January 10, 2015
What?
The Oakland A's, widely considered to be in "Sell Now for long-term good" mode after trading Josh Donaldson, Derek Norris, Brandon Moss, and Jeff Samardzija (plus a handful of minor leaguers) for a ton of prospects, just sent their top prospect, another well-regarded prospect and catcher John Jaso to Tampa Bay for Yunel Escobar and Ben Zobrist.
Zobrist has one year left, Escobar has two, and Billy Butler (signed earlier in the off-season to a three year deal) has three years left. Zobrist is a game changing player, but for one year this would have to be regarded as a "win now" move. In addition, Zobrist is in the decline phase of his career; although you would certainly be forgiven for expecting multi-WAR performances for the next couple of years. As has been pointed out quite a bit recently, Zobrist has actually been one of the most valuable players in baseball for several years. Yes, up there with the elite players.
The bottom line is, if you're rebuilding, you don't trade your top prospect for a year of Ben Zobrist.
UNLESS, you're intending to either flip him for a package of prospects that YOU, the Oakland A's want that Tampa Bay didn't...
OR, you want Zobrist on your roster at the trade deadline, 2015, when Detroit or Texas or Boston or Chicago or L.A or L.A.A.A.L.A.a.O.C. would trade two or three top prospects for three months of Zobrist in their lineup.
That's where my money is, for the record. The only other possibility is that Oakland actually thinks they're going to contend this year. Now, I certainly think Oakland will be better than the press they've gotten, but they're not competing for the playoffs. No, Zobrist will be THE big trade chip in July. I'll take bets.
UPDATE: All of you hyper-excited-we're-competing-this-year A's fans can simmer down a bit; Oakland traded Yunel Escobar to the Nationals. On the other hand, they traded for Tyler Clippard, a good reliever who has one year of team control left. Once again, the only two reasons you would do that is if you thought your team was going to compete in 2015 or if the entire plan is to trade Clippard and Zobrist. However, Clippard is a good reliever with a big price tag (for a reliever); which makes him risky as trade bait. The most use Oakland could hope to get out of him is if they're planning to play October baseball. Billy Beane, who has been considered the single best GM in baseball at identifying market inefficiencies, seems to believe that expensive relievers are good for something. I can't see it as anything other than a con, or maybe it's just that Billy Beane isn't *quite* as smart as he gets credit for.
Zobrist has one year left, Escobar has two, and Billy Butler (signed earlier in the off-season to a three year deal) has three years left. Zobrist is a game changing player, but for one year this would have to be regarded as a "win now" move. In addition, Zobrist is in the decline phase of his career; although you would certainly be forgiven for expecting multi-WAR performances for the next couple of years. As has been pointed out quite a bit recently, Zobrist has actually been one of the most valuable players in baseball for several years. Yes, up there with the elite players.
The bottom line is, if you're rebuilding, you don't trade your top prospect for a year of Ben Zobrist.
UNLESS, you're intending to either flip him for a package of prospects that YOU, the Oakland A's want that Tampa Bay didn't...
OR, you want Zobrist on your roster at the trade deadline, 2015, when Detroit or Texas or Boston or Chicago or L.A or L.A.A.A.L.A.a.O.C. would trade two or three top prospects for three months of Zobrist in their lineup.
That's where my money is, for the record. The only other possibility is that Oakland actually thinks they're going to contend this year. Now, I certainly think Oakland will be better than the press they've gotten, but they're not competing for the playoffs. No, Zobrist will be THE big trade chip in July. I'll take bets.
Posted by: Ben at
03:51 PM
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I can only assume that Billy Beane had a stroke sometime in May, and is making random trades as a result. That's the only thing that makes sense.
Posted by: Wonderduck at January 13, 2015 11:18 AM (jGQR+)
2
Fangraphs has the A's tied for second in the division with 84 wins, five games behind Seattle and seven games ahead of Texas.
However, I claimed last year that Oakland, despite being a good team on paper, relied heavily on a couple of key players (Donaldson, especially). Personally, I'm not a fan of "leadership" as an important quality in a player; but I'm all in on team spirit and camaraderie. I find it interesting that the Athletics' 2014 went exactly like the Rangers' 2012. There are a lot of possible reasons for that; one of the most interesting facts to consider is that it is most accurate to say that the team started falling apart *before* all the trades. Did the trades keep Oakland performing at a high-enough level to make the playoffs, while Beane kept hoping the team would come around? Or did the trades make NO difference? Or did the trades actually *hurt* the team's ability to turn things around later in the year?
However, I claimed last year that Oakland, despite being a good team on paper, relied heavily on a couple of key players (Donaldson, especially). Personally, I'm not a fan of "leadership" as an important quality in a player; but I'm all in on team spirit and camaraderie. I find it interesting that the Athletics' 2014 went exactly like the Rangers' 2012. There are a lot of possible reasons for that; one of the most interesting facts to consider is that it is most accurate to say that the team started falling apart *before* all the trades. Did the trades keep Oakland performing at a high-enough level to make the playoffs, while Beane kept hoping the team would come around? Or did the trades make NO difference? Or did the trades actually *hurt* the team's ability to turn things around later in the year?
Posted by: Ben at January 13, 2015 01:24 PM (DRaH+)
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