The Futility Infielder

White Flag

In the most baffling trade of the season so far, if not the decade, the Oakland A's shipped out Jeremy Giambi to the Philadelphia Phillies for futilityman John Mabry. Predictably, the move has drawn the ire not just of A's fans, but of statheads sympathetic to the A's cause and cognizant of Little G's qualities as a player. No, he's not as good as his brother, but guys who post .390 OBPs with moderate power don't exactly grow on trees. Over on Baseball Primer, the news spread like wildfire, generating over 270 posts in the first two and a half hours after the news broke.

This trade is so lopsided it wouldn't pass muster in a fantasy league (such as the ESPN one I belong to, where I just lost one of my more productive hitters, which probably explains why I'm so outraged). But Major League Baseball doesn't have a "challenge" button for trades. A's GM Billy Beane, who has made his name by fleecing less astute GMs (read: Allard Baird) out of quality players like Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and--whaddaya know--Jeremy Giambi--and turning freely available talent into useful commodities, clearly got fleeced here. Mabry is a 31-year old futilityman who in 10 years has a chance to be 41. Very little power, lousy on-base skills, and a lifetime 63.00 ERA--Wade Boggs he ain't. There's absolutely no upside to be had here. Mabry will help the A's most by keeping the bench planks from warping.

The A's have officially raised the White Flag, not only with this trade but also with their actions over the last couple of days. They demoted highly-touted rookie first baseman Carlos Pena (another Mendoza Line Driver, not coincidently) based on a 4-for-37 May performance, as well as second baseman Frank Menechino and reliever Jeff Tam. They're struggling, clearly, but even so, the team's in no worse a hole than they were at this point last season. Of course, without a Giambi or two to lead the turnaround, they're probably sunk. John Mabry ain't gonna lead no second-half wild-card charge.

Much has been made over in the Primer thread about Little G being busted for carrying a considerable amount of marijuana back in December. Perhaps Beane thinks or knows that Giambi is about to have even further legal difficulties, or that he's done something else which crossed the line. But short of Phillies GM Ed Wade possessing photos of Beane in a compromising position (how does last place in the AL West sound?), this makes no damn sense whatsoever. I'm as stumped as everybody else.