Rowand and Haren Reflections

Two big deals were made for the bay area teams this week: Aaron Rowand was signed by the Giants and Dan Haren was traded to the Diamondbacks. I like both of these deals, and I'll outline them separately.

First Aaron Rowand. Aaron Rowand is a gold-glove caliber Center Fielder, who will probably get just over 20 home runs, 10 stolen bases, and a high .280 BA. Aaron Rowand strikes me as a great #5 hitter, who will probably bat cleanup for the Giants pending a later addition. What excites me about this trade in particular is that this is the kind of signing the Giants need: Good glove run producers that don't involve giving up Lincecum or Cain.

If the Giants are going to have any success this year it's going to be "Lincecum and Cain and pray for Rain" (like Spahn and Sain.) It's going to be a team built around starting pitching, backed by Zito, Lowry, and either Sanchez or Correia. If the Giants could produce runs, they have three Starting Pitchers there perfectly capable of over 15 wins, and even Lowry could Joe Blanton his way into a 15 win season. What we need now is another run producer to hit in those 3-4-5 slots. The thought keeps going through my mind of Pat Burrell, as Brian Sabean likes trading for old guys who have strong second halfs, and he wouldn't be terrible.

Now on to Haren. The reports said that Beane would evaluate his plans after Wednesday's health meetings, and apparently they went poorly. Haren was traded to the Diamondbacks for six prospects, one of which is skill-wise an Outfield equivalent of Daric Barton. This is definitely a move for years to come--As one could argue that the A's traded their best player for nothing that's a sure deal. Much like the Tigers/Marlins trade a while ago, the A's basically revamped their whole Minor League system with this trade.

I like this too. It's good for the D-Backs as they obviously got a proven ace (to back up the amazing Brandon Webb) without taking a single piece off their 25 man roster. The A's now have a plan for working towards the new stadium, and anybody who isn't signed for 2011 has a future up in the air. Catfish Stew had a helpful chart to explain who that is, and I think Mark Ellis and Huston Street are the most probable to be traded. Ellis is basically Placido Polanco with less average and slightly more pop, and Street when on is one of the top closers in the league. I anticipate Beane will keep working on Rich Harden and Mark Kotsay until they have a good spurt, then push the trade button while the value is still something. He can't really get anything for the two of them, but if he can get 6 or 7 quality starts without injury from Harden, he could probably convince somebody that Harden is finally the pitcher we've hoped he would be.

So here we have the Giants making a move to make them not awful, and the A's making a move which places them basically out of contention for 2008. With the Angels having the same team as last year + Torri Hunter and Jon Garland but -Orlando Cabrera, and the A's having the same team but Joe Blanton as their ace, the outlook is dim. Wild Card looks dim too since they'll be battling the Yankees and Indians (having lost their spot to the now ridiculous Tigers.) Look for the Giants to place (not too distantly) 5th in the NL west again, but mostly because of the fact that the NL West is going to be the strongest division in the NL. As for the A's...look for them to fight the Mariners for 2nd in the AL west, mostly because the AL West is going to be the weakest division in the AL (outside of the Angels.)