Krispie to the A's....

[Izenhart]

knee-jerk reaction: OMG The A's made a trade? Billy Beane is a genius!

final assessment: Billy Beane is a genius.

logic: Billy Beane is a genius.

[GiantsFan14]

Heath Bell is terrible. Overpaid relievers are not exactly hard to come by. Pennington is borderline-replacement level and all-field / no-hit. They found their heir to John McDonald. Overall it's a significant talent downgrade but they got a cheap arb-eligible shortstop for 3 years. That's a good way to guarantee frugal mediocrity.

The biggest winner here is clearly Miami for being able to unload $13M of dead weight. Biggest loser is Arizona for making their team significantly worse in order to save a bit of cash, and then blowing all of that cash on the aforementioned 35 year old dead-weight reliever. It's a decent deal for Oakland. They made their team a lot better for the next 2 years at the cost of an additional $10M or so.

Yup.

[AussieDodger]

ERMAHGERD CBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bigh0rt]

I thought Heath Bell was terrible before it was cool.

[GiantsFan14]

I thought Heath Bell was terrible before it was cool.

ya he really wasn't even very good in 2011. that contract was doomed to fail.

[SpecialFNK]

I think Chris Young was misused by Arizona. he should never have batted leadoff.
he was injured in 2012 and missed games, but each of the previous 2 seasons he was 20+/20+. the AVG will likely never be good because he strikes out too much.

[J35J]

Heath Bell is terrible. Overpaid relievers are not exactly hard to come by. Pennington is borderline-replacement level and all-field / no-hit. They found their heir to John McDonald. Overall it's a significant talent downgrade but they got a cheap arb-eligible shortstop for 3 years. That's a good way to guarantee frugal mediocrity.

The biggest winner here is clearly Miami for being able to unload $13M of dead weight. Biggest loser is Arizona for making their team significantly worse in order to save a bit of cash, and then blowing all of that cash on the aforementioned 35 year old dead-weight reliever. It's a decent deal for Oakland. They made their team a lot better for the next 2 years at the cost of an additional $10M or so.

Yup.

+2

[lastingsgriller]

If I had to guess: cby will be solid in oak. Maybe focus more on contact as it is significantly harder to hit it out in o.co. But, the new park will help Pennington a bit. Also, I think Pennington is a bit underrated in oak's lineup in Oak's park. Zona thinks they are going to JJ putz Heath bell, which they won't. But that has nothing to do with Beane.

I think in the end it will be a wash that benefits both teams, assuming that Oakland is not completely disastrous at short next year, but I'll give Beane the benefit of the doubt on that one.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

If I had to guess: cby will be solid in oak. Maybe focus more on contact as it is significantly harder to hit it out in o.co. But, the new park will help Pennington a bit. Also, I think Pennington is a bit underrated in oak's lineup in Oak's park. Zona thinks they are going to JJ putz Heath bell, which they won't. But that has nothing to do with Beane.

I think in the end it will be a wash that benefits both teams, assuming that Oakland is not completely disastrous at short next year, but I'll give Beane the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Don't they still have Stephen Drew at short?

[SpecialFNK]

If I had to guess: cby will be solid in oak. Maybe focus more on contact as it is significantly harder to hit it out in o.co. But, the new park will help Pennington a bit. Also, I think Pennington is a bit underrated in oak's lineup in Oak's park. Zona thinks they are going to JJ putz Heath bell, which they won't. But that has nothing to do with Beane.

I think in the end it will be a wash that benefits both teams, assuming that Oakland is not completely disastrous at short next year, but I'll give Beane the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Don't they still have Stephen Drew at short?

Drew is potentially a free agent. there is $10 MIL mutual option, with $1.35 MIL buyout. I'm guessing he gets bought out, but I'm not sure how mutual options work. can Drew himself accept his part of the option?
can Jemile Weeks play SS? last I read Scott Sizemore is moving back to 2B and will compete for the 2B job in spring training. I think it also mentioned Josh Donaldson as the projected starting 3B next year.