Athletics Nation

TWSS!!!!

that looks much better

i am a wallace fan and honestly wouldn’t have minded it straight up, but getting two more players as well looks good. mortensen was pitching pretty well for a while in memphis last year, but then fell off a cliff a little bit…he looks very average, but there’s value in that. peterson is a long beach product who looks like he can run a little bit with a little bit of gaps power. not bad.

peterson

mortensen

flipgatey3 - July 24, 2009 reply

I posted this on Trade Deadline thread

YES. Peterson was their 2nd round pick last year and wallace was their first. Peterson hit sumn like 338 in the cape cod league last year with a 436 OBP. He also had a 3.85 GPA at Cal State long beach, so he is smart. I briefly looked up mortenson has a 4.36 ERA at AAA this year and is 24. ME LIKEY WALLACE AND PETERSON

The third base wallace that is

if he sticks

I have a feeling this would be widely accepted as an excellent trade around AN?

If Wallace sticks at 3B

If he ends up at 1B, it’ll be good, but it won’t actually help the team solve any significant problems. And it’s better than 2 draft picks.

+1

Wallace and Petereson are just as good as the compensation picks if Holliday leaves, plus some minor league experience, and it eliminates the chance Holliday accepts arbitration. This is as good a deal as BB could make IMO

Why the hell would Holliday accepting arbitration be a bad thing?

It wouldn't, but I doubt he would accept, even with this down-turned economy.

The fact is, Damon and Matsui or old and pending FAs.

The chances are good that the Yankees would gladly extend an offer to Holliday after the season.

Boras probably wouldn’t let Holliday accept, methinks.

$16 mil/year

Holliday would potentially get a HUGE contract and the team would still not be any better for the long term. Now, of course you might be better in 2010, but there is no chance that Holliday accepts arbitration without using it to getting a bigger contract in FA at the end of 2010.

Stop and think for a second please.

You would consider it a BAD thing that we could potentially get Matt Holliday for another season for $16M?

I'm not saying its bad

BTW, its NOW OFFICIAL

I'm saying I don't see Holliday lasting past 2010

And I don’t see BB putting together a contending team past 2010 without a decent 3B.

A’s kicked in $1.5m to make it happen according to Olney

Here's why it's bad:

In a non-contending season, there are 16,000,000 better ways to spend $16,000,000. Not only is there no way Beane gets a better deal than this next year, when Holliday is considerably more expensive, but there would be no point of paying that for him when we have other glaring needs and two ML-ready corner OF knocking on the door.

Oh, and Max Stassi and Mike Inoa called to remind you that signing over-slot draft picks and international free agents top the list of better ways to spend a boat load of cash, let alone signing at least two positions worth of decent ML free agents.

RyanFromBonas - July 24, 2009 reply

The draft and international FA budgets are separate from the MLB payroll.

However, the point is, Holliday could have been traded next year as well, or this offseason, or whatever It wasn’t an absolute cut and dry point that he was going to walk after 2009.

Two reasons:

1. Delays the rebuilding process (the draft picks reach the bigs much later than Wallace)

2. It puts a gun to the team’s head after 2010. If Holliday gets a $16M award in 2009, he probably gets a $20M award for 2010, and then the team has an riskier proposition of offering arbitration. Maybe he gets hurt, declines, etc. – you’re out $20M on one player, you delayed your rebuild two years.

It is NOT the no-brainer you keep claiming it to be, mikev. I can see why you would wholeheartedly support it, but other people aren’t “not thinking” because they disagree. There is logic to the disagreement.

Even if Wallace moves to first in a few years, I still really like the deal.

Like kbtyz points out, the A’s would be lucky to get Wallace/Peterson value out of their two comp. picks, should Holiday walk, plus they’re further along/closer to the bigs which goes well with the timeline this rebuilding seems to be on.

Well, Wallace is not further along than Barton by any measure

If we end up having to sit Barton in order to give Wallace playing time, that’s a problem, IMHO.

Peterson just reached AA (and hasn’t shown any power anywhere, from what I can tell from his stats), so he’s behind Cunningham and Carter. Can he play CF? I assume from the OF/1B listing that he’s a corner guy.

So yeah, these 3 guys would be way better than 2 draft picks. But unless Wallace can handle 3B, it’s a little like Don Nelson getting another 6’5" swing man.

I agree, Wallace doesn't fill an organizational need if he moves off of 3rd.

but, in that case, I see this trade more from a draft perspective.

