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The Goodbye of Moneyball Era

In het Colosseum te Oakland, zo Oakland Athletics - Cincinnati Reds kijken, minivideo:Oakland A’s all-time leader in games played at 2nd base, Mark Ellis, has been traded to the Rockies for a relief pitcher with 2 innings of big league work and some cash… may as well forget about the pitcher and hope we received a lot of cash… On the surface, it doesn’t seem right that an all-time Athletic great is traded for a nobody relief pitcher and a few bucks (even though the A’s need as much cash as they can get), but this is a necessary trade in a transition period of players for the A’s.

A few quick highlights of Ellis as an Athletic:

  • In 2005, he lead the team in average (.316), on base percentage (.384), and slugging percentage (.477).
  • In 2006, he set the single season AL record for a 2nd baseman with a .99685 fielding percentage, but Royal’s Mark Grudzielanek won the Gold Glove.
  • On June 4th, 2007, he became the 6th player in A’s history to hit for the cycle.
  • On August 5th, 2007, he tied the A’s team record for consecutive error-less games by a 2nd baseman at 70 games.
  • In 9 seasons with the A’s, Ellis has compiled over 1,000 hits, over 200 doubles, 533 runs scored, and 3 division titles.

Ellis will go down as one of Oakland’s all time great players and is one of those fan favorites that after he retires, the A’s will probably host an Ellis bobblehead day or another cheesy give-a-way that only the greatest players receive after retirement.

As the movie Moneyball is set to come out in September, the last remaining member (Ellis) of the “moneyball era” is no longer an Athletic.  A’s fans are sorry to see an Oakland legend no longer in uniform, but this trade needed to happen in order for the A’s to move on to the next generation of players.  As Weeks, Carter, and Sizemore seem to be making their place in the everyday lineup, a new generation of A’s players are taking the spotlight from great A’s players of the last 10 years.  Weeks single handily forced the A’s into trading Ellis.  After Ellis was put on the 15 day DL, the A’s brought up Weeks to fill the hole at second.  In the stretch Ellis missed due to injury, Weeks batted .309 with 3 triples, 7 doubles, and 6 stolen bases.  Compare that to Ellis’ .217 average and 11 doubles in 62 games, and it was obvious a move needed to be made.  And because of the history between Ellis and Billy Beane, even new manager Bob Melvin knew, “Beane was doing Mark a favor.  He wasn’t looking for the best deal for Mark.  He was looking for the best landing spot for Mark.”  Ellis is obviously worth more than a relief pitcher with 2 career innings pitched.  But Beane even recognized it was more important to put Ellis on a team where he can play every day.  How many GM’s would sacrifice more talent so the player being traded away lands on a good team?

After the emotional goodbye press conference with Beane and Ellis, the A’s look forward to the new homegrown talent to fill the shoes of the great moneyball players no longer in green and gold.

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