[ESPN] Now the Astros lose for real: Mulder to Cards

[moligity]

A's get two pitchers, minor league catcher

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1949157

ESPN News Services

The Oakland Athletics continued to wheel and deal Saturday, sending starting pitcher Mark Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Danny Haren, Kiko Calero and catcher Daric Barton, ESPN's Peter Gammons has learned.

The A's have dealt two of their vaunted "Big Three" starting pitchers in the past three days, having sent Tim Husdson to Atlanta on Thursday for a package of outfielder Charles Thomas and pitchers Juan Cruz and Dan Meyer.

Mulder, the A's first-round pick in 1998 (second overall) was 17-8 lastr season but saw his ERA baloon from 3.13 to 4.43. The left-hander won 21 games in 2001 and finished second in AL Cy Young voting that season, but has been sidelined for three or more starts in two of the past three seasons.

Haren, a hard-throwing 24-year-old right-hander was stellar in the postseason, giving up two earned runs in 8 1-3 innings.

. . . . . . . . .

Unlike the Clement to BoSOx deal, this improves the Cards as long as Mulder is healthy. Bad news

[lalala902102001]

Arghhhh...

[Willy92683]

Well, the astros are still waiting for beltran...

It'll be interesting to see how Mulder fares in the NL since he did have a high ERA in the AL

[rikesh316]

Mulder is so overated and he was lucky to pitch in that stadium. He is a solid No.2 Starter but they still don't have a No.1. Kiko will missed and the Haren kid gots some nasty stuff. Cards get better but not that much better.

[lalala902102001]

Mulder is better than Haren will ever be, and he's still very young. The Cards made a good deal here.

[NIKEstrad]

The question now is who will be behind the plate for the Cards?

Mulder-Morris-Carpenter is a pretty good 1-2-3, though there are injury questions. Throw in Marquis and Suppan and that's a good rotation. Losing Calero and Haren hurts, but they still have Tavarez and Izzy at the end. This was a very good move on their part.

Now we can only hope we'll have Beltran mashing homers off him from the right side.

[rikesh316]

Izzy Molina is a hundred times better than Ausmus and he hits and plays defense.

[rikesh316]

I'm sorry, I meant Yadier Molina not the pitcher Izzy Molina.

[Manny Ramirez]

Originally posted by rikesh316
Mulder is so overated and he was lucky to pitch in that stadium. He is a solid No.2 Starter but they still don't have a No.1. Kiko will missed and the Haren kid gots some nasty stuff. Cards get better but not that much better.

Huh? You don't think Mulder is the #1 on that staff? Who is then? Carpenter??

The thing is, when he is healthy, Mulder along with Hudson AND Zito are good enough to be aces for pretty much every team in the majors.

Good deal for the Cards although Calero does have nasty stuff and this Barton kid really put up some impressive numbers in A ball.

Yea, they definitely need to figure out their catching situation (Pierzynski?) and who will play 2B.

[steddinotayto]

At first I thought this would be pretty bad for the 'stros, BUT if the right cards fall into place:

-Boras finally lets Beltran resign with us
-Clemens agrees on another year
-Pettite comes back
-Lance comes back (whenever) as good as new

We're still just as good as they are.

Clemens/Oswalt/Pettite vs. Mulder/Morris/Carpenter

This is not even gambling on how successful (or, God forbid, unsuccessful) Backe and Lidge will be next season.

I hope that Carlos kicks Boras to the curb and resign because if he doesn't

-Roger will see no point in playing another season w/o Beltran on board
-Lance takes his time to recoup and then bolt for FA because of the Astros not working an extension on him

etc etc.....

[xiki]

Originally posted by steddinotayto
At first I thought this would be pretty bad for the 'stros, BUT if the right cards fall into place:


1st -- the 'stros need to resign Wade 'Bulldog' Miller (and he has to remain healthy).

Then -- resign CB and/or have a good, solid contingency plan in place.

Finally, restored health to LB.

PS Roger's return would be nice, as well. But, who can expect him to redux '04?

[steddinotayto]

Originally posted by xiki


PS Roger's return would be nice, as well. But, who can expect him to redux '04?

My best hope for another Clemens stint is around 15 wins with quality starts.

Wade Miller....he's just too injury prone to be counted on. Granted, when he's healthy he's a pretty good pitcher, but those moments have decreased as seasons gone by.

