A's are always a team in motion

I am fascinated with the way Billy Beane runs the Oakland A's. I should have written something about this in July when Beane pulled the trigger on the Rich Harden and Joe Blanton deals, but I wonder what it would be like to be an A's fan.

These were the details of the two deals:

July 9, 2008 -- A’s trade RHP Rich Harden and RHP Chad Gaudin to Cubs for RHP Sean Gallagher, OF Matt Murton, 2B/OF Eric Patterson, and P Josh Donaldson.

July 18, 2008 -- A’s send RHP Joe Blanton to the Phillies for LHP Josh Outman, 2B Adrian Cardenas, and OF Matt Spencer.

The Harden deal was much bigger because 1) he was traded to the Cubs, and 2) when he's healthy, Harden is a tremendous pitcher. He has a career ERA of 3.25, a career WHIP of 1.21, and batters have hit just .218 off of him. Blanton was also a solid pitcher for the A's with his best season coming in 2007 when he posted 14 wins, a 3.95 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, 140 Ks and just 40 walks.

Now, both deals seemingly make sense because the A's just don't spend that much money. Harden is scheduled to become a free agent in 2009 and depending on his injury concerns, he's going to make lots of money. And Blanton was making $3.7 million this season and just wasn't pitching that well -- 5-12, 4.96 ERA, 1.42 WHIP -- for the A's this season.

In the offseason, though, the A's also made three other significant trades. They were:

Dec. 15, 2007 -- A’s trade RHP Dan Haren and RHP Connor Robertson to the Diamondbacks for LHP Brett Anderson, LHP Dana Eveland, LHP Greg Smith, IF Chris Carter, OF Aaron Cunningham, and OF Carlos Gonzalez.

Jan. 1, 2008 -- A’s send OF Nick Swisher to White Sox for LHP Gio Gonzalez, RHP Fautino De Los Santos, and OF Ryan Sweeney.

Jan. 13, 2008 -- A’s trade Mark Kotsay and cash to Braves for RHP Joey Devine.

So, to recap, by mid-July the A's had gotten rid of arguably their four best starting pitchers (Haren, Harden, Blanton, and Gaudin), their CF (Kotsay), and another OF (Swisher).

Remember, the A's also let Barry Zito leave after the 2006 season, and they made two huge trades in 2004 that many people were scratching their heads at:

Dec. 17, 2004 -- A’s trade RHP Tim Hudson to the Braves for OF Charles Thomas, P Juan Cruz, and P Dan Meyer.

Dec. 20, 2004 -- A’s trade LHP Mark Mulder to the Cardinals for P Dan Haren, P Kiko Calero, and C Daric Barton.

Obviously, this strategy is nothing new for the A's since they dump big name players all the time before they're about to get paid millions of dollars by other clubs. The Marlins typically do the same thing but have had more success. (Side note: The Marlins have won two World Series (1997 and 2003) with this plan. Would the A's have won a World Series by now under Beane if the team was playing in the predominantly weaker National League? It's possible.)

It's also interesting to see what those pitchers have done since they left the A's.

Hudson has had a few good seasons with the Braves with his best probably coming in 2007, but he's making $15.5 million this season and just had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Mulder's only good season came right after the trade in 2005. Since then, he's been injured with shoulder problems and hasn't been able to make it through a full season. He is also making $7 million this year.

The strangest case is with Zito, who was signed by the Giants to a 7-year, $126 million contract to be their ace. Unfortunately, Zito hasn't been worth that much money at all. He had a subpar 2007 season with a 11-13 record, a 4.53 ERA, and a very average rate of stikeouts to walks (131:83). But this season has been much worse for Zito; he has a 5.35 ERA and a horrible 1.62 WHIP. And he's making $14.5 million this year.

At the time of the trade, a Giants source said, "I think Barry Zito will be the face of the Giants franchise for a long time." With the amount of money he's making and his awful performance, that statement is certainly turning out to be true -- just in the wrong way.

Beane doesn't always make good deals; in fact, he's made some very bad ones. In December of 2005, Beane traded OF Andre Ethier to the Dodgers for OF Milton Bradley and IF Antonio Perez. Ethier is helping the Dodgers push for the playoffs and is having a solid season, while Bradley didn't really help the A's much and was more of a distraction.

Nonetheless, the A's certainly have an identity, and Beane is never afraid to pull the trigger on a risky move that could push his team into the playoffs. Other teams have the luxury of spending big money on free agents; the A's don't.

