Early next week, Oakland executives will sit down to consider what they might get in return for trading pitchers Dan Haren and Joe Blanton. The Dodgers, who came close to a Blanton deal in July, have called, and so have the Mets; New York GM Omar Minaya has told players that he is going to make sure he lands a frontline starting pitcher this winter. Arizona might be involved, and the Yankees could be, too, since they have to protect against the possibility that Andy Pettitte will retire.
What the Athletics officials will probably do is target specific prospects in specific organizations, the way that the Marlins are doing in their
Miguel Cabrera trade talks. And if Oakland could get a haul of six or seven or eight young players for Haren and Blanton, the Athletics would have to take a hard look at it and consider whether the prospective deals would help to fill in the talent gap that the organization is suffering from these days.
And the potential trades of Oakland's pitchers would come like dominos, in all likelihood; if Haren were to be traded, then so would Blanton, in all likelihood, and then perhaps
Huston Street and others.
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Buster Olney