[meh]

Mulder REALLY tailed off towards the end of last season. If that's not just something really fluky, then this deal could really hurt the Cards. Haren and Calero were pretty important pieces of the best bullpen in the league last year. Granted, the Cards are pretty deep there anyway so it wouldn't be a big loss. But you never really know.

The net result of the Cards offseason, pitching wise, is Woody + Calero + Haren -> Mulder. For at least the next season, that looks more like a lateral move to me than a big upgrade. And without Rentaria, the lineup has taken a big hit.

[leroy420]

I don't know if any of you have read Moneyball. If you have, then you will know that you must always assume that Billy Beane knows something you don't know.

In other words, there is a reason he traded Mulder. If Mulder was hurt last season and didn't tell anyone (0-4 7+ era down the stretch last season) Beane knows it and took advantage of it.

[Nick]

I'm really not afraid of Fox Mulder.... out of the 'big three', he's been the most unhealthy. Also, the fact that the Cards had to give up Danny Haren (who has only been getting better with each major league appearence.... he was pretty damn good in the playoffs as well), and Kiko Calero (who was their only reliable bullpen pitcher last year) will hurt them more in the long run.

[Lil Francis]

The A's are realing cheating their fans. After going to the playoffs 4 yrs in a row and winning 90 games last year they trade 2 of their top 3 pitchers. I wouldn't be surprised if they finished in last place in the A.L. West next season.

[Nick]

Originally posted by Lil Francis
The A's are realing cheating their fans. After going to the playoffs 4 yrs in a row and winning 90 games last year they trade 2 of their top 3 pitchers. I wouldn't be surprised if they finished in last place in the A.L. West next season.

And yet I wouldn't be suprised if they still win 90+. Billy Beane is good at what he does, and if you read this article, you'll see how well stocked they are for the future.

Of course, they are the major leagues #1 farm system... so their fans have a right to be a little ticked (but until they start losing, they shouldn't say anything).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1949178
Cards, A's reload differently


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com



Dec. 18

Walt Jocketty got his Cardinals to the World Series but knew he needed a No. 1 starter.


He went head-long after Tim Hudson, dabbled in the Pedro Martinez sweepstakes, and now has Mark Mulder: 27 years old, 81-42 lifetime, one of the best left-handed starters of his generation.


As the Braves went to Oakland for Tim Hudson, so did the Cardinals to get Mulder to front their staff, a masterstroke by Jocketty to ensure that St. Louis will be right back in the NL Central hunt.


But the interesting side is what Oakland has done in the span of three days, trading .702 (Hudson) and .659 (Mulder) lifetime winners.


"We have to move forward, not slide backwards," said Oakland general manager Billy Beane, who with one of the game's five lowest payrolls, has had six years averaging 95 wins and seems positioned to go a decade without a losing season.


He acquired Danny Haren, whose 20-inning, 17-4 strikeout-walk ratio, 1.77 September ERA echoes his minor-league track record. He also got reliever Kiko Calero, who in two seasons has thrown 83 2/3 innings with just 56 hits allowed, striking out 98, while allowing just 30 walks. Calero has a 2.80 ERA, while allowing just a .193 opponents' average and a .615 opponents' OPS.


So, in three days, Beane has acquired two starters in Haren and Dan Meyer who slip right into the rotation behind Rich Harden, Cy Young Future, and Barry Zito, 26, Cy Young Past, with rookie Joe Blanton behind them. He has acquired two power relievers in Juan Cruz and Calero, a starting left fielder in Charlie Thomas and a potential hitting star in left-handed hitting catcher Daric Barton, just 19, whose A ball stats --.313, 36 extra base hits, 44 strikeouts, 69 walks -- are Pujols-esque.


Now he has depth and power in the pen after Octavio Dotel with Huston Street, Gairo Garcia, Cruz, Calero, Ricardo Rincon and Chad Bradford; he already has a pretty good trade offer for Cruz. Oh yes. The five players other than Bradford he acquired will cost less than $2 million in 2005.


"What I'm trying to do is set our pitching up for five years," said Beane. "That's something we can't do in free agency, so we have to be as creative as possible. There are risks, especially with so many young pitchers, but we have Harden, Blanton, Haren and Meyer for at least five years, Zito for two more."



So what Beane has tried to do is retool without falling too far back. "I felt badly for some of the teams that worked really hard on Hudson and Mulder," said Beane.


"But we had to get pitchers who can step in right away, and Meyer and Haren can do just that."



And the Cardinals will be right back in the high life, again.