Beane is getting the best ~~player~~ deal available, regardless of organizational need, although it still MAY fill that gaping 3B hole, at least for a couple of years.

Good, possibly great deal for the A’s.

Yeah, like I said, it's a good deal

My original comment was in reply to a question about whether AN thought it was “excellent”, and I said that it would depend on whether Wallace can stick at 3B. So I think you and I see this trade pretty much the same way.

Yes, the excellent part is still to be determined.

I think he can at least stay at third for a few years. By then we’ll know if Barton/Carter/Doolittle are sufficiently manning 1B, and then Beane can probably figure something out at that point.

You guys clearly are not tuned into college baseball

Wallace is a stud who was arguably the best college hitter in 2008 while with Arizona State and given the consistent struggles of Barton this is clearly an upgrade if in fact he does slide over from third. His footwork isn’t great so that might be a possibility. I certainly agree that ideally he stays at third, but even if he does move to the other corner this cleary makes the organization much, much better

EastVillageA - July 24, 2009 reply

Wallace fills an organizational need regardless

He can hit

Let's do it

Rather take the chance on Wallace than go with the picks. Peterson could possibly be something as well. No guarantees anything better will be there when they use the picks they’d get after keeping Holliday anyway.

Flashfire - July 24, 2009 reply

I liked Mortensen in 2007.......

Before I knew what age/level appropriate was.
Maybe the 180 innings he pitched that year caught up with him in ‘08, and we’re now buying low after that catastrophe. Good move.

I’m not sure what the attraction to Peterson is at this stage, apart from being 21. Another LH OF bat with developing power.

I really hope Wallace sticks at 3B (he’s had 9 games at 1B this year).

This is one helluva deal

by Beane if it actually happens. We’ll be getting a 2007 and 2008 1st round pick, along with a 2008 2nd round pick. Much better then the two picks we will be getting if Holliday walks at the end of the season. I would have been pretty happy to just get Wallace, but to add Mortensen and Peterson is a steal IMO.

JPShark - July 24, 2009 reply

I like it

Wallace will be at first not third but that is ok ebcause we need a 1st baseman. The best part of the deal is the starting pitcher that is coming over. Could this be another outman type of pitcher? A starter under radar who has good stuff. Next up is Cabrera

Why is Wallace a better prospect than Barton, Cunningham, or Carter at 1B?

Sorry, not Cunningham, Doolittle

But FWIW, Cunningham is a better hitting prospect than Wallace, too.

+1

On a team full of problems, 1st base is just not one of them….at least not compared to just about everything else other than pitchers and catcher.

Except Carter is already a likely DH and Doolittle is just as capable of playing the outfield.

There’s no reason Wallace can’t stay at third base Everybody is saying it’s because he is so big. So was Tony Gwynn. So is Pablo Sandoval. It’s possible.

Barton at 1B, Wallace at 3B, Doolittle in RF, Carter at DH. Where’s the logjam?

he's welcome to come round and train with me

just saying.

I’m not an expert, or particularly fit or anything, but, yknow, it’d be cool.

If Mr Wallace’s Mr 20% is out there, get in touch

I wasn't raining on this parade...

Just saying that a 3rd baseman is far more useful to the A’s than a 1st baseman.

I agree

But so far there’s been no hard evidence that Wallace can’t stay at third base, aside from scouts saying he won’t because of his gigantic legs.

If he hits 20 HR a year and gets on base like he has up to this point

I’ll take crappy 3B defense anyways.

Agreed.

And you want BPA in trades, always.

well....

If you read the comments in the article linked above, none of the Cardinals fans seem to think that Wallace will ever be able to play 3B. Since Pujols is at first, Wallace was a spare part, albeit a talented one.

coffee roaster - July 24, 2009 reply

The skepticism about Wallace at 3B is based on the scouting reports

Has anyone found a scout who thinks he can stay at 3B in the majors? So you read that, then you look at the pictures, and it makes some sense. The reason, in short, is that folks who know his game say he’s not all that great at 3B as it is, and they think being fat won’t help him get any better.

As far as Gwynn and Sandoval are concerned, yes there are always counter-examples. Muggsy Bogues was a great NBA PG at 5’3". Spud Webb was productive at 5’6". There area always outliers.

And FWIW, Gwynn didn’t become fat until later in his career. He wasn’t as big as Wallace when he was 22/23.

