Oakland A's: Ranking the 10 Best Trades Under Billy Beane
When you hear the name Billy Beane, what comes to mind?
When I think of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, I think about a man who finds talent and cultivates it until it's ripe. Beane enjoys his crop for a few choice years, and then when the maintenance costs get too high, he has a yard sale, or he takes his commodities to the bargaining table and tries to get as much value for them as he can.
In the minds of most fans, this isn't a bad thing. Beane is actually very good at what he does. He has won four AL West Championships and has been to the playoffs five times since he took over for Sandy Alderson in 1998. It's also worth noting that in 2001, the only year under Beane that the A's made the playoffs without winning the division, they won 102 games as a wild card team.
If you had to determine Beane's strongest attribute, would it be his skill at scouting talent, or his knack for making the right trades and signings at the right time? I'd say it's the former, but with that being said, I do believe that Beane has done an impressive job of making the right moves when he needs to.
Keep in mind that Beane almost always thinks in the now, so when you browse this list you'll notice that the players the A's picked up sometimes didn't stick around for long. They were there to do a job, and just like with home-grown talent, they can also become too expensive. In addition, some of the players on the list ended up moving on because of injuries or a lack of production.
For the purposes of this article, we're going to determine the best trades by looking at the following: Did the player received perform well with the A's? Did the trade have a positive effect on the team? It can be both, but it doesn't have to be.
Here are the top ten trades the Oakland A's have made under Billy Beane.
10. Mark Ellis
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Many fans might wonder what Mark Ellis is doing on this list. Ellis seems like he's been in the organization his whole career, but he was actually part of the Johnny Damon trade that brought the two players over from Kansas City.
Why is Ellis number 10? Even though he's the only player on this list who is still on the team, he's probably last on the list of position players as far as talent is concerned.
Don't get me wrong, Ellis is a mainstay in Oakland and has played a huge part in the A's success during his time with the team. The truth of the matter is this: if Ellis was higher on this list, he probably wouldn't be playing for the A's anymore.
9. Keith Foulke
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Keith Foulke was a good reliever who had an excellent 2003 season with the A's. Foulke compiled 43 saves with an ERA of 2.08, and finished seventh in the Cy Young voting.
The problem is, was he too good?
Sometimes "Moneyball" can jump up and bite you in the butt. in 2004 Foulke went on to win a World Series with the Boston Red Sox.
8. Jason Kendall
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You might notice a trend on this list. A lot of these players (including Kendall) were on the 2006 A's team that went to the ALCS.
Kendall was a solid addition to the A's who came in with a great resume.
Kendall batted over .300 six times and was a three-time All Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His reputation as a solid backstop was enough to convince Beane to bring him in to handle some new arms after the breakup of Oakland's "Big Three" (Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito).
As is so often the case in Oakland, Kendall didn't stay long, but the A's got what they needed out of him nonetheless.
His numbers were solid for a catcher, as Kendall batted .271 during his time in Oakland.
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7. Erubiel Durazo
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Durazo was a player loaded with potential. Beane saw what he was capable of during his early seasons in Arizona, and Durazo proved him right in 2004 by hitting .321 with 22 home runs.
2004 was by far his best season with the A's. Injuries derailed Durazo's career soon after, and he never had the chance to live up to his potential and that 2004 season.
During his short Oakland, Durazo batted .284 and hit 47 home runs.
6. Cory Lidle
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In 2001 the A's had Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.
Cory Lidle did a good job as the number four guy in the rotation. He held his own, going 13-6 with a 3.59 ERA.
Lidle was definitely over shadowed by the Big Three, but he was able to eat up innings and help the A's win 102 games in 2001.
Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon: Honorable Mention, I Guess
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Sorry for the interuption, but If Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon were on this list I would probably have squeezed them in somewhere around here, simply for the fact that they were good players that had off years with the A's.
I didn't want to put Jermaine Dye or Johnny Damon on this list, and while I know some fans will gripe that they aren't in the top ten, sorry, but that's how I feel.
