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The Big Three
by Asher B. Chancey, BaseballEvolution.com
September 3, 2006


And Speaking of Billy Beane . . .
Seems like we always are, but, I think this is worth mentioning.

In my opinion, not nearly enough attention has been paid to two moves Beane made a couple of seasons ago which have paid off big time for the A's.

Remember just a few short years ago when "the Big Three" was the nickname given to Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, and Barry Zito? I can recall rolling down Interstate 10 with Keith and Scott on our way to get All You Can Eat Sushi, and positing the following – "Can we stop calling them the Big Three yet? I mean, Zito has been mediocre for two years since his Cy Young Award."

In my opinion, when Beane dealt Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder in – what was it, the same hour? – I thought it was unfortunate that Barry Zito had become such a bozo that Beane couldn't even work a trade for him.

(Before the angry emails start, Hudson was dealt 12/16/04, and Mulder was traded 12/18/04.)

Well, two short years later, Mulder has had one year of good but not great, and one year of "wheels coming off the bus" in St. Louis, while Hudson has had one year of kind of not that good, and really not that good in Atlanta.

That gets a serious whodathunkit from me, though I know already that Keith thunk it. In fact, on that same trip I recall Keith saying something like "You really can't even call it the Big Two" in response to my comment.

Anyway, the players that Hudson and Mulder have left in their wake have been leagues better than "the Big Two" since they were traded away. For starters, Mulder makes over $7 million this year, while Hudson makes $6.5 million, while the guys they were traded for make a fraction of either of those salaries combined.

The Hudson trade really just saved Beane money and a spot in his rotation. The A's got Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer, and Juan Cruz. Thomas has been a non-issue, playing 30 games in 2005, and none this year, Meyer has yet to play a game in the majors since the trade, and Cruz was lousy in 30 innings with the A's last year before moving on to Arizona in 2006.

But the Mulder trade has just turned out silly, especially with Mulder self-destructing this season. In return for Mulder, the A's received Daric Barton, Kiko Calero, and Dan Haren. While Barton has yet to debut, he is currently hitting .259 in AAA with an OBP 130 points higher at .389. Those are Moneyball numbers big time. All Calero has done is strike out better than a batter an inning and keep his WHIP and his opponents' batting average low in two seasons as a work-ant middle reliever. Danny Haren, meanwhile, has been rock solid, keeping his ERA in the threes, working up to a nearly 4:1 K/BB ratio this year, and providing stability in the A's rotation. Haren is only 25 and is about to have pitched 200 innings for the second straight year. And oh by the way, he is only making $550,000 to make Mulder and Hudson look bad.

Meanwhile, the true surprise of the whole deal has been none other than Barry Zito. Maybe it was my mistake, but I took it as a foregone conclusion two seasons ago that Zito's career was behind him, and he would be a Mike Moore type for the rest of his career. However, while Mulder and Hudson have struggled in the American League, Zito has rebounded and been downright solid for the last two years. After posting an 11-11 record with a 4.48 ERA in 2004, his W-L percentage has gone up and his ERA down this season and last. I mean, he is still Barry Zito – not a lot of Ks, opponents hitting him pretty solidly – but if you would have told me he would be the best of "the Big Three" in 2006, I would have laughed.

Not to seem too rose-colored for you, the A's pitchers have some problems. Last season, both Rich Harden and Joe Blanton looked like they were ready to emerge as superstars. But Joe Blanton is getting hit pretty hard this year – opponents hitting .300 against him – and Rich Harden has missed almost the entire 2006 season with elbow issues. Thus, Beane still finds himself starting Kirk Saarloos and Esteban Loaiza every fourth and fifth days. But it could be worse.

Hell, two years ago I might have been willing to accept the notion that Harden, Haren, and Blanton would compare, in 2006, to Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. I would never have guessed that I would be comparing Esteban Loiaza and Kirk Saarloos to Hudson and Mulder, and finding that the current A's took the day over the former ones.


Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Asher resides in Philadelphia, PA, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.


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