Nov
10
Oakland celebrates a Holliday
ByAccording to Jon Heyman, the A’s have emerged the winners in the Matt Holliday sweepstakes. While we’re still awaiting word on the A’s side of the trade, this is a fairly surprising result. One thing is for sure: The A’s really need the offense.
Update 3:46 p.m.: Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports reports that the A’s are sending Huston Street, Greg Smith and Carlos Gonzalez to the Rockies. That’s quite a haul for a one-year rental of a player moving from Coors Field to the vast reaches of the McAfee Coliseum.
awesome, now hes almost certain to reach free agency and play LF for us in 2010
Thanks billy!
well THAT was unexpected. seems like such an un-billy beane thing to do though, no?
Depends what they gave up, but that’s my take too. Not the most likely destination considering the A’s substantial problems.
Who cares, this is excellent news for us. Removes us from potentially overpaying for him in prospects this offseason, and gives us another 600 non-Coors-Field AB’s in 2009 with which to more properly evaluate him
if hewhen he hits the market next offseason.Great points.
Assuming Oakland doesn’t trade him before the deadline this year.
Also a good point. Oakland could start the year with him and then move him in July when they fall out of it.
To Boston, for Michael Bowden, Casey Kelly, and Stolmy Pimentel.
Holliday could essentially nix any midseason deal to a contender by refusing to negotiate an extension, which as a Boras client seems liekly.
Makes me wonder what Oakland is thinking here. Do they try to move him before the season.
And yet, the Brewers traded prospects for Sabathia and D-Bags traded prospects for Dunn, knowing good and well they’d be leaving in November. Somebody would bite the bullet on Holliday, consequences be damned.
And while my Sox trade was in semi-jest, even Boston may make a deadline deal for a Boras client, thinking that they could use it as an audition to lobby for a resign in the winter. They’d have the money to go after Holliday, why not pre-sell him on it with a Boston pennant run?
I agree, that is the scenario that scares me. Billy Beane rarely gets played, but he does harbor disdain for the Yanks/Sox of the world (ie large payroll org’s).
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
yea, boston is going to be afraid of us paying them back for all the times we have had to overpay
As much as it pains me, I couldn’t agree with you more.
-Scott
That pain is your mental weakness leaving the body. Don’t fight it, it’s part of the growing process.
thank you Ive only been saying that for a week
They’re going to flip him, they have too. What sense does it make for them to acquire a Boras client with one yr left on his deal like that?
He will most likely reach FA regardless unless he is worried bout his value dying depends on how he hits in Oakland.. I think he will be a FA tho
They’re going to flip him, they have to
Holliday for Johnny Damon!!!! It makes sense on so many levels!!!!!!!
Ahh screw it we will throw in Melky with Damon
They’ll flip ya. They’ll flip ya for real.
Is that the one about the hooker with dysentery?
lmao….HAND ME THE KEYS YOU F*CKING C*CKSUCKER!!!!!
Rosenthal said they don’t plan to flip him but you gotta think if they are more than 6 or 7 games out come deadline he has to do whats best for the organization even if it means getting one mlb ready player back in return like Texieria for Kotchman
“Pitcher Greg Smith, who was 7-16 with a 4.16 ERA last season for the A’s, is one of the players in the deal, a source confirmed to Crasnick. Among the other players who has been discussed were left-handed pitcher Brett Anderson, outfielders Ryan Sweeney and Carlos Gonzalez.
Oakland has been weighing offers for closer Huston Street, but it’s uncertain if he’s part of the Holliday deal. The Rockies have a need for late-inning relief with Brian Fuentes about to leave through free agency.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3694100
7-16 you ask?
Bust I reply.
Clearly, both he and Phil Hughes suck the big one.
Greg Smith is in the deal
I have no clue who Tim Brown from Yahoo sports is, but it’s linked to from MLBTR:
“The Oakland A’s are close to acquiring Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday, according to a source familiar with those discussions, having agreed in principle to a deal the source believed would send outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, starting pitcher Greg Smith and closer Huston Street to the Rockies.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns
IDK how Atlanta accepted Kotchman as the centerpiece…
IDK how Atlanta accepted Kotchman as the centerpiece…
http://www.starstore.com/acata.....-im120.jpg
Does that mean Atlanta went crazy?
Sort of. I’d say they panicked… at the disco.
They waited too long to deal him.. But Kotchman was good to get for him
We know this for certain now.
He’ll be on the open market at this time next year. So maybe the Yankees would think twice about importing an Of’er long term.
