A's Say Goodbye to 'the Roys' at Winter Meetings

Post date: Feb 7, 2009 1:24:33 AM

"The Roys", Oswalt (L) and Halladay (R): both rotation mainstains were traded away

Roy Oswalt for five seasons and Roy Halladay for the past four have been the anchors of the Athletics pitching rotation in recent years. Oswalt three times and Halladay twice led the club in innings pitched during those five seasons. They are 1-2 on the A's career records lists for Wins (Halladay - 69, Oswalt - 66), Strikeouts (Oswalt - 683, Halladay - 674), and Innings (Halladay - 936, Oswalt - 868.)

Now all of those numbers are going to have to be replaced, as is a great deal of leadership in the rotation. During separate deals at the Winter Meetings, the A's traded their pair of aces who had become known to fans as 'the Roys' in deals that tbrought big bats in return which they hope have significantly bolstered their offense. Oswalt went first, packaged with 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman, outfielder Shane Victorino, 1st baseman Carlos Delgado, prospect arm Trevor Cahill, and a 1st round Amateur Draft pick in 2010 in exchange for young stud 3rd base phenom Evan Longoria. Halladay then went to New York along with outfielder Jeff Francoeur and prospect arm Jhoulys Chacin for slugging outfielder Matt Holliday, 25-year old lefty pitcher John Lannan, and a 2010 1st round Ammy pick..

"We were extremely dependant last season on our pitching and speed" said General Manager Matt Veasey. "We've struggled at the plate for the past couple of seasons, as far as producing runs goes, and we just felt like the championship allowed us to take a risk and move in a different direction for the future. We will never forget what the Roys did here, and guys like Francy, Zimm and Shane did excellent jobs. We are sure they will all help their new teams, and we aren't looking forward to facing them twice each year. But we absolutely love what Matt Holliday and Evan Longoria bring to our lineup, and we believe that we have a strong core of pitching with which to move forward, including both of last seasons MLB Cy Young Award winners and the MLB World Series MVP."

Manager Buck Showalter was a bit more restrained:."We traded away two of the best starting pitchers in the game today" said the A's skipper. "We all know how difficult that kind of consistently excellent pitching talent is to acquire or develop, so it will hurt us on the mound. At the same time, Matty and Evan are outstanding ball players, and our lineup should see a considerable boost. It's just going to be up to guys like Lee, Hamels, and Lincecum to lead the rotation now, and we're gonna need Wolfie and Lannan to pitch innings as well."

As the 2009 Winter Meetings came to a close the A's paired their active Majors roster down to 13 players, just one over the minimum and the lowest it has been in the club's history. "We are going to look at pitching, catching, and positional hitting depth when the Draft rolls around" said Veasey. "We are going in with no preconceived notions. We'll take the best player available at our slots that fit our needs at that point." When asked whether the club would cut down to the 12-man minimum, Veasey hedged: "It all pretty much depends on Mark Prior. If he looks ready to perform this year, we may stand pat. If he doesn't look like he can go, then we probably will be forced to release him and go to the minimum."