Oakland Athletics: Does Current “Big Three” Match Mulder, Hudson and Zito?

It's a very good question.

One that we probably won't be able to answer for a few more years.

The original three aces—Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito—combined for a career record of 275-144 while members of the Oakland Athletics. Together they led the A's to the playoffs from 2000-2003 and had the A's within a Jeremy Giambi slide of the ALCS and a possible World Series in 2001.

The current/new big three...well, they aren't quite as accomplished. Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez are currently the same ages that Mulder, Zito and Hudson were in 2001: 23, 23 and 25. By statistical comparison the 2011 A's should be on their way to the playoffs, against the Yankees, where Derek Jeter will make the most amazing play ever in the history of man. My apologies—I over-reminisce occasionally.

As of April 25, Cahill, Anderson and Gonzalez combined have a career record of 75-61 and zero postseason experience amongst them. Now, their record cannot completely be blamed on their pitching alone. The A's offense earlier in the decade was clearly more skilled with the likes of Eric Chavez, Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada.

Offense aside, it is still difficult to get a clear comparison because of the small sample size. The current three have had a little over a full season pitching in the same rotation, and I would argue we need to see a minimum of three full seasons to see the overall effect on the team and on each other.

Each pitcher, of both the old big three and the new one, has his own skill set, his own weaknesses and strengths. Zito had his curveball and changeup, Hudson has his splitter and Mulder found his own way to get outs. They were successful individually but also as a unit. Facing all three in a series kept an opposing team off balance. Since all three used vastly different styles, opposing teams could not adapt game to game, which resulted in a great advantage to the A's.

The current three also have their unique styles. None of the current three relies completely on a single pitch, with the exception of Cahill and his sinker. Talent for talent they seem to match up pretty well: Cahill for Hudson, Gonzalez for Zito and Anderson for Mulder. They aren't perfect comparisons, but we're trying here, okay?

Another big feature of the big three was their durability. Mark Mulder spend the end of one season on the DL, and Hudson's bar fight incident led to an injury in the 2003 playoffs, but other than that they were injury free. Zito only recently visited the DL for the first time in his career. Age-wise injuries caught up with Mulder and Hudson, but during their A's tenure, health was not a factor.

It is currently unclear if long-term health problems will dog Cahill, Anderson and Gonzalez. Anderson spent a few months on the DL last season, and while Cahill technically began the 2010 season on the DL, it was more to get him pitching experience in the minors. Gio has been injury free to my knowledge.

Talent-wise, the old big three and new big three are roughly equal. In terms of durability only Anderson raises any real red flags. The one area that cannot be determined at this junction is their long-term effectiveness. As stated, Hudson, Mulder and Zito spent more than three full seasons together. We are currently entering the beginning of the second season of the potential second coming of the big three.

After the 2012 season, check back. Then a proper decision can be made. As of April 2011, Hudson, Mulder and Zito remain the biggest three Oakland A's.