There seems to be a scout (or someone quoting scouts) quoted downthread...

who thinks he can stay at 3B. But he/they does seem to be in the minority.

(Congrats, btw, on your recent martial arts achievement! That’s incredibly cool!)

Thanks!

It was videotaped, and I’ll be able to get a DVD in the next few weeks. I’ll post it when I get my hands on it.

Extra players are good

Nothing against Carter but scouts have said he struggles against good pitching. He is still a year and a half away. Doolittle was hurt but can play the outfield so he is multi-positional. As for Barton maybe they can move him back to third. His defense at first has excelled so maybe he could be ok at third. This also gives the A’s trade options to improve at third. Its better to stack good players than to take chance on mediocre players.

Yeah, I think it's a good trade

but you can stack only so many players at the same position. At some point you need to give guys a chance to succeed in the majors, and there’s only one 1B slot on the A’s.

Extra prospects are very good to deal with injuries, guys who flame out, etc. But at some point there are diminishing returns.

we're assuming that everyone A's prospect will follow their projections perfectly

and the odds are against us that this is going to happen. So if one of the Carter, Barton, Wallace logjam flames out, we have a 1b and a DH for the future.

echerrst - July 24, 2009 reply

Yeah, but what I'm saying is that the logjam in and of itself makes it harder to develop these guys

i don't think so

You have plenty of openings at Sac and in Oakland. You don’t need to let people scuffle at the big league level with a .600 OPS, Barton ‘08 style. That’s a waste of their service time. Barton never hit awesomely in AAA in ’07. He had an .820 OPS, and a bunch of ANers wish-casted a few good months of his into believing he was ready.

The great thing about having 4-5 guys for 2-3 spots is you can force them to (I’m generalizing here in a bit, but everyone will get the point) hit their way into the bigs. If you can’t OPS .900 in a hitter’s AAA environment over a full season, you don’t belong yet.

Having the depth allows the A’s to make that decisions.

Get it done Billy

Bye Matt.

OaktownPower - July 24, 2009 reply

my guess

is someone else like wertz would have to be included for this deal to happen. seems way to lopsided for the a’s at this point. at the very least we’ll be putting in money.

hell fangraphs thinks just wallace for holliday is lopsided.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/holliday-time-in-st-louis/

dbeach13 - July 24, 2009 reply

I don't think so. It would've been announced if there was another relevant piece coming

from the A’s side.

$1.5m

Aah.

http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman/status/2820575176

Heyman's saying it's close too

mk - July 24, 2009 reply

ACK!

I’ve been drive-by Tweeted!

Any chance St.Louis re-signs

That would make St.Louis a powerhouse in the NL for years. If you say that this is a bad trade for the cards, well its not. Holliday back in NL and with Pujols they will probally win the WS

realistically, how many years would you say?

I ask out of pure curiosity to see how long you think that Holliday will be a top tiered OF for.

If they sign him maybe three

When is Pujols’ contract up. I did not think of that

After 2011, I think.

I kinda disagree with Pujols and Holliday make the Cards a powerhouse

They have Pujols, Holliday, Ludwick, Molina, and Rasmus in terms of position players. Now, we all know Pujols is the second coming of Awesome and a first ballot HOF if he keeps this up or ages at an average pace. No rest of the infield, and their best non-Wallace prospect is Daryl Jones, an OF.

Their pitching needs LOTS of help. Carpenter is injury prone but ace when healthy, Wainwright is good, but beyond that, Lohse is mediocre and they have no SP prospects.

In other words, I can barely see the Cards keeping Holliday.

Petersen looks like a bad ass........

WIN

Ritilan abuse.

You hear about, see news casts on it, and read about it in the daily paper.

Take young Timmy here…

TIMMEH!

What a glorious day!

NateHST - July 24, 2009 reply

One could almost call it a Ho(l)liday!

ITS OFFICAL

There is no "I" in "Offical"

Or at least one less than you’d think.

ESPNEWS

Just reported it done. But details not disclosed.

St. Louis fanboys wouldn't like the trade...

I’ve noticed that fanboys tend to like prospects better than anyone who’s proven, so right now Wallace is the greatest player this side of Pujols and Holliday’s a two-month rental.

Getting Holliday puts the Cards into a great position because they’ll have a leg up on signing the guy to a multi-year contract - he’s 29 now so they can probably get away with a six-year deal if they wanted. It will give St. Louis a 1-2 punch we haven’t seen in baseball since the salad days of Ortiz and Ramirez.

