You don’t put it past Billy Beane to be aggressive if they are close to competing, but with the Angels in that division I just don’t see it. I also can’t believe they are going to extend him. Unless they are planning on significantly increasing payroll, there is no way they would want to commit $100 mil+ to one player.

Maybe Beane thought he got a good price on Holliday and can maybe give it a shot for half the season and if it doesn’t work out he will just flip him and get equivalent prospcts back. Wierd.

the Rockies receive Huston Street, Greg Smith, and Carlos Gonzalez. The deal is agreed to “in principle” but not finalized.

CarGon patrols the outfield at Coors, and Greg Smith in the rotation. It’s a reasonable haul, I suppose, for a premier slugger.

Smith was better last year than I thought. Not an ace, but serviceable.

Beane thinks he can win it all in 09.

Didn’t see that one coming. Do the A’s have more tricks up their sleeve? They are more than one bat away from contending, even if that bat is Matt Holliday. I’m glad it happened because it keeps Holliday away from our opponents and probably makes Theo more compelled to extend Jason Bay (which I am pulling for).

The A’s definitely included Greg Smith. Other players that were discussed included LHP Brett Anderson (apparently a very good prospect), Ryan Sweeney, and Carlos Gonzalez.

Oakland has been weighing offers for closer Huston Street, but it’s uncertain if Street is part of the Holliday deal.

Evan Longoria was named AL ROY and Geovanni Soto was named NL ROY.

Keep him till he’s a free agent (Type A, most likely), he’ll probably net them two draft picks if they offer him arbitration.

Or flip him this summer for more prospects, assuming he performs well against a division with the Mariners and the Ranger’s pitching staff in it.

Beane doesn’t do stuff for no reason. Why you be hatin on Moneyball, 0157H7?

If he has a big year, he’ll be the starting LF for the MFY in 2010.

Since the Red Sox have Jason Bay, I really doubt the Sox were serious players in the Holliday deals.

Rumors are that Street will be traded to another team. So I like the move. Its about time for the A’s to start competing and keep the Angels honest. Holliday is still young and fits their team. A’s have great young pitching and now they are trying to get some bats to help out. AL West is wide open.

Did you promote your own fanpost? I’m just entertained by that possibility, I suppose.

The generally agreed-upon players involved in the deal aren’t going to break the A’s. C-Gon is obviously the lynchpin due to his still exciting potential. This does make the A’s a lot more serious contenders for the West than most might’ve thought. Even with that, it feels like a really strange move for the A’s to make, but it doesn’t seem bad. As Sky notes above, Smith might be a bit overrated at this point. His MiL numbers are solid, if unspectacular.

Definitely a deal that we’ll need a good bit of time to properly evaluate. I cannot imagine Scott Boras is pleased about him going from still hitter-friendly Colorado to Oakland, but I don’t think it’ll make his numbers dip too much. He’s still a spectacular player, even if this move just before he enters FA might cost him $1-3M in AAV on his first big contract.