As an Orioles fan, I was shocked to see the O's trade both Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada in the offseason. The Orioles don't really make that many big trades, and the team usually doesn't take that many risks. But Beane does as the A's GM, partly because he has to, and partly because he's very good at what he does. In about seven months, Beane completely reshaped the direction of the organization. For the most part, O's fans become attached to certain players. Doing so as an A's fan would probably be pointless.

I don't know what I'm trying to say exactly, but being an A's fan must be both interesting and annoying at the same time. As an O's fan, at least for the last decade or so, it's just been mostly annoying.

So worry not, A's fans. You may not win a World Series any time soon, but you won't have to "rebuild" for a decade either.

Trades have Pacers poised for improvement

Last year the Indiana Pacers finished with a 36-46 record, one game back of the Atlanta Hawks for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Here was the Pacers main starting lineup:

(Listed stats are '07-'08 averages)

PG: Jamaal Tinsley -- 11.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 8.4 apg, 1.7 steals
SG: Mike Dunleavy -- 19.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.1 steals
SF: Danny Granger -- 19.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.2 steals
PF: Troy Murphy -- 12.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.2 apg
C: Jermaine O'Neal -- 13.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 2.1 blocks

And these are some of the stats from other players in the Pacers rotation who averaged 15+ minutes off the bench, possibly because of injuries:

C Jeff Foster -- 6.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.7 apg
G Kareem Rush -- 8.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.3 apg
G Ronald Murray -- 11.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.5 apg
G Marquis Daniels -- 8.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg
PG Travis Diener -- 6.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 3.8 apg

The Pacers had another player on the bench, Ike Diogu, who only played in 30 games, averaging 5.6 points.

Two starters, Tinsley and O'Neal, both missed several games due to injuries last season. Tinsley only played in 39 games, starting 36 of them, and O'Neal played in just 42 games, starting 34 of them. Tinsley also had a fair share of off-the-court problems, and O'Neal's name was frequently mentioned in trade talks with the Lakers, Nets, Knicks, and other teams over the last few years.

In order to build around Granger, and to a lesser extent Dunleavy, the Pacers recently made two significant moves in the offseason. The first was the trade of Jermaine O'Neal and the 41st pick in the 2008 NBA Draft (the Raptors selected Nathan Jawai) to Toronto for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, and the 17th pick in the draft (the Pacers took Roy Hibbert). So, to first take a step back from that deal, the Pacers turned Jermaine O'Neal and a second-round pick into Ford, Nesterovic, and Hibbert (plus cap space); barring some injuries, Baston probably won't play very much.

The second move happened during the draft and had the Pacers sending Jerryd Bayless (the 11th pick in the draft) and Ike Diogu to Portland for Jarrett Jack, Brandon Rush (13th pick), and Josh McRoberts. Again, to summarize, the Pacers traded a draft pick and a player who received few minutes for another draft pick (a 6'6 SG/SF), a proven back-up point guard, and a bench player -- not a bad idea.

The Pacers front office seems very content with completely reshaping the team's roster. If the team cannot trade Jamaal Tinsley, it will probably cut him. If Shawne Williams and Marquis Daniels do not change their ways and fix their images, they may be gone as well. With the trades and personnel moves, the Pacers starting lineup will probably be as follows:

PG: T.J. Ford -- 12.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 6.1 apg, 1.1 steals
SG: Mike Dunleavy
SF: Danny Granger
PF: Troy Murphy
C: Jeff Foster

With this starting lineup, the Pacers lose the offense and blocked shots of O'Neal, but the team gains more consistent point guard play from Ford. Ford put up the numbers above despite playing only 23.5 minutes per game last year; if healthy, he should play more than that and post even better numbers. Ford should thrive in getting the ball to the two best-shooting Pacers: Dunleavy, who was 12th in the NBA in three-point shooting at 42.4%, and Granger, 26th in the NBA at 40.4%.

And the Pacers bench could include:

G Jarrett Jack -- 9.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.8 apg
G/F Brandon Rush
C Rasho Nesterovic -- 7.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.2 apg
C Roy Hibbert
G Ronald Murray
G Travis Diener
G Kareem Rush (Rush is a free agent, so he may walk; a forward may take this spot)

The Pacers may not be a much improved team next year, but with the trades and possible upcoming moves, the team should be more exciting to watch with a younger core of players. Instead of building around O'Neal, which failed, the Pacers are now building around Granger and are hoping that Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert develop rapidly in their first few years in the league.

At the very least, Larry Bird probably won't have to make comments like this anymore, which he made in February of 2008:

"We've got to be very clear about this -- we don't want our players hanging around murderers," team president Larry Bird said. "That's not a good sign for our young fans. It's not a good sign for management."

The Pacers are definitely taking some steps to change that.