And we’ll get to see him hit away from Col.
Eric Chavez will provide excellent protection for Holliday.
Eric Chavez is still alive?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
They gotta get Giambino for protection
Jack Cust!!!!!!
Ozzie Canseco?
Jeremy “I Dont Slide” Giambi
Gonzalez Smith and Street… Alert the police theres been a robbery
“The Oakland A’s are close to acquiring Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday, according to a source familiar with those discussions, having agreed in principle to a deal the source believed would send outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, starting pitcher Greg Smith and closer Huston Street to the Rockies.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns
The A’s didn’t really give up much for Holliday.
Thats a nice package though in my opinion.. Id give up Nady and Damon for it.. Why didnt they call us ? Bastards
You’re joking, right? You don’t consider Smith, Street, and Gonzalez “much”?
Tell me that’s sarcasm. Please.
Yuppers. Sarcasm. I could’ve word it a little differently.
Copy. I thought so, but had to confirm becore I opened up “the guns”, Ron Burgundy style.
Gonzalez was a centerpiece for the Haren deal.. He’s a stud.. Smith can be a good starter for the Rockies and Street is better then the way he performed this season… Alot to give up for one year of Holiday.. Isn’t Gonzalez better than A-Jax
And you tsjc wouldnt give up Ajax plus Kennedy plus Melancon for him right ? Im not a crazy minor league type guy but is that a comparable package ?
Gonzalez >>>>>>> AJax (he’s done it already)
Smith >>> IPK (see above, plus he’s a lefty)
Street > Melancon (barely)
And no, I wouldn’t have given up IPK/Melancon/AJax for Holliday, not because it’s not a talent win for us (it may be), but rather because I think we need the future of IPK/Melancon/AJax more than we need the present of Matt Holliday.
Carlos Gonzalez needs more AAA seasoning. He’s a plus defender but the bat didn’t arrive last season. Sure C-Gonzalez is ahead of Jackson in terms of value, but isn’t his offensive ceiling still debatable?
Beane was going to lose Street anyway, and at least he didn’t part with Brett Anderson or Trevor Cahill. The A’s studs remain.
Sure C-Gonzalez is ahead of Jackson in terms of value, but isn’t his offensive ceiling still debatable?
Good point, and yes.
Perhaps I should change my statement from Gonzalez >>>>>>> AJax to Gonzalez >>>> AJax
Smith’s walk rate is little concerning, no? He has to pitch at Coors Field. Hallelujah for the HUMIDOR!!!! Gonzalez is a stud. Is Cunningham expected to be better than Gonzalez? I would’ve traded Cunningham before Gonzalez. Street is Street.
Very true, Smith is not a surefire stud, but he’s still a quality young lefty. He’s not in the Anderson/Cahill class, but he’s good, better than IPK (who’s also good.)
And I agree, Gonzalez >>> Cunningham. I suspect the Rockies would have said no to Cunningham/Smith/Street, though.
IPK has far superior AAA numbers and is a year younger.
Greg Smith has <6 K/9IP. Pitching prospects with that K rate are few and far between (at least the ones that turn out to be decent are).
Look, I’m definitely not the one to be doing any IPK bashing, but the fact remains that Greg Smith has been good enough at the major league level so far in his career to remain there for an extended period of time, something IPK has not.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see IPK be the better pitcher 10 years from now, but if Dan O’Dowd were to offer Smith for IPK straight up, Cashman would probably take it, since Smith is ML ready today and a lefty.
Do you think they were that much more than these guys:
Holliday – Kennedy / Cabrerra / Cervelli / Acevez / Horne / Kontos?
One year of a Boras client.
Thats just quantitiy not quality
To paraphrase Jules Winfield:
Kennedy-Cabrera-Cervelli-Aceves-Horne-Kontos = a foot massage
Gonzalez-Smith-Street = sticking your tongue in the holiest of holies
It aint the same ballpark, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same fucking sport.
Now that is a beautifully crafted response.
Bravo.
Gonzalez is a stud right ? I say A’s gave up too much..
I don’t know. C-Gonzalez had a very impressive 2007 campaign at the plate. When he debuted in the majors last season, he hadn’t exactly set AAA on fire, and didn’t do much at the plate afterwords. It could very well be that Beane didn’t think C-Gonz was going to develop into an offensive stud; nor is he a OBP guy.
This move remains curious for me. Why would Billy trade prospects for a guy that he is, in turn, going to trade for more prospects?
The Fremont A’s new stadium hasn’t even broke ground yet and they are still handcuffed by Chavy’s terrible deal. There is no way that they can see themselves as contenders this year.
Maybe Billy didn’t like Gonzalez that much and saw a way to maximize his value and acquire ‘fresh’ prospects at the deadline.
He’s either going to look very smart or very stupid in this trade. If he flips Holliday and gets a better package of prospects back, we might look at this as the trade that started the 4 month rental then trade crazy. Otherwise, Holliday will come in and play semi-decent and they’ll get two picks for him. Kinda a head scratcher
If the A’s sign Jason Giambi then they took a big step towards giving Holiday some protection. Who else of worth is in that lineup , i have no idea , but Beane might be banking to TRADE Holiday mid-season for a king’s ransom.
Well, Daric Barton, Bobby Crosby, and Eric Chavez probably bounce back from their pitiful ‘08 numbers (they can’t play much worse), Kurt Suzuki and Ryan Sweeney looked nice last year, and if you add in Holliday and Giambi to that, and maybe Justin Duchsherer gets an extension on his lease with the devil… Oakland could surprise and stick around in the AL West.
Even losing Smith, they’ve still got loads of good young pitching that’s improving, and the Angels probably won’t be that good again, especially if they lose Texy (and as that outfield continues to look more like Methuselah).
2B- Mark Ellis R
1B- Daric Barton L
3B- Eric Chavez L
RF- Matt Holliday R
DH- Jason Giambi L
SS- Bobby Crosby R
LF- Jack Cust L
CF- Ryan Sweeney R
C- Kurt Suzuki R
Justin Duchsherer R
Dallas Braden L
Gio Gonzalez L
Dana Eveland L
Sean Gallagher R
Brett Anderson L
I’m sure I’m leaving some out…
Trevor Cahill, thanks, Reggie.
If this move works out for Beane , then he is THE MAN. If Holiday can dispel his Coors HoF image, and put up a .315/.400/.530 line (or close to it) by the trading deadline, then he sets Beane up for a major haul.
If the Yanks miss out on Tex and we don’t pursue Manny, it is entirely possible that a resurgent Holiday will force the Yanks to come around knocking. Imo, Its a gutsy move by Beane.
You know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate.
love that movie. alec baldwin’s best role ever. that and banging a then hot kim basinger
Everyone loves my Schwetty Balls.
Here’s a different take:
Alot of the AL team’s concerns about trading for Holiday has to do with the home/road splits. They’re not bad splits but they’re noticeable. Now, Beane could be banking that with an All-star first half, Matt Holiday could essentially dispel all those concerns… and that’s when Beane’s phone will ring off the hook. If Holiday cooperates in the process and is willing to talk extension over a window, then that would help Beane get even more in a mid-season trade.
Somebody’s going to be interested for sure if Holiday is batting .315 and slugging .530.
I must be missing something because this package from the A’s seems like a bunch of crap.
Street is good, but you can find quality bullpen arms almost anywhere, and it’s not as though he’s cheap.
Gonzalez had a good 2007 and a really bad 2008 (like, Melky bad).
Greg Smith may be ok, but only posted a 5 K/9 and 1.3 K:BB.
I don’t think this is a steal for the A’s (I expect Holliday to become Nady when he leaves Coors), but it’s certainly not the quality that people were talking about when trade rumors were being discussed.
I must be missing something because this package from the A’s seems like a bunch of crap.
You are. All three of these players are good-to-great young players; two of them are cost controlled and cheap, the other one is a good bullpen arm that can either help then contend or be flipped for more prospects. It’s a great haul.
Two of them are ok to good players who are cost controlled. Neither Gonzalez nor Smith are great. The third is a reliever who’s stuff declined so much going into the trade deadline that no one would trade for him.
In January 2008, BA ranked Carlos Gonzalez as the 26th best prospect in the game, ahead of Geovany Soto, Nick Adenhart, Matt LaPorta, Johnny Cueto, Manny Parra, Chris Tillman, Austin Jackson, Carlos Carrasco, etc. etc. etc.
http://www.baseballprospectus......cleid=7092
But most yankee fans think if you are young and come into the league and struggle that your career is gunna resemble Juan Uribes.
I read on shysterball that the A’s owner is tired of losing .. perhaps Holliday and a few more signs (Giambi) + the angels miss out on Tex and CC + some luck = contention for the A’s .. to build up fan interest for when the team moves to Fremont
plus they’ll get the draft picks when he splits next year