Over the past 10 months, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane has traded away just six players and received 16 players in return. The talent that he has acquired is simply extraordinary.

A’s trade:
OF Nick Swisher
P Dan Haren
P Rich Harden
P Joe Blanton
P Connor Robertson
P Chad Gaudin

A’s receive:
P Gio Gonzalez
P Fautino De Los Santos
P Brett Anderson
P Greg Smith
P Sean Gallagher
P Dana Eveland
P Josh Outman
C Josh Donaldson
1B Chris Carter
2B Adrian Cardenas
OF Ryan Sweeney
OF Carlos Gonzalez
OF Aaron Cunningham
OF Matt Murton
OF/2B Eric Patterson
OF Matt Spencer

…and that was just by trade.

Earlier this season, Beane signed 16-year old stud pitching prospect Michael Inoa to a minor-league contract. He is considered to be the top prospect in his country, if not of all of Latin America.

Beane also selected second baseman Jemile Weeks in the first-round of the 2008 MLB first-year player draft. The switch-hitting brother of Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks was the highest rated player of the 2006 recruiting class.

What a job by Beane in rebuilding his team with young players and prospects.

Former Dodgers GM Paul Depodesta is now has his own blog for the public called It Might Be Dangerous.  Depodesta was GM of the Dodgers for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Prior to that, he was an assistant with the A’s where he apprenticed under Billy Beane.  Currently, Depodesta is an advisor to the Padres. He is known for us use of sabermetrics and statistics to guide his decisions.

In his inaugural post he wrote:

So, I’m here, and I’d like to be a part of the conversation. I’ll do my best to reply to comments/questions, though I can’t promise punctual responses or regular posts. After all, just like everyone else out there, I already have a job.

I think its pretty cool that somebody like him is doing this.  Naturally, because he has a job and is associated with a team, he can’t spill industry secrets or the formula for a winning team (not like he ever found it) but he is already dropping nuggets of well-thought out analysis. He also has addressed questions he’s gotten from readers, which is pretty neat - knowing that he cares about what people are asking him and the fact that he’s taking time to answer questions.  This blog is a nice gesture on his part.

I’m a bit curious about the name though…