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The Oakland Telegraph
3 December 2033
Monster trading day sees Oakland acquire superstars Strickland and Gonzales, as Carter, Morris, Boyd and Byrd depart
By Mora Andmoretrades, trading frenzy correspondent
Oakland fans were left stunned and a little shellshocked yesterday after GM Paulie Beane completed a series of multi-player trades with Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago Cubs, which have made his roster younger and, at the same time, stronger for next year. Rather than describe all the individual trades, which will take a while and make for a fairly dull read, let's just summarise the main personnel changes on the rosters. This may still be fairly dull, admittedly.
In the rotation, consistently inconsistent starting pitcher Greg Carter has departed for Boston, and replaced by 25-year-old righty Felipe Gonzales, who has arrived from the Pirates. Gonzales was the 4th overall pick of the 2029 draft. Last season he went 15-11 with a 4.08 ERA, but the A's are gambling on that being a down year, with scouts rating him the second best starter in the major leagues behind St. Louis's James Groves. Gonzales is on $15m this coming year, but still has three years of club control remaining in total so Beane will presumably aim to lock him up to a long-term deal.
Corner outfielder William Morris has also been traded, and replaced by Boston's superstar right fielder Serio Strickland. The 23-year-old left hander Strickland was the number one overall draft pick in 2031 and is already a two-time all-star. Scouts rate him the best corner outfielder in the majors, even ahead of Washington's batting record breaker Roberto Martinez. Last season he had a .410 on-base percentage and 1.012 OPS. He smoked 134 RBIs. He too is on $15m for 2034, after being a super-two qualifier for arbitration, but then has a further three years of club control remaining. He combines an incredible ability to make contact with great power. Yes, he sounds the opposite of a typical A's batter. A's fans, still remembering earlier in Beane's reign when the team specialised in grinding out low-scoring games, can't quite believe the look of the top half of their lineup now. Batting in positions 2 to 5 in their first choice line-up will be Dennis Hawkins, Luis Trujillo, Pepe Rios and Strickland. When they're on form they will be lethal.
Righty set-up reliever Nathan Boyd was moved to Boston as part of the deal to bring in Strickland. Beane didn't want to lose the highly rated 26-year-old, but felt with the likes of Esteban Mendez and Jin-woo Ni in the minors, he could be replaced almost like for like without weakening the relief corps very much. Mendez is the lucky man who gets the nod from Beane to start 2034 in the bullpen. Porter Hawkins, after a much improved season last year, takes on Boyd's righty set-up role.
Beane also tried to strengthen his portfolio of prospects in these trades. Arriving with Strickland from Boston is 1B prospect Donald James, a first round pick in 2029, while shortstop prospect Austin Allen, the tenth overall pick in 2032, joined from the Cubs. Both are projected to 4* potential by A's hitting coach Noah Hitter. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but we'll see. Oakland also bagged centre field prospect Peter Hamilton as part of the Strickland/James trade. Harrison was the #64 prospect at the start of this year.
Also departing the club were reserve starting pitcher Joe Byrd, who wasted one too many chances to secure a permanent berth on the A's active roster, and former first round draft pick Mark Jones, who was usurped as Trujillo's first base understudy by James.
Insiders say that a caffeine-propelled Beane somehow also found time these past few days to make contract offers to free agents, although this has not been formally confirmed by the club. His most pressing concern is a infield reserve to replace Juan Jimenez on the roster, with former Mets and Phillies shortstop Jake Smith believed to be Beane's first choice. Beane also reportedly offered contracts to outfielder Vicente Garcia and infielder Toyokazu Watanabe to return to the club as backups.
A breathless and breathtaking day for A's fans. It means their club will certainly enter the 2034 season as one of the favourites, but will they be able to live up to the hype? And can we ever write an article of this length without ending in a question or three? Well can we?
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