Breaking the Seal

I used to own a bar and we were always looking for promotions or "gimmicks" to bring people in.  A couple of other bars in our area had a weekly event where for $5 you had all the beer you can drink...until you had to go to the bathroom.  Once you broke the seal on your bladder, the all-you-can-drink beer was over.  I always pictured people standing around doing the "pee-pee" dance until their bladders were about to exploded, trying to get that last glass of beer down, and then making a mad dash to the restroom.  I imagine that's what last weeks GM meeting was like as teams' GM's stood around doing the dance looking for potential deals, trying to get the last bit of information or leads on prospective trades before the seal breaks and the mad dash for deals start flowing.  Well, the seal has been broken as two trades went down yesterday.  The Washington Nationals stole Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham from the Florida Marlins, giving up a projected utility infielder and two minor league prospects with just average potential.  I don't get this deal from the Marlins side except it frees up some payroll, but Washington got two good players for relatively nothing.  Where was Angel's GM Tony Reagins when Florida was looking to deal?  If that's all the Marlins were looking for to deal Olsen and Willingham, two players who would fit nicely on the the Halo's roster, were the Angels involved in talks?  I haven't heard anything about the Angels involvement in acquiring Olsen and/or Willingham, but I'm disappointed that those two players aren't moving to Anaheim, especially at such a low cost.  The other deal has an impact on the 2009 Angels season as division rival Oakland A's traded for Matt Holliday.  I've always respected Oakland's GM Billy Beane for the bold moves he's not afraid to make for either immediate improvement or set his team up for future strengths. The deal has Holliday going to Oakland for pitchers Greg Smith and Huston Street, and OF Carlos Gonzalez.  It's rumored the Rockies will flip Street in another deal.  I'm not sure I believe Street will be traded again as he fills a need the Rockies have in their bullpen with the departure of Brian Fuentes, but if that's true hopefully the Angels could look into Street's availability.  With the addition of Holliday to the Oakland line-up, the A's may be putting themselves in a position to compete in 2009.  They were on the edge of competing in 2008 prior to their July trade of Rