Defensive Indifference

So another blockbuster trade went down tonight, with Dan Haren and Connor Robertson being sent to the D-Backs. In return, the Athletics received minor leaguers Carlos Gonzalez, Aaron Cunningham, Brett Anderson, Greg Smith, and Chris Carter, along with Dana Eveland.

So what do I think about this deal? Well, I have to hand it to Billy Beane. Yes, he gave up a front-line starter in Dan Haren, but everyone knows at this point that that’s how the As roll. They simply will not sign many players to big money contracts, regardless of their talent, and Haren’s market value was probably as high as it was going to get.

In return, the Athletics received quite a haul of talented prospects. According to Baseball America, Carlos Gonzalez is the D-Back’s #1 prospect, Brett Anderson is #3, Cunningham is #7, and Carter is #8. Plus, that is from a pretty good D-Backs system.

In Gonzalez, the As got a 22 year-old who hit .288/.336/.478 in split time between AA and AAA (mostly AA). That is pretty impressive production for a player of his age, and the scouting reports are positive for him as well.

In Brett Anderson, the As got a very young but promising lefty pitcher. He is only 19 years old, and put up a 3.07 ERA in time split between A and A+, striking out 125 batters in 120 innings, while only walking 21 (a damn impressive K:BB ratio of 5.95:1).

Aaron Cunningham is another young player with big upside. At only 21, he hit .308/.375/.509 split between A+ and AA, and stole 28 bases to go along with 16 HR and 31 2B. In Chris Carter, the As acquired another young bat with some solid potential. Carter was just acquired from the White Sox earlier this offseason, and hit .293/.383/.522 in A ball this season. He is about to turn 21.

As for Greg Smith, he’s a 23 year-old who put up decent numbers as a starter for AAA. Finally, Eveland is a bit of a wildcard, with a decent chance to develop into a back of the rotation starter or a solid long reliver.

Essentially, my verdict is this: the D-Backs clearly win in the short-term, and will have a good chance at contending for the NL crown against next season. In the long-term chess game that is MLB, however, I think that the As come out on top. Especially if you consider the their modus operandi the past decade or so, it looks pretty good for the As. In return for a very good starter who they would not have re-signed anyway once his contract ran out, the As received 6 players, at least 2 of whom have the potential to be stars, and all of whom will likely reach the big leagues. For a team that is re-building rather than trying to compete in the short-term, that is a quite a good move.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 11:52 pm and is filed under D-Backs, A's, Trades, MLB news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.