Holliday

What the crap? I knew there were rumors but i never thought this would happen. He's good, got one year left, and is gonna be due a ton of money. Though if the final deal is Holliday for Street, Smith, and Carlos I will be alright with it. If we can extend Holliday soon (preferably to a sensible contract...fucking boras) I'd be very happy. As much as I like Huston, bullpen arms are very expendable in our current situation, and smith pretty much sucks. Gonzalez is the only really tough guy to part with in that he plays an above average center an has all the potential to hit like a legit pro, but to be honest I'm not that huge a fan as the dude seriously does not know what a walk is and also we do have a crowded outfield.

So I'm assuming from left to right our outfield will be Holliday Sweeney Buck? That doesn't make me that excited now that I look at it. Though I guess if Buck regresses like he should and if Sweeney can at least put up an average glove in center that could be a damn threesome. I think what I'm happiest about is we kept Anderson and Cahill. I really do not want to see those two go anywhere.

So the real question is what now. I'm sort of get the feeling Beane isn't done. Getting Holliday is a statement towards compete now mode, and though the offense looks a lot better, we do still bat crosby and whatever bum (wooooo joe dillon) we stick at third base. Barton should put up better numbers next year but you can't just ignore the amount of suck his bat was this year. And then the rotation.

As shitty as Greg Smith was, dude made the most starts on the team. We line up right now as Duch Gallagher Eveland Gio Braden. That fuckin sucks. Duch is good but he's not all-star sub 3 ERA good, plus it's inevitable he's going to miss some time with injuries to his hip or back or whatever. Gallagher needs to not walk so many people, ditto Eveland, Gio fuckin walks everyone then decides to give up monster shots to whoever is left(that doesnt make sense does it). Braden isnt really even worth discussing at this point. So unless Beane feels all these young guys will somehow find the strikezone this year or that maybe one or more of Mazzaro/Anderson/Simmons/Cahill can come up and be awesome, well I dunno is this team a real contender? It seems like too much has to break just right again, and if I've learned anything as an A's fan it's that nothing ever breaks just right. If we can sign Furcal I will pretty much become a believer, that would actually make sense now.

Bah so to sum up my initial and shocked reactions: decent trade, hopefully Boras doesnt fuck the A's in extension talks, team still has question marks, certainly a new, sudden, exciting direction.