A's Dismantle Their Rotation
I'll give BILLY BEANE the benefit of the doubt almost all the time. The TIM HUDSON trade was good. The A's received CHARLES THOMAS who had a nice rookie year, DAN MEYER who is a solid pitching prospect, and JUAN CRUZ who has a very live arm, from the Atlanta Braves. Given that the A's had to dump salary, this deal was good. I'm not so sure that Cruz will develop into a frontline starter like so many people have projected, I mean if LEO MAZZONE can't help this guy reach his potential, who can? Still though he is young and has filthy stuff.

The MARK MULDER trade puzzles me however. KIKO CALERO is a solid reliever who had good numbers in 2004, but he is 30 years old. DANNY HAREN is a young flame thrower who has had a lot of minor league success, and catching prospect DARIC BARTON has had a lot of success so far in his professional career. My only question is, how do you not get more for Mark Mulder?

I realize that they are dumping salary, but still, I would think that you could've received more.

Perhaps teams were scared off by Mulder's brutal finish in '04, but you would think he'll perform a lot more like the pitcher he was for his first 143 starts in his career, not his last seven.