Idiots Write About Sports

Reactions to the Tim Hudson-for-Three-Who’s-He? trade are beginning to pour in. They’re understandibly giddy about the deal over at Braves Journal. (And why not? That team is going to keep winning division titles from now until there’s a Major League expansion team on each of Jupiter’s moons, even if the Braves wind up losing to the Juno Space Sox in the eleventy dozenth round of the postseason every year.) Buster Olney seems to agree with me that the trade, while far from a disaster for Oakland, is no cause for merry dancing. And John Shea reflects on what a thrill it is to be an A’s fan, watching our team replenish all the well-to-do franchises every off-season.

Only Peter Gammons seems to think we were not completely hosed:

Oakland got three good players with fewer than three years of major-league service time. They love Thomas, who had an .813 OPS in Atlanta in ‘04 (after posting a .951 OPS at Triple-A Richmond in 2003), has defensive numbers in left field that are off the charts, and brings — with Kendall — energy to a team that needs a spark. The Oakland organization believes Meyer is one of the five best pitching prospects coming out of Triple-A (he was 9-6 in Double-A and Triple-A combined); he has a 381-87 career strikeout-walk ratio in 352 career innings pitched. Cruz gives the A’s a third power arm out of the bullpen with Huston Street and Jairo Garcia in front of closer Octavio Dotel.

And hey… that man’s going to the Hall of Fame. So who am I to tell him he’s wrong?

In a world without salary and budget constraints, Phil, it's a bad move. But this is not that world. I think the A's did all right.

Yea, I think this is the one time Billy Beane gets hosed himself.

Personally, I've always wondered how an A's-Cubs trade negotiation would look, with your Billy Beane vs. my Jim Hendry, who's dominated the bargaining table himself over the past few years. Wonder who would come out on top.

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