The Matt Holliday Experiment: A Success for the Oakland A's?

On November 11, 2008, it was announced that the A's had acquired slugger Matt Holliday from the Rockies for RHP Huston Street, OF Carlos Gonzalez, and LHP Greg Smith.  Today, it has been announced that the A's sent Holliday to the Cardinals for top prospect 3B Brett Wallace, OF Shane Peterson, and RHP Clayton Mortensen.

So was the Holliday experiment worth it?

In his time time in Oakland, Holliday got off to a very slow start, but he has picked it up recently, and St. Louis was willing to give up their top prospect in Wallace for two months of help behind Pujols.

Right now, two of the original three players the A's gave up have appeared in the majors, Street and Gonzalez.

Street is pitching extremely well as the closer with a 2.61 ERA and 24 saves, and he is still only 25 years old.  In 41.1 innings his WHIP is 0.94.

So it is difficult to give up a pitcher with that much potential, but considering what Oakland has received in return, they made the right choice.

The one pitcher they have received from St. Louis, Clayton Mortensen, is nearly major league ready, and he has even pitched three innings in St. Louis already.  He is only 24 years old, and at AAA he went 7-6 with a 4.37 ERA and one complete game.  His K/BB ratio is 2.41, and his WHIP is 1.30. 

Mortensen will join an already strong crop of young pitchers including current major leaguers Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Vin Mazzaro, and Josh Outman (DL). 

In that deal in November, however, the A's gave up Greg Smith who had a 4.16 ERA in 190.1 innings in Oakland and was a consistent arm in the rotation.  This year, however, he is 2-2 with a 5.48 ERA in the minors in 42.2 innings, and with the other arms Oakland has, he was clearly expendable.

The second player the A's just received is OF Shane Peterson (21) who was recently called up to AA.  In 76 games at High-A, he hit .298 with 6 HR and 39 RBI with a .367 OBP.  In 18 games at AA, he has hit .284 with 1 HR and 7 RBI and a .338 OBP. 

Peterson was originally taken in the second round by the Cardinals (59th overall) in the 2008 draft. 

Then it comes down to Brett Wallace (23), who was the prospect that GM Billy Beane wanted to make sure was included in any possible deal for Holliday. 

Like the other young stud they gave up, Carlos Gonzalez, Wallace is also 23-years old.  A big plus is that he is an up and coming third baseman, a position at which the A's desperately need help after the disappointment of Eric Chavez and the unreliability of Jack Hannahan who was recently shipped up to Seattle. 

In giving up Gonzalez last year, the A's traded away a very promising hitter, but think of Wallace as the new-Gonzalez.

In 48 games at AAA this year, Gonzalez has hammered the ball: .339, 10 HR, 59 RBI, .418 OBP, and he has hit .227 with a homerun and 5 RBI in the big leagues so far.

Wallace has split time between AA and AAA, hitting .293 with 6 11 HR and 35 RBI and a .368 OBP in total in  the minors. 

He was selected with the 13th overall pick out of Arizona St., also in the 2008 draft. 

So when looking at the three players they traded and received, the A's gave up an established closer, a promising young outfielder, and a slightly above-average starting pitcher. 

In return they received a promising young third basemen, a promising young outfielder, and a near major league ready pitcher who I believe will be even better than Greg Smith.

Gonzalez was necessary to make the original trade, but the A's already have a crowded outfield with Hairston, Sweeney, Davis, and even younger players like Aaron Cunningham.  They haven't had any bright young players on the left side of the infield however.

In looking for a replacement in Street, the A's had originally planned on using Zeigler, but All-Star Andrew Bailey has blossomed in the closer's role.

The Holliday experiment was successful.

The A's took a chance for the season, but it was still a low-risk experiment, and they have received three prospects who are all at least fairly close to the big leagues unlike many of the players in the fire sale of 2008 (many were in High-A, and only some are in AA). 

Holliday knew his time in Oakland was limited, and Beane made an excellent move in this deal, and, maybe he just pillaged the Cardinals minor league system just like he did back in December of 2004.