The 2011 St. Valentine's Massacre

Post date: Apr 2, 2011 3:45:05 PM

The A's said goodbye to the greatest player in franchise history, Chase Utley, and his double play partner Jimmy Rollins

At the Winter Meetings in January, just over two months ago, A's GM Matt Veasey was being lauded for adding arms to bolster what was perceived as the team's lone weakness in an injury-marred 2010 season.

The A's appeared to be ready to challenge for a return to the top of the Owens/East Division standings, extending their own WFBL record for consecutive winning seasons to 11, and possibly challenging for their 3rd WFBL Championship.

And then Valentine's Day came.

It was sometime right after the holiday for lovers that the organization began to evaluate the club for 2011, and began to consider a change that would alter the organization permanently. And it all started out with the decision to pursue a single player.

That single player was nothing less than the top prospect in baseball, perhaps the most hyped prospect in decades were it not for the last most-hyped mega-prospect, the A's own pitcher Stephen Strasburg. That player was outfielder Bryce Harper, and he belonged to the A's main eastern rivals in recent years, the Montreal Expos.

"We talked about a shift in direction as an organization" said Veasey. "I had to make sure that Buck (manager Buck Showalter) was going to be on board, and to his credit, Buck got into all the trade negotiations closely. Once it got underway, he was fully and intimately involved."

The big move was that first move, because, as Veasey tells it "if we couldn't pull off that one, we might have scuttled the whole idea." That move was the offering of ace starting pitcher Tim Lincecum, himself still just 26 years old, to Montreal in exchange for Harper. This move would clearly make the defending division champ Expos the front-runner for the 2011 WFBL title, clearly put them ahead of the A's in the short term.

"We knew if this one did go down, we had to commit fully to a complete rebuild, and get aggressive with it quickly" said Veasey. Montreal GM Patrick Guttin Murphy struggled over the deal, but within a couple days it was completed. As Showalter tells it, the realization was a mixture of euphoria and insanity: "We were ecstatic about bringing in Harper, but wondering if we were insane trading the best pitcher in our history."

The first domino had fallen, and Veasey got on the phone and began to burn up the lines, making offer after offer, and consumating deal after deal. Justin Morneau to expansion Houston. Brad Penny to expansion Detroit. Chad Billingsley to Georgia. KRod to Vegas. Huston Street added to the Montreal deal when it expanded. And all that was still just the beginning.

"The two hardest deals in the end were the Horsham and Omaha trades" says Showalter. "We were saying goodbye to cornerstones, to guys we love, and cutting almost all ties with our past." Off to Horsham went the club's all-time greatest player, 2nd baseman Chase Utley, along with Jimmy Rollins and Brett Myers. Off to Omaha went young all-star Evan Longoria and closer Joakim Soria..

By the time that the week, which opened with Valentine's Day on Monday, had ended, gone were Lincecum, Longoria, Utley, Rollins, KRod, Soria, Morneau, Billingsley, Myers, Penny and more. It has become known in Philadelphia now as "The Philly Saint Valentine's Massacre" for obvious reasons.

So the most important question, perhaps, is why? Why completely gut a contending team? "We looked it all over with clear eyes, and really didn't believe that, barring some stroke of great fortune, that we could win at the level the new WFBL format is going to require" said Veasey bluntly. "We saw the club aging in spots, and just simply decided to try to cash as many chips in as we could for blue chip prospects, with the belief that if we did it right, we would be legitimate contenders again in a few years, and for a long time."

The team kept some young players to build around including starting pitchers Cole Hamels, now clearly the staff ace, Wade Davis, Rick Porcello and Jordan Zimmerman. They kept monster outfielder Mike Stanton, emerging catcher Matt Wieters, talented outfielder Logan Morrison. Prospects like the Tommy John-recovering Strasburg, 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon, shortstop Manny Machado, outfielders Desmond Jennings and Jackie Bradley Jr, and pitchers Gerrit Cole and Martin Perez remained.

Added to this young core of the rebuilding A's following the trades are Harper, shortstop Ian Desmond, and a trio of 1st basemen: Gaby Sanchez, Eric Hosmer and Anthony Rizzo. A ton of top young pitching arms was added including Jameson Taillon, Kyle Gibson, Matt Purke, Stetson Allie, Dylan Bundy, Chris Withrow and Taijuan Walker.

It wasn't just players that the team added to build with, but also high Amateur Draft picks. The A's now control five 1st round picks in this year's Ammy Draft, four 1st rounders in 2012, and five more 1st rounders in 2013. Clearly the goal is to keep the top rated talent flowing into the organization as the decade moves along.

"The plan is not for now, it's not for next year even" said Veasey. "It's a master plan for success at such a talent level as to return the organization to the top of the East and the top of the WFBL, hopefully before the middle of the decade, and then continuing forward again with all the perpetual success as our fans have grown accustomed to."

Showalter, the man who signed a contract extension next year, and whose support was key to any chance this "master plan" has for success, is excited. Showalter has always been a teacher as well as a strategic mananger, and looks forward to the challenge. "We're probably going to have a couple tough years here, but we will be back, and we'll be back for good. This organization knows what it's doing, and we are dedicated to winning here longterm."

The fans in Philly have filled the riverfront Liberty Bell Park ever since it opened back in 1999. Those fans have gone through denial, anger, and acceptance. Now those fans and the entire organization look forward to uncharted waters in 2011, predicted to finish in last place. But they will root for a surprise, and look forward with excitement as the young kids begin to emerge from the system over the next few seasons.