The Oakland Athletics have shipped outfielder Matt Murton to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a middle infielder prospect named Corey Wimberly. Wimberly was recently ranked the 26th best prospect in the Rockies minor league organization. He hit 291/.370/.345 in Double A for the Rockies.

Matt Murton who came to the A’s in the Rich Harden deal with the Chicago Cubs was sent over to the Rockies. I would assume he would get more playing time with the Rockies and might actually put up a little bit of power hitting at Coors Field for half a season. We wish Matt the best!

Veteran pitcher Russ Springer and the Oakland Athletics have agreed on a one-year contract for the 2009 season. Springer is a 16 year veteran and should be very valuable in the bullpen where the A’s are extrememly young. The contract is rumored to be in the $3 million range.

In the last two seasons with the St. Lous Cardinals, Springer went 10-2 with a 2.24 ERA and a .195 opponents’ batting average.

Good move for the A’s!

Jason Giambi and the Oakland Athletics will be re-united for the 2009 season as the two agreed on a contract Wednesday. Giambi was signed for one year but there is also a one year club option for the 2010 season. This will be the second stint with the A’s for the Giambi as he spent his first 14 years of his career in Oakland.

The contract includes a 2009 salary of between $4 million-$4.5 million, with the option worth about $5.5 million. An option buyout of $1.5 million and annual incentive packages worth up to $250,000 also are said to be part of the deal.

Decent deal for the A’s even though Giambi is getting up there in age. He can still swing the bat pretty good just not like he was before he left the A’s to goto the New York Yankees.

A’s Blog

The Oakland Athletics and the Colorado Rockies have reached a deal that would send outfielder Matt Holliday to the Oakland A’s. In exchange for Holliday, the A’s would be sending Greg Smith, Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez to the Rockies.

Holliday, playing half his games at Coors Field, has 128 homers and 483 RBIs in five big league seasons. His best year was 2007, when he won the NL batting title with a .340 average and had 36 homers and a league-best 137 RBIs in helping the Rockies reach the World Series.

It sounds like a lot to get Holliday especially when he will be a free agent after the 2009 season. His agent is Scott Boras as well so I don’t think the A’s will have the money to sign him to a long term deal.

What do you think about the deal A’s fans?

Second basemen Mark Ellisa and the Oakland Athletics have agreed on a new two year contract that includes an team option for the third year. The A’s mentioned early on that they would like to have Ellis back and Ellis didn’t want to go anywhere so working out the contract between both parties was pretty easy.

The two year contract will pay Ellis $11 million dollars while the third year would pay him six million dollars or a $500,000 buyout. Now the key for Ellis is staying healthy and playing great defense while hitting for average and getting on base.

Good signing as long as he stays healthy in my opinion.

Frank Thomas is back with the Oakland Athletics.  Thomas and the Athletics have agreed on a contract as Thomas will mostly be the A’s designated hitter.  Jack Cust will now see more action in left field while Emil Brown will get some at bats against left-handed pitchers.

The Athletics also placed Travis Buck on the 15-day disabled list and moved Eric Chavez to the 60-day disabled list.

The Oakland Athletics have signed veteran first basemen / designated hitter Mike Sweeney to a minor league contract.  Sweeney will also be invited to spring training, where he will work at getting a spot on the major league roster.  Sweeney will be taking a huge pay decrease after earning $11 million dollars each of the last 5 seasons in Kansas City. 

Sweeney will be battling for at bats against Dan Johnson, Jack Cust, and Daric Barton.  Sweeney should be able to get some at bats against left handed pitchers atleast. 

On Thursday evening, the Oakland Athletics signed closer Huston Street to a one year contract to what is believed to be worth $3.3 million dollars.  Good money for Street who is a pretty damn good closer.

I would have liked to see the A’s lock up Street with a longterm deal, say in the three to four year range but I think it came down to a money issue between both people.  The A’s as we all know don’t like giving out big pay raises to their players and Street is the next big A’s pitcher that you could possibly see get traded down the road.

Athletics Blog

The Oakland Athletics have traded centerfielder Mark Kotsay to the Atlanta Braves for Joey Devine and minor league pitcher Jamie Richmond.  I like the fact that the A’s are getting Devine who could become a stud setup man for Huston Street, but I don’t like the fact they are paying a lot of Kotsay’s contract for 2008.

I would have really liked this deal if the A’s weren’t paying so much of Kotsay’s contract for next year.  But I figure they made the trade to get something out of Kotsay before he left after next year via free agency.   So you give up something now, and get something now rather then nothing after next year.

What do the other A’s fans think out there?  Good trade or bad trade?

Athletics Blog

Billy Beane continues to rebuild the Oakland Athletics as he traded away Nick Swisher today to the Chicago White Sox.  In return, the Athletics will receive three minor league players from the White Sox.

Pitchers Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney are all headed to the Athletics.  Gonzalez is a pretty good pitcher who should be be up in the big leagues in a few years as long as he stays healthy.  De Los Santos will be a littler farther away as he mostly pitched in class A last year before getting called up to double and posted a 9-7 combined record.  Sweeny on the other hand I can see coming in and making the roster in 2008.  He batted .270 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 105 games at Class AAA Charlotte in 2007 and has some major league experience as well.

Athletics Blog