With props to my bro, this is an email he sent me...
Just a little more on the trade here...below is a quote from assistant David Forst about it all...
"We started this process last November [and] December and said we wanted to build a foundation and put together a group of players who would be here a long time," Forst said, adding that the hope was to re-create "what we had at the beginning of the decade,"
when young stars such as Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito helped put the A's back on the map.
I listened to the whole press conference...like 10 minutes and all, and Forst made it sound like the A's from last winter were planning on a full re-load of the roster to build a team that could be competitive for many years to come even if they only become competitive in 2009/10...
basically trying to build a team like the A's in 2000 which lasted a few years, so yea, I don't think being competitive is the top consideration for 08, but what the ey', if Beeane could put together a team that is competitive for 5 years starting next year, that doesn't sound like a bad plan, and you have to give them props for sticking to the plan while getting all this crap from the press saying that Beeane only likes to have a good player so that he could trade him.
Sounds to me instead that he has a good plan and is sticking to it, and so far with the A's over .500 this year, it seems to be working out just fine.
opcorn:
