Buster Olney of ESPN.com is reporting that Oakland executives will meet next week to discuss the trade value of both RHP’s Dan Haren and Joe Blanton.
According to Olney, Omar Minaya has told the team he is going to make sure he lands a front line starting pitcher this winter, however he will be competing against the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and possibly the Yankees for Haren and Blanton.
…something tells me billy beane will make this year’s winter meetings very interesting…
…posted by Matthew Cerrone…
…furthermore, the buzz from california seems to be that should the Angels end up acquiring Miguel Cabrera, it will encourage the A’s to cut bait with guys like blanton and haren…
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haha how ab pelfrey, humber, mulvey, heilman, milledge, gomez for blanton and haren…this is proabaly an impossiblilty by i think i would do that and beane would abviously have to condier it.
maybe omar will proclaim blanton to be a frontline pitcher, and trade for him. I like Haren, but he ain’t a number one.
How does Beane feel being the guy that grooms nice young talent, only to give it away for a pile of horse poo
Like Mulder?
Well, he’s a member of the rather exclusive club of professional sports general managers, he’s a succesful author, he’s living in northern California, he’s getting paid well to do something he loves, and as someone points out elsewhere in this thread, the players he trades away tend to underperform after they’re gone. I think he feels just fine.
He’s not a successful author. Michael Lewis wrote Moneyball.
I think he was referring to Beane’s authorship of Wuthering Heights.
Or perhaps Beane’s authorship of trades. But no, I was incorrect on that point sorry and thank you. Succesful subject maybe? I think my point was that I doubt very much Mr. Beane is up late at night thinking about any talent/poo ratio.
Why is Beane so quick to get rid of Haren, trying to capitalize on his good first half last season?
It wouldn’t be a Winter without Billy Beane dominanting the hot stove discussions.
At some point, the Mets need to get “even” with Beane for the Billy Talyor heist.
Considering he groomed mulder and hudson and got blanton, haren, dan meyer, derek barton, kurt suzuki etc. in return, I would say he feel just fine, that is life when you dont have the payroll the mets, sox, yanks, dodgers and angles have
Beane “grooms” talent that doesn’t live up to the billing. None of the players that have left the As have done BETTER than they did as an A.
The Best: Tejada (as well)
The Rest: Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Giambi
Not encouraging when trading with Beane.
EXCELLENT POINT!!!!!
We should not deal with A’s. Guys coming from the AL dont necessarily do as well in NL.
There much better options out there.
Hey, just because the sun comes up every day doesn’t mean it will tomorrow.
No, really, as long as a young pitcher passes a physical, I don’t think you necessarily hold other players’ past performance against him. If Beane limits access to the player, etc., you walk away.
Lou Gorman is that you?
Who could ever forget ‘the sun will rise, the sun will set, and I’ll have lunch.’
This is mostly a point in favor of Beane’s skill as a GM… what he gives up is rarely as good as what he gets…As far as avoiding him, I don’t think it’s that extreme yet. The Hudson trade looks ok for Atlanta, for example. You can get value from the A’s. Haren is in his prime, with no injury history, and three years of affordable contract status. Totally different situation from Mulder and Hudson, who had injury histories, and weren’t affordable anymore either.
Can someone here sell me on Joe Blanton being a frontline pitcher? I keep hearing about this guy and I’ve never been high on him. He’s an innings eater. That’s all I know about him, and yet, we keep hearing rumors about him being tied to the Mets in a trade STARTING with Milledge. I can’t imagine giving up Milledge in a trade for some pitcher who is a #3 at best.
Am I missing something about Blanton, or is he as average Joe as I think he is.
I think it’s cause he’s an established young pitcher. Anyone who can pitch near .500 is a good pitcher. If you can do it somewhat consistently, you’re a very good pitcher. He’s young, 26.
Also, there’s the mythical AL->NL automatic reduction in ERA.
It’s also nice that even as a kid, he’s kept his walk-rates low and his K-rates, as small as they are, are on the rise. I know it’s going to invite “10 minute” jokes, but I honestly think Blanton and Peterson would be a great match because it’s not like the guy is a junk baller. He throws low 90s with some good breaking/off-speed pitches. Get him to pitch a bit smarter and he could develop into an ace in another year or two.
He’s also a quick worker. I’m not sure if there are stats on this kind of stuff, but I bet that quick pitchers yield less errors for their defense.
it definitely is a positive ive heard a couple of former players turned commentators confirm that belief.
Thanks for all the info guys.
It’s good to know that he has low walk rates and that he isn’t a junkballer.
Constnza,
Is it fair to say that Blanton is like a Maine or Perez, who with good instruction and a few years of experience could potentially become an ace?
“According to Olney, Omar Minaya has told the team he is going to make sure he lands a front line starting pitcher this winter”
Blanton is not that guy..Period! I am liking the next 30-45 day schedule as a Met fan….Turkey tomorrow w/family, next week Winter meetings (Mets trade for an ace), Christams , the New Years ..ahhhhh things are lookin good!
All I want for Christmas is a proven, reliable ACE.
Why again are the Marlins getting rid of Cabrera? Are they allergic to building a consistent fanbase? Is a move inevitable? Sure, he’d cost a penny, and sure he’s getting fat, but that team needs to invest for once. They’ve won championships with the friesale strategy, but has it made them any money?
Haven’t heard any contraction talk in a while but if any franchise is setting itself up to be contracted/moved to another city/country it’s this one. Mexico City Marlins anyone?
The Marlins have almost zero revenue coming in, aside from the whole profit sharing thing. Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis are going to make good money in the coming year.
The point, though, is that one reason they have no revenue is that fans typically don’t like having a new team every other year if said team is perceived as having no stars and no hope of contending. When they finally do start to win, it’s too late to build loyalty. Hence, the build ‘em up, ship ‘em out model doesn’t build a profitable franchise. They’re going to have to . . . invest. Novel, no?
But, they may be on their way out of south Florida. The main problem for them, at least from what I’ve heard, is that no one really wants to sit outside on a hot, muggy, summer evening. There’s also a transient population, etc. Hey, didn’t they just build a new stadium here in Washington. . . . ? Ouch.
It’s not exactly news, but Olney also mentions the following, meaning it might be more possible than we think… (it’s nice to see that he thinks what we hope – see last line).
Rival general managers say that in recent days, Minnesota’s Bill Smith is quietly gauging the market for left-hander Johan Santana, determining what deals he might have, in the aftermath of the report that Santana turned down a five-year, $93 million offer from the Twins. The Mets will be among the most aggressive teams in any Santana bidding.
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