A's well-armed thanks to deals

OAKLAND -- A's general manager Billy Beane was out of the country, touring baseball academies in the Dominican Republic with team owner Lew Wolff earlier this week, when he heard that his team had a big problem.

Some baseball pundits apparently wondered what Beane was going to do when Rich Harden returned from the disabled list. That would give the A's six quality starters and only five spots in the rotation. They'd have to make room for an ace in a rotation that boasts the lowest earned run average in the big leagues.

Oh, the humanity. What's a general manager to do? Beane had to laugh.

"You should have seen my problems a year ago," Beane said Wednesday before the A's 6-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles. "We've got spots for all our good pitchers."

The A's will handle their immediate "problem" by moving Chad Gaudin to the bullpen -- Harden will return to the rotation Sunday against the Texas Rangers.

And if other teams want to call and make offers for, say, any of the A's current or exiled starting pitchers, well, Trader Billy said he is more than willing to listen.

"You're always looking for opportunities," Beane said.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that Beane is in such an enviable position of being overstocked with starting pitchers so soon after the offseason extreme makeover.

Last season the A's had an injury-ravaged, patchwork rotation. Once the 2007 agony ended, Beane went to work. He traded ace Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks

and Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for a wealth of prospects. Most of them, by design, were starting pitchers -- the type of talent Beane said the A's can't afford on the free-agent market and must develop themselves.

"The thing you can't avoid in this game is that A, if you have pitching, you've got a chance (to win) every game, and if you don't have it, it makes for a long, long rebuild," Beane said. "So that was the theory that we absolutely wanted to set out to address in the long-term as much as anything."

Beane's long-term pitching project is well ahead of schedule thanks in large part to Greg Smith and Dana Eveland, both acquired in the Haren trade. They've moved into the rotation and pitched better than expected this year.

"This is the spot we were hoping we'd be in," Beane said. "We didn't necessarily think we'd be in it this early."

By wheeling and dealing, Beane did more than find some immediate help for the A's rotation. He also restocked the A's farm system with tantalizing pitching prospects.

The A's landed lefty Gio Gonzalez and righty Fautino De Los Santos, two of the White Sox's top prospects, in the Swisher deal. Lefty Brett Anderson was the most highly touted pitching prospect the A's landed in the Haren trade.

Those prospects joined, among others, hard-throwing Henry Rodriguez, a non-drafted free agent from Venezuela, signed by the A's in 2003; James Simmons, a first-round draft pick last year; and Trevor Cahill, a second-round choice in 2006.

"As happy as we are with the guys here, we've got some kids coming that are as good as we've had here since I've been here," Beane said.

Let that statement sink in. Better than Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito when they were known as the Three Aces? Not bad.

With the A's pitching so well and winning so often -- they're 22-14 after sweeping the Orioles -- there's no need to rush any of these pitching prospects to the majors.

"The better you play here, the more you sort of get to be patient down there, which is ideally what you want," Beane said. "You want them to force themselves into it. Rich Harden had to do it. Zito and those guys had to do it."

If Beane wants to make another deal, he has plenty of trade ammunition from a group of current and former starters who entered Wednesday's game with a combined ERA of 3.31.

Start with Gaudin. He was 3-2 with a 3.75 ERA before being demoted. After the game, a grim-faced Gaudin hardly sounded like a happy camper.

"All I can say is, wherever I'm at I'm going to pitch good," Gaudin said. "What can I say?"

Then there's Blanton, the subject of numerous trade rumors during the offseason. He pitched 5ª innings Wednesday, giving up eight hits and two runs but getting no decision. Blanton, a hard-luck 2-5, lowered his ERA to 3.82.

Harden, he of the amazing heat and fragile body, is the wild card in this bunch. Unless he proves he can stay healthy, he won't bring much if anything in a trade. But if he surprises us and strings together some healthy, dominant starts, then Beane would have a valuable chip.

There's always a chance that Beane will stand pat. As long as the A's keep riding this pitching-fueled wave of success, that shouldn't be a problem.

Contact Eric Gilmore at egilmore@bayareanewsgroup.com.