Sucks to be a Rockie.

In reality, the Dbacks need only ONE outfielder with significant upside to be ready for a full time gig in the majors sometime in late 2010, and they chose to keep Gerrardo Parra.

...

And with Parra, they have time on their side, as he'll be in high A this year, and he should progress to the majors just in time to push Eric Byrnes aside should he fall on his face in 2009 or 2010.

Levski, I don't disagree with much of what you said, but this is a bit of rose-colored way of looking at it. Needing one outfielder in 2010 and only having one in high A is not a good strategy. And I'd say the same thing about the Mets banking on FMart to be their star (I don't know if they are). This may be this Cubs fan remembering Corey Patterson, but you need multiple prospects because they don't all pan out.

I'm not saying that this was a bad move for all of the other reasons that people (and you) have stated. But it's not like they're in both "win now" mode and "save the prospects for later" mode.

I'm not too surprised, considering the way you were spouting off a couple of months ago about how the A's were going to be right back to their old division-winning ways next season.

Crissakes you are a dick. Do you do anything but spout off? I've said repeatedly that the Angels are the favorites but that if the A's get a couple of breaks health wise they could challenge the Angels. Billy has chosen to start from scratch. I would rather go balls out with a team that has a 20% to 25% chance of winning. Of course, in your mind I'm just a fanboy of Beane's because you conveniently ignore all the times I've questioned or criticized some of his decisions. I'm criticizing this decision so why don't you bookmark it so you don't forget it. Jackass.

Do you do anything but spout off?

Of course he does. When things aren't going his way, he hides for months at a time waiting to spout off. 'Cause he's Joey the Sock, sucker.

Clearly this is the time to go for it for the Diamondbacks. They have graduated or held on to all of their core prospects and young players, and they are going to make a stand with them. The offense either improves or it doesn't. They are at the point in their "Success Cycle" where it just makes sense to try to maximize their chance to go all the way, and reap the benefits that a world series appearance or two would give the organization.

Also, I don't think the team is counting on getting ANYTHING from Randy Johnson. Josh Byrnes saying he would still sign Kuroda if he accepted Arizona's offer should be your clue there. Whatever they get from RJ in 2008 is considered bonus innings.

That made getting Haren all the more important. Of course it is pretty tough to see 6 guys go out the door. My guess is that ultimately the A's will get one pretty good starting pitcher and one pretty good position player out of the deal. But that's ok. The D Backs got an excellent pitcher, and you can't look at it like a failure if some of the players traded away go on to have good careers. This trade will only be a failure if Haren fails to produce, regardless of what the other players do. And from today's vantage point, this was the right move for the D Backs.

I'll add that I had pretty much already come to the conclusion a while ago that the difference between the park in Arizona and Oakland more than offsets the difference between the leagues and having to face the DH. See post 10 HERE So I am not expecting Haren's ERA to drop. I think that ZIPS projection of 120 ERA+ is about right for Haren. Mike's comments about Haren's gopher ball tendency are well noted. I have always felt that last years 137 ERA+ was probably a career high and that he would most likely be a 110-120 guy going forward. Some may feel that the D Backs gave up too much for such a pitcher, but the value to them for such a pitcher is a lot more than it would be for most teams.

Hey Greg Maddux, better start working on your list of idiotic nicknames for when you sit and home liveblogging every game next year, you sad sack. Looks like it's going to be a dramatically overhauled roster!

Heh, I thought at first Joey's comment was to the real Greg Maddux and I couldn't for the world figure out what had earned Maddux such venom.

Beane said that continued health concerns were one reason that he decided to move the team's top starter. Starter Chad Gaudin has a torn hip labrum that might require surgery; oft-injured right-hander Rich Harden recently had a cortisone shot for a lingering case of biceps tendinitis; and third baseman Eric Chavez has had three surgeries since the end of the season. (Harden said Friday his problem is not serious, and he believes he can pitch with it. He's scheduled to being throwing on Monday.)

After using the disabled list 22 times last year, killing their chances of repeating in the AL West, the A's didn't want to roll the dice again.

"We struggled with this even last year," Beane said. "We had confidence in those players, we just couldn't keep that group on the field. It wasn't easy making a decision like this, because you do hope for things to work out, but once it got to this point ... this is clearly where we were going. And we're going to go full bore."

Interesting that they have kept all the injured players and traded the workhorse. At least so far.

But it's also interesting that he's decided that injuries alone will prevent this team from ever being what it could be and therefore prevent the current team from ever being a winner. That's a lot of injuries.