For us - Wallace comes up in September, Buck comes up immediately.

Sounds great. I’m happy.

richwol1 - July 24, 2009 reply

Didn't think about that! Buck now has an everyday spot (I would hope)

we hope buck comes up

but who knows with how he’s been yanked around this year.

Holliday + $1.5m

There is how it got even

still not even in my mind :)

"if he sticks"

what is our going definition of this. Passable, but fairly brutal defense?

If he is gonna play -5, even with a good bat, I don’t want him playing third. Maybe high off my ass about defense, but I don’t want him there.

sourstuff - July 24, 2009 reply

You know the beauty about this deal if it happens

is that the A’s would fill in a huge void in their prospect lineup. And from all the reports that I’ve read, Wallace is a true stud prospect as about can’t miss as possible.

And we get Viggo Mortenson as well? He was awesome in Eastern Promises.

Tyler Bleszinski - July 24, 2009 reply

I seem to remember he spent a lot of time on the DL in that movie!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Holliday

aragorn!

SamYam - July 24, 2009 reply

We need a kick-ass guy like that. LOL!

UncleLeo - July 24, 2009 reply

Wikipedia has already been updated to reflect Holliday as a Cardinal

It wasn’t me who made the entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Wallace

they havent updated Wallace yet

It's been now. Again, not by me.

It's as if there are other people on the internets....

I know, really...sometimes it does.

the Wik updates faster than real life.

The wiki-nerds are freakishly fast

I remember last year’s draft I was having trouble getting one of the baseball sites to respond (overloaded with traffic, I suppose). On a lark I tried Wikipedia, and I found it was showing the new draft picks faster than any sports news site I could find. There must have been a guy right there in the room with a laptop.

YEYEYYYEYSYSYEYYSYEYEYSYs

I woke up half an hour ago, first thing I did was check mlbtraderumors on my iPhone.
What a GREAT way to wake up

So, with St Louis now looking strong

Does this precipitate a Phillies deal for Halladay? or maybe even a Dodgers deal?

Or a Giants deal for Giambi?

why would the Giants want an old DH who can't hit .225 anymore?

Brian. Sabean.

Yeah, that bit was a joke

But still.

Brian Sabean.

On Wallace at 3b From someone who coached him

“Here’s where you are missing the boat- Wallace will stay at 3B for a long time. He’s much more agile than you guys are giving him credit for and he has a plus arm for a third baseman. Weeks is 50-50 whether he will be an average big-leaguer. Wallace very easily could be a 30 HR guy who hits .300 and drives in 100 RBI every year.

The A’s scouts can’t admit it in person but they absolutely botched that pick last year. Beane was on the line with Wallace with three picks to go saying he was going to take him and then switched. This trade is better than 50-50 according to the people I’ve spoke to since last night. I know, sounds like crap, but I’m in the baseball world."

From Scout Board.

I like the sounds of all of that

Well, except the botched pick part.

mk - July 24, 2009 reply

The Latest from ESPN (Yippee!)

The Athletics and Cardinals have completed a trade that sends outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, sources confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

In addition, sources said the Athletics will throw in $1.5 million to the Cardinals.

ESPN says done deal

The Athletics and Cardinals have completed a trade that sends outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, sources confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney. In addition, sources said the Athletics will throw in $1.5 million to the Cardinals.

vegAN ryAN - July 24, 2009 reply

ECHO - echo - echo

11:16am: ESPN.com reports that the deal is complete. The A’s will contribute $1.5MM to the remainder of Holliday’s salary, which leaves the Cards with about $4.5MM.

wow...

good for us…so who takes over LF?

HeavyHitters510 - July 24, 2009 reply

Buck or Cunningham

Neither

I would love to see them give Buck or Cunningham Lf, but I think they are going to make Rajai the everyday outfielder now. Just a hunch. Maybe Hairston moves to Lf and Rajai to Cf. Or Rajai just plays Lf. With Sweeney in Rf.

Hope I’m wrong.

JLopez - July 24, 2009 reply

who takes Holliday's 25 man roster spot, then?

Another RP?

cityplANner - July 24, 2009 reply

Buck.

Having Buck, Sweeney, Hairston, and Davis works, it allows Cust to DH fulltime and Barton to play 1B fulltime.

BUCK!

Let Travis has some consistent playing time please!

yes yes yes!

TWSS!

Buck, I hope.

