Holliday is finally gone. In one of the most predictable moves of the season, the Oakland A’s finally traded big bat Matt Holliday to the St. Louis Cardinals. The A’s have been a small name team for the last 20 years or so.

Since the fall of the Bash Brothers era (steroids!) the A’s have signed small names with big ambitions. And for the most part it has worked out pretty well. Until this season the A’s have almost always been a late season contender. Money Ball was oft cited as the reason. Since the book about it went big time it hasn’t been working so well, perhaps Billy Beane’s secret of looking for guys with high On Base Percentage has been disseminated across the league now… Ever since A’s fans heard of Holliday wearing the Gold & Green there has been a wary eye on the trade board. “Where will he go?”  “Who will we get?”  Well, today we know. The A’s get three prospects: Brett Wallace (3B), Shane Petersen (OF) and Clayton Mortensen (RHP).  

Apparently the grab here is Wallace. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney he is one of those OBP guys that Beane likes, plus he plays the infield, which the A’s have been looking for. I remember the days of sitting in a crowded third deck (now closed to public) listening to roar of the Oakland crowd as McGwire stepped to the plate, or Canseco, or watching Eckersley come in and end a game on four awesome pitches. Holliday seemed for a brief moment to be one of those types of players, but A’s fans knew it was not to be. The team is too weak, Holliday not enough and the budget woefully small to field a team like that. So, here’s to three prospects and the 2010 season. “Let’s go Oakland!”