

Crazy trade idea, merely for fun

walk off bunt — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 07:30:59 -0000

Let me start this with a disclaimer: I'm not advocating trading Barry Zito, or Eric Chavez, or anything of that like. This merely popped into my head with all the A-Rod bashing going on in New York and I was interested how people would perhaps respond to it, completely unrealistic as it may be.

The idea I had, at least, was:

Chavez, Zito, Jay Payton, and a middling prospect sort (Casilla perhaps) for Alex Rodriguez, a large large sum of cash, and minor league starter Darrell Rasner (4-0, 2.56 in 52.2 innings with a 42/11 K/BB ratio for AAA Columbus. If I recall correctly, he's 25 or 26, so he could step into a rotation I think right away and be a useful young arm. He's not a lights out prospect either: the Yankees picked him off waivers from the Nationals before the season.)

Anyway, I'm not even necessarily saying I'd do it. To be honest I probably wouldn't. But it seemed like a fun fantasy-land type trade to gather opinions on. Again, this isn't a rumor, I'm not advocating it, and yes, I realize it would never under any circumstances happen. So don't rail on me. Tis just for fun.

There goes our offensive help

walk off bunt — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 21:48:08 -0000

His name is Aubrey Huff, and he'll be suiting up for the Houston Astros for the second half of this season, courtesy a trade that brought the Devil Rays back SS Ben Zobrist, who is 25 and in AA (albeit he's hitting .327/.434/.473, but with only 3 homers, and has hit well throughout his minor league career) and 23 year old pitcher Mitch Talbot, who hasa 96/29 strikeout to walk ratio in 90.1 innings this year with a 3.39 ERA in AA, though it must be noted that he's had weak K ratios at every stop up until this year.

Personally, I think we could've matched that. Those are a couple of nice pieces but nothing that, to me, at least, screams "future key player." Zobrist is old for AA and looks like he'll be an adequate batting average/walks type shortstop who lacks power, while Talbot looks like he'll make perhaps an adequate fourth or fifth starter, more likely a middle reliever or swingman of some sort. That's just me though, I'd hope Billy would have at least inquired about Huff.