Probably go with Hairston-Rajai-Sweeney tonight, and get Buck on the quickest plane to NY.

pretty please with sugar on top

BUCK HAS MY VOTE!

HeavyHitters510 - July 24, 2009 reply

Hairston to LF

Rajai/Sweeney in CF

Buck in RF

+10000

: )

I'm a fan

of this plan.

oblique - July 24, 2009 reply

I'm a fan of this plan, of course.

Bet you it's Cunningham...

oblique - July 24, 2009 reply

no

1.5 million signing deal

The Cards gave Wallace 1.8 million so the A’s threw in the 1.5 million to compenstae for the signing.

glad i didnt rush out and buy a holliday jersey

HeavyHitters510 - July 24, 2009 reply

I did. But I dont regret it. I knew this was going to happen when I got it. No regrets baby. lol

I feel like I need to post this again.

In case somebody wants to get me a present.

that is awesome :)

I would probably buy that jersey if the A’s sold it in the Coliseum store.

You can order it online with the customizable name.

One of these days when I convince myself that 200 bucks on a jersey is OK, I’ll do it.

So.....

OUT: Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, Huston Street

IN: Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson and Clayton Mortenson

So much WIN.

Epic WIN indeed

I am sooo happyyyy

Me too ;-)

I don’t think anyone around here can possibly hate on this one.
Unless of course they like the Cardinals LOLOLOLOL

My signature puts Cards fans in perspective

Poor Cards fans, another fleecing by Billy Beane

haha I saw that comment on MLBTR and almost felt bad for the guy.

Cards Fan Here

We are all in disbelief at Viva El Birdos. We can’t believe we just gave up this much for 2 months of Holliday. We didn’t like the deal of giving up 6 years of Wallace for 2 months of Holliday. Adding Mort and Peterson just put this deal into horrible land for us.

I

Who knows. Maybe Matt will liek it so much there he resigns with you guys. Never know.

That's how it went down with McGwire

We didn't give up this kind of talent for McGwire

We just gave you guys more talent for a 1/3rd of a season than you gave Colorado for a whole season

I meant in terms of the "loves it so much he wants to re-sign" dynamic

The likely payoff just might be worth it though.

Remember this if the Cards make it to the WS. Forget it if the team fails in the playoffs.

Even if he Resigns he will not be cheap like Wallace was

So dissapointed

Hey, at least you're in the playoff hunt.

I hate Matt Holliday, hopefully he doesn’t suck for you guys.

Holliday is on a tear right now

Live in the present.

richwol1 - July 24, 2009 reply

Gotta go for the win now.....

They have a great pitching setup for a short series….Will be a tough out in a playoff series for sure.

OaktownPower - July 24, 2009 reply

Besides Wellemeyer

I would take our Starting 4 over anyone. Carpenter/Wainwright/Pineiro/Lohse

Carpener will get hurt

I agree with this.

Out of contending teams, definitely the best 1-4.

We're truly sorry.

No, we aren't

grover - July 24, 2009 reply

You didn't give it up for just 2 months of Holliday.

You gave it up for 2 months of Holliday, plus the draft picks that come with it, plus keeping Tony La Russa happy.

Cardinal fans

“I feel like we are sending Danny Haren for Mulder all over again.”

-evil cackle*

Wow, sources say it is done.

Whata great way to start a Friday. I will not miss you Matt….buh bye.

OaktownPower - July 24, 2009 reply

I like it, I love it and I want some more of it.

Rated-R Superstar - July 24, 2009 reply

Does the $1.5m to the Cards mean less money to sign Green/Stassi et al in the next month?

No

We already budgeted for Matt's salary.....

We actually save around $4.5 I think

The Cards still pick up $4.5M of Holliday's salary

…so the A’s have some cash to play with. Also, Giambi, Crosby, Springer and Garciaparra definitely come off the payroll at the end of the year if not sooner. Probably Cabrera too.

richwol1 - July 24, 2009 reply

Oh, right! Duh.

WE SHOULD USE ALL THAT SAVED MONEY TO SIGN MATT HOLLIDAY THIS OFFSEASON!!!!

I fuckin lol'd

WE STILL CAN!!11111

QOTM

Well

This totally made my day.
Maybe Philadelphia gets scared and acts upon their interest in Hairston?

Don’t the Phillies have a really good shortstop prospect?

Rated-R Superstar - July 24, 2009 reply

Donald?

He sucks ass dude.
I’d ask on Dom Brown….