Dye definitely didn't live up to expectations, batting .252 with Oakland, which was his worst average with any team he played for in the majors.
He was a big pickup at the time, and yes, hindsight is 20/20, but even with his 64 home runs with the A's I still don't think he ranks with the others on this list.
One of my criteria for inclusion was whether the trade had a positive effect on the team, and one might say that during his time in Oakland the A's won in spite of him. That's how I justify leaving him out of the top 10.
Maybe if he didn't break his leg in the playoffs against the Yankees in 2001, we'd have a different story.
I feel the same way about Johnny Damon as well, he just didn't live up to expectations in Oakland.
Damon managed to scrape together a .256 average (his worst year in the league) while in Oakland.
5. Kevin Appier
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Kevin Appier's situation was very similar to Cory Lidle's.
The A's got Appier in a trade from the Kansas City Royals during the 1999 season.
Like Lidle, Appier was the fourth arm in a three man rotation.
He was a veteran who fit in nicely with the big guns, going 15-11 in 2000.
His story is similar to Lidle's (and most of the other players on this list), as the A's got what they needed from him and he moved on. Appier departed as a free agent after the 2000 season.
4. Jay Payton
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Payton was another solid veteran brought in by Beane who had a huge role in the A's success in 2006. Payton was traded to Oakland during the 2005 season by the Boston Red Sox.
Like Jason Kendall, Payton was a seasoned veteran who contributed nicely.
In 2006 Payton hit .296 with 10 home runs. Payton rounded out an outfield that included Milton Bradley and Mark Kotsay, who are also both included later on the list.
In just over a year with the A's, Payton batted .286.
3. Mark Kotsay
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Mark Kotsay stuck with the A's a bit longer than most on this list. Kotsay was a hard-nosed ballplayer who hit for average and had a little pop in his bat as well. He hit 15 home runs twice as an Athletic.
2004 was by far his best year with the team. Kotsay batted .314 with 15 home runs, and finished 14th in the MVP voting, according to BaseballReference.com.
When it was all said and done, Kotsay had batted .282 and hit 38 home runs during his time in Oakland.
2. Milton Bradley
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I can hear the screams now, "how is this crazy man number two?"
Bradley's inclusion might be controversial, but the bottom line is, he was a good player when the A's traded for him, and he continued to play well with the team. Bradley hit .279 during his time in Oakland.
Bradley was a great veteran presence in the clubhouse and was a major part of the A's run to the ALCS. Most of his antics didn't start until after he left the A's anyway.
The controversy that I mentioned stems from the fact that Billy Beane traded Andre Ethier for Bradley.
Was it the right move at the time? I think so. We know the way Beane works, so Ethier most likely wouldn't have stayed around for long anyway. Like I said earlier, Beane thinks in the now, so Bradley was the right move at the time.
1. Dan Haren
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This might be a surprise as well. Yeah, I know they traded Mark Mulder to get him, but who cares? Definitely not the A's; Mulder had one good season after he was traded.
Mulder went 16-8 in his first year with the St Louis Cardinals and that was it. Yes, the A's had no way to know about Mulder's injury problems but, it was still the right move at the time.
Haren never won fewer than 14 games as an Athletic, and he was part of the 2006 team that went to the ALCS. He was a major part of why the A's went as far as they did.
We End Where It All Began: Kenny Rogers
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It can be argued that Kenny Rogers should be on this list, but the truth is he only had one good year with the A's.
The main reason I put him in the article is because I believe his trade was extremely important. It was Beane's first trade as a General Manager, and sending Scott Brosius away set the table for good things to come.
The A's were able to deal Brosius because they had future six-time Gold Glove winner Eric Chavez and future MVP Miguel Tejada waiting in the wings.
In my mind, this was the move that introduced us to Beane and his way of doing what he does best.
Things were very good in Oakland shortly after this trade went down. The A's went to the playoffs for four straight seasons from 2000 to 2003, winning the American League West three times.
Rogers didn't play a big part in that run, but the trade did.
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