Monday, November 10, 2008

Holliday In The Sun

The Oakland A's strike in the first major move of this offseason, getting Matt Holliday from Colorado in exchange for a duo of prospects and Huston Street. At first glance, this might be an odd move for Beane to make, considering he spent most of last season dumping his veterans. But upon further inspection, it's practically a win-win for him--he can flip Holliday for more prospects at the deadline, or he can pocket the draft picks at seasons' end, since Holliday is almost guaranteed to be a Type A free agent.


Matt Holliday is a stud, Coors Field be damned. His 4.88 WPA (Win Probability Added, which is park-adjusted) ranked 8th in the league in '08. His .417 wOBA (weighted On Base Average, which is also park-adjusted) and 123 wOBA+ ranked 6th and 8th, respectively. The A's suddenly have a legitimate bat in the lineup.


As for the Rockies' haul, Carlos Gonzalez is a power-outfielder prospect with decent upside, Greg Smith is a young flyball pitcher with decent upside (provided he's surrounded by a good defense) and Street is Street. Rumor has it that Colorado is also looking to flip Street for a couple more prospects. If they manage to pull that off, the trade will look much better on their side than it currently does.


Billy Beane, if nothing else, can always be counted on to make the offseason interesting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The A's will have to fix the hole in LF where Holliday stands every damn game. I was amazed to see the brown spot in Coors last summer until I saw Holliday stand in the same damn spot on every pitch of the game. Someone needs to tell him about positioning.

Lord Benne said...

Holliday is actually a pretty good defender, depending on what metrics you use. At the least, he's a vast improvement over Jack Cust, who made Barry Bonds look like Willie Mays in the outfield.


On a secondary note, ZOMG I got a comment!