Outside the Box

ESPN.com - Major League Baseball - Damon key figure in nine-player deal

This one came out of left field. Not many folks had the A's as players in the Johnny Damon sweepstakes.

Here are the players each team gets and gives up.

A's get Johnny Damon, Mark Ellis, Corey Lidle and a PTBNL
A's give Ben Grieve, A.J. Hinch, Angel Berroa, cash and a PTBNL or cash

D'Rays get Ben Grieve, and a PTBNL or cash
D'Rays give Roberto Hernandez and Corey Lidle

Royals get Roberto Hernandez, A.J. Hinch, Angel Berroa, and cash
Royals give Johnny Damon, Mark Ellis, and a PTBNL

Oakland - Is a year of Damon (and maybe more) worth the next couple years of Ben Grieve and A.J. Hinch? Hinch wasn't worth much to the A's given Ramon Hernandez and Sal Fasano. Berroa was a 20-year-old SS in the California League where he hit .277/.337/.434. Pretty decent numbers, but the A's are again very deep at SS. Ellis is an older SS, who is going to be 24, but has hit .311/.412/.424 in two minor league seasons. I'd probably prefer Berroa, but only barely. Naturally Ellis has much better plate discipline. Lidle had low BB totals last year for Tampa, but not much else to speak of.

I'd say the A's made essentially a Damon for Grieve trade. Damon is the better player right not, but I still think Grieve could be a great hitter, while Damon is about as good as he is going to get. Damon was worth 31 more runs offensively than Grieve and several more defensively. I think Grieve will close that gap next year, but the A's should still come out ahead.

It looks like the A's picked up two wins in this trade largely through improved defense as the outfield looks like Terrence Long, Damon and Adam Piatt/Jeremy Giambi rather than Long, Stairs and Grieve.

I'm guessing another reason for this trade is to build buzz around the Athletics. They may not resign Damon for 2002, but the added ticket sales from this move may let them keep Jason Giambi next year.

Kansas City - I suspect Rob Neyer and Rany Jazayerli will have some choice words for this trade, and I'll likely agree with them. For the Royals to win this trade they need Berroa to turn it up a notch, Hinch needs to build on his minor league numbers, and Hernandez needs two outstanding seasons any of which strikes me as 50/50 at best.

My philosophy is that when you trade a stud you need a potential stud back and none of these guys look like potential studs. Allard Baird at least followed a plan. He wanted a closer, a catcher and a shortstop and he got all three, but his number one chip is now gone.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays - Their outfield defense is going to flat out suck next year--Greg Vaughn, Gerald Williams and Ben Grieve. This is a team that might actually have a use for Brian Hunter or Tom Goodwin. Hernandez had little value to the Devil Rays, so turning him into Ben Grieve is a neat little trade. I'd say they are definite winners in this trade, though the trickle down through the roster will be interesting to see.

Overall - A's and Devil Rays win about two or three more games and the Royals lose three or four more (Hinch will be worth a game or two).