No, Donald has kind of stalled out

The Phillies have one great pitching prospect (Kyle Drabek, Doug’s son) who’s basically untouchable (though I think he might be available for Halladay), and a bunch of young OFs, in various stages of readiness.

Knock on Drabek is that he's a bit of a headcase...

In fairness, so am I.

and look what that did you your baseball career

true.

I could’ve been a first round pick…

I coulda been a contenda

but I went for tha short money….

cityplANner - July 24, 2009 reply

Donald = BUST

Wallace

Bring up Everidge from the River Cats to replace Barton at first, and have Wallace play third.

oaklandfan89 - July 24, 2009 reply

No

Daric Barton is still a very good prospect. He’s been tearing up AAA after a very bad 1st month, and he’s just a year older than our new Favorite Toy, Brett Wallace.

Ya

Bartons 3 hits in 28 at bats for a steller .107 is impressive. Give Tommy a shot and see what he can do since is tearing up AAA.

oaklandfan89 - July 24, 2009 reply

Of course he is. he's been there for 3 years.

If that's not SSS I don't know what is

Give the man a shot, seriously…

NONONONO

Let Walrus spend the rest of this season, or at least until September in Sacto.

I agree

Everidge deserves a shot.

BigJ7489 - July 24, 2009 reply

Wallace vs Carlos

I like Wallace better since Carlos is a bust in that he has no OBA and his power has not come out. He still could be a carlos Pena type of guy but I doubt it since Pena had more power at a younger age. I look at Wallace as a John Jaha/Fielder type of player. Big strong bat but 0 speed and below average defensively.

Whoa - easy on the Jaha-Fielder player comps

I don’t care if he weighs 235. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not agile. Some reports claim he has a lot more agility than it looks. The two guys you compared him to were STIFFS who spent the majority of their career as DH’s, or at least should have.

For what it’s worth, in 2008, Wallace was 16-20 in SB at Arizona State.

RyanFromBonas - July 24, 2009 reply

+1

nobody ever mentions his SB skills. Horribly slow, bad-instinct people don’t have an 80% sb success rate.

Brett Wallace in 148 professional games

SB: 0
CS: 1
Triples: 1

Maybe he’s a great baserunner, but he hasn’t been doing much running since being drafted a year ago.

not been doing much running

or shuttles, or cycling, or gym time in general, it’d seem

Wasn't Jaha slowed by bone spurs and other foot problems?

I guess you could weight played a factor.

HOLY SHIT

Awesome

Dub_TC - July 24, 2009 reply

Did we get Bodie and Poot, too?

Bodie would sure give the A's a little more fight, dontcha think?

Bodie was a soldier.

He got got for no good reason at all. It still pisses me off.

The game stays the game

oh indeed.

I highly approve of this conversation

mk - July 24, 2009 reply

I concur

petitceebee - July 24, 2009 reply

mos def

jakarta - July 24, 2009 reply

game recognize game

conscience do cost.

But, what would it take to get Omar?

RickeyRun - July 24, 2009 reply

Some Honey Nut Cheerios,

carton of Newports and an attractive bottom.

ROFLMAO!!!!!

RickeyRun - July 24, 2009 reply

and the bottom could be underwear covered

A'sfaninNC - July 24, 2009 reply

Or not.

i like the way you think sir

A'sfaninNC - July 24, 2009 reply

LOL!

At least we'd know what Omar's AB music would be

The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell…

The cheese stands alone....

You know, I was never at the front of the torches-and-pitchforks mob WRT Geren...

but I’d be all for dumping him if we could replace him with Brother Mouzone.

You will want to post your lineup now, brother.

Cap'n.

A THIRD BASEMAN

WHOOP

ElQuesoCapitan - July 24, 2009 reply

So let's review the Mulder trade

Cards get: The Dead Body of Mark Mulder
A’s get: Brett Anderson, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland(ewww), Brett Wallace, Mortensen, and Peterson.

Fleeced.

Well, they also got Holliday, a first-round sandwich pick, and a first or second-round pick...

this fella wallace looks good

but another LH bat… then again, we now have a real 3B

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/51533957.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqCP:iUiacyKUUr

O-cab to Twinkies

This is floating around today as well

I'd like Wuertz to stay, but eh

streetisclosedin08 - July 24, 2009 reply

I'd say it's only a good deal if Wallace can play 3B in the bigs

Mortensen’s numbers are pretty bad the last couple of years so I doubt St. Louis will miss him.

Peterson has hardly shown any flashes of brilliance in the minors yet.

Hitting 294?

and still 21

Peterson

His minor league numbers actually look pretty promising. High OBP guy with gap power. 2008 2nd round pick.

FrankCohen - July 24, 2009 reply

what is tonight's starting lineup looking like?

could we have a buck sighting possibly? can he play left? stick with rajai since he’s playing well?

Hairston CF swoon LF Raj RF

Not likely, since I don't think Buck could get to New York in time.

I suspect we’ll see Hairson/Rajai/Sweeney in the OF, Barton at 1B, and Cust at DH.

true that is a haul to ny

how about asking rickey to head down to play left in tonight’s game?

I know that's a joke, but that would be so freakin' awesome.

One last game before he goes into the Hall. Get ’er done, Billy!

Billy Beane working his magic

Great return for two months of Holliday. Sickels’ pre-season evaluation of the prospects we received in the deal:

Brett Wallace, 3B, Grade A-: Monster bat should be ready within a year. Glove at third should be adequate in the short run.

Clayton Mortensen, RHP, Grade C+: Gets grounders, could be an inning-eater, but strikes me as overrated by some other sources.

Shane Peterson, OF, Grade C+: High OBP college guy with gap power, but not many homers.

FrankCohen - July 24, 2009 reply

Lets recap a bit...since the last time I was able to really get on AN

Hannahan has been traded to a division rival. (the perfect plan in my book)

The A’s twice score more than 10 runs.

Someone threw a perfect game, made possible by a great catch.

And on the day i get internet at home and good wireless signal at work we get a haul for Holliday, and the chance to get more from OCab.

Happy dance to begin in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…..

A'sfaninNC - July 24, 2009 reply

TLR must be really happy right now.

He’s wanted Holliday for a long long time. He deserves this (I can’t believe I’m saying this)

Dear Billy

I love you.

Signed, Orodawg.

and

Cosigned,

Blicks

.....

P.S Daniel777 loves you long time :-)

Yes

This is a great haul for a two month rental.

Let’s not forget that our genius GM should have drafted Wallace in the first place.

But looking at this now, it is a great trade for us. He can go back to the NL and perform better

Trainman - July 24, 2009 reply

no, he shouldn't have

Our genius GM now has a future 2b and a 3b, instead of only one or the other. Drafting Weeks was fine.

plus, Jemile Weeks has not dissapointed thus far

He’s been delayed by injury, but still. I’m excited for him

this.

2B is a more premium position than 3B anyway. No “mistake” made.

He couldn't have dealt Holliday for a 2B prospect instead?

Assuming Wallace was drafted instead of Weeks, I mean

OK

When do you guys think Wallace will arrive in the bigs

He looks pretty close right?

Trainman - July 24, 2009 reply

No clue.

Potential September callup if he rakes in Sacramento?

maybe fighting for a big league job in Spring Training?

Name the top 2B prospects in the league

Betcha Weeks is top three…there aren’t many good 2B prospects out there.

Cardenas, Lowrie, and Triunfel are the only guys listed as 2B on the BA Top 100

happy happy happy days!

SamYam - July 24, 2009 reply

not sure if this has been poster or not,

but this is an interesting little thing on Shane Peterson….Very weird batting stance, but produces apparently.
http://futureredbirds.com/2008/06/05/shane-peterson/

Here is something from Gonzaga about Mortensen.
http://gonzaga.scout.com/a.z?s=130&p=2&c=828626

Thanks for posting this.

weird

he’s leaning forward at first and then leans back. Lot of moving parts in that swing.

His head is still - the rock back is his trigger motion

that said, if he loses his timing, it won’t be nice for him.

In other news – Long Beach state are the Dirtbags?/??

or is that a joke. I hope it’s not. that’s the best name ever.

Nope, that's their name.

Yep. Giambi went there too.

When Giambi was with the team before, my buddy and I got him to sign a jersey when everybody else was trying to get him because we screamed “HEY DIRTBAG” at him as loud as we could.

He looked up and had us toss him the jersey to sign. It was awesome.

Well we can see why Peterson doesn't hit for power.

rebus - July 24, 2009 reply

Walt Jocketty is having nightmares right now.

He didn’t need his demonstration of GM futility rehashed and talked about ad nauseum, especialy this close to the trade deadline, even if he is Reds GM now.

Now _that_'

POST FAIL...let's try again.

Now _that_'s how to flip a Holliday time-share!

Brett Wallace's Defense

I’ve read now on two different sources, (Beyondtheboxscore and this article, http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/totalzone-takes-on-the-minors/ which quotes totalzone numbers) that Brett Wallace in 2008 was worth -6 runs on defense.

That was over two different levels in the minors.

Brett Wallace was also worth 19.5 runs above average with the bat, +2.5 for third base, and +7.8 for replacement level, makes him still worth 29.8 runs above replacement in over 234 PA….

Adjust for 600 PA and for a whole season he was worth 76.4 runs above replacement.

The only thing that didn’t factor in here was park adjustment (and of course, that these numbers are from A and AA, but hey, it’s the defensive contribution which I’m really looking at anyhow), but Chipper Jones was worth 76.7 runs above replacement last year, the third best in the majors behind Chase Utley and Albert Pujols.

Now my point is not to say that Brett Wallace will be that good in the majors.

My point is to say that if he had that season in the majors, his subpar defense would not have stopped him from being a totally excellent player. So I say leave him at 3rd.

King Richard - July 24, 2009 reply

Eh, give him a few weeks with Wash and

he should be fi—

Crap.

Nico - July 24, 2009 reply

lol if only...

Eric Chavez, infield coach.

back would go out in demos…or shoulder.

Some Wallace Videos

Here’s Brett Wallace hitting a HR in A ball last year.

And here’s Wallace crushing a home run against the S.F. Giants…in MLB09 The Show on PlayStation 3.

Is it weird that I was more excited about the second one?

lol

This one is a closer shot of him batting and running to 2nd

He has some big thighs

I'm going to enjoy watching him run

He's built like a brick shithouse

Trainman - July 24, 2009 reply

I hear he has a great personality

GSOH

he's only listed as 6'2'' 205 on the Redbird's page

green tusks - July 24, 2009 reply

The A's are going to need to make a large purchase of baby powder for the chub rub

shooting4life - July 24, 2009 reply

what a great morning!

This is great news

I look forward to reading up on the new guys once I’m off work.

I wonder if the deal also involved sending a Costco sized shipment of Sunflower Seeds to the Cards

SwisherThresher - July 24, 2009 reply

good one!

We all have to thank TLR for this.

He wanted Holliday for a long time. He went to the media about it.

TLR?

LaRussa

Thanks.

Took me a while too

at first i thought, Why would i thank Carson Daly

Carson Daly? Wouldn’t that be TRL, not TLR?

Ya

I get confused

This is a fuckin-A trade if I may say so myself.

I know, it’s early and the words “Dan Meyer, Charles Thomas, and Juan Cruz” are coming through my mind as well as the last time the A’s dealt a slugger to St. Louis. Nonetheless, me likey as of 7.23.09.

can I also say

it would be nice if the Giants would get a bat so we can actually watch post-season baseball in the yay. I know, I know…I don’t like ‘em either but at least it’s something…right…RIGHT?!?!

oh hell yes

as much as I don’t really care that much about them, anything that brings excitement is fun, regardless.

I’m very much looking forward to the 2012 battle of the bay II WS showdown

Sabean/Neukum either should buy or sell, not stand pat. Half/half = loser.

Wallace v Gonzalez

Who would you rather have on this team right now?
Obviously C-Gon is needed more at CF than Wallace (at first), and has more upside considering his position. But Carlos never proved his power, so I’d rather take Wallce

Stussy D - July 24, 2009 reply

You can't stack this trade up to the guys the A's gave up

The fact that this haul is even remotely CLOSE in value to Cargon/Street/Smith is a freaking coup on Beane’s part.

That was a calculated risk Beane was taking when he traded for Holliday. He was under the full working impression that unless someone overpaid (which the Cardinals did), he wouldn’t get back close to what he gave up for Holliday.

easy, beane would rather have wallace because he's a very patient hitter as

opposed to Cargo who seemed to be a very free swinger when he was here. plus the extra players we got in this deal are younger and have more potential than Street/Smith. This was a good deal all around even for the Cards even though I am surprised that they gave up to 1st rounders and a second. That does seem like a lot.

green tusks - July 24, 2009 reply

Wallace went to my high school...although we didn't overlap

and Justin-Siena’s in Napa, not Sonoma. Wallace’s parents live in Sonoma, not Napa. Jeesh.

Even at the time we thought he was the second coming, although that school has seen some very good ballplayers.