A Different Kind of Beane Deal; A's-Yanks

[theshow247]

I understand that Billy Beane's MO is to cut costs and stock pile youth for the next move, but this one just might be too beneficial to pass up; hypothetically.

A's deal P-Joe Blanton, 1B-Dan Johnson, and a low-level prospect

NY deals P-Chien-Ming Wang and 3B-Eric Duncan(former top 10 prospect)

For the Yanks, this deal fills three needs actually. First of all, they get an experienced, yet still young, power pitcher to be the workhorse of their in the near future rotation of Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy. Secondly, Johnson, being a natural 1B, gives them a better option than the recently invited to camp Morgan Ensberg; a 3B attempting to make the cross the diamond move to stay in the bigs. Lastly, they do not appear to not want to give Wang a multi-year extension at this time, and are not necessarily close going into their arbitration hearing. By making the deal the Yanks get an extra year of service time out of Blanton, and get value for Wang, without risking him being offended by the arbitration proceedings and walking.
For the A's, this move goes against the core concepts that Billy Beane has made practically gospel in Oakland. Although, just because the A's deal for Wang doesn't necessarily mean that he will be the one pitcher that is able to pull a long-term extension out of the A's. Wang has this coming season before free agency; hello money ball. Essentially what Beane does is acquire a better commodity(Wang>Blanton), and, in doing so, Beane can get a better package come the trade deadline. Speaking of money, attendence in Oakland, let's face it, is less than stellar, but, with Wang, the A's will have a near sellout every 5th day, much in the same way the Dodgers and Mariners have taken advantage of their large surrounding Asian community. In addition, with Duncan, the A's get a potential replacement for Eric Chavez down the road. Duncan, a one-time fast rising, hot prospect in the Yankees system is the prototypical Beane guy, with a history, albeit in minors and short in length, of being a contact hitter, with a OPS, and the potential of having above average power.

[HCYanks]

Umm... you're way off on a few things here:

-Joe Blanton has a full three years of service time under his belt. Wang only has two and change. No benefit to the Yankees there, and there's no real reason to switch from Wang to Blanton.

-Dan Johnson is a marginal first baseman, and wouldn't really be an upgrade over the glut we have now. Ensberg would have no problem making a switch to first; the question with him is whether he can stay healthy and be productive.

-Eric Duncan is considered a bust at this point, possibly because the Yanks tried to move him through the system too fast. He's probably not even in our top 30 prospects anymore.

So yeah, I don't see what this deal accomplishes.

[Basketball Jesus]

You

[moocow007]

Why would the Yankees trade a 27 year old pitcher that has won 19 games in each of the last two seasons (that's 38 wins in 2 years), who came in 2nd to Johan Santana in Cy Young voting in 2006 and who throws consistently in the 94-96 mph range with his hard sinking fastball to get a "power" pitcher?