So, as was reported earlier here on Hot Foot by Dan Lerner, the Oakland A’s have acquired OF Matt Holliday from the Rockies for a trio of young A’s players. The players reportedly going to Colorado are OF Carlos Gonzalez, who will now be with his third organization in three years, reliever Huston Street, who lost his closer’s job this summer and pitcher Greg Smith, who lost 16 games. Yet, Billy Beane managed to package these guys for a premium player like Matt Holliday.
I know many might say Gonzalez is a blue chip OF prospect, but the fact that he has been traded twice in the last two years doesn’t say a whole lot about what the organizations think of him. Gonzalez was unimpressive with Oakland, hitting .242 in 305 ABs. Street lost his job to rookie reliever Brad Ziegler, and has proven to be very injury prone over his first few years in the league. Finally. Smith only had a 4.16 ERA, but he is a junkballer who is going from the best pitcher’s park, to the worst pitcher’s park. Good luck with that one, Dan O’Dowd.
Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, or Gio Gonzalez should have been one of the guys going to Colorado for a great player like Holliday. The A’s have a surplus of outfielders and realized that Gonzalez was expendable. Pitching is never expendable, and Beane held on to all his potential aces. Even if he doesn’t sign Holliday, they would still receive two draft picks in the 2010 draft. Once again Beane proved why he is one of the most valuable GM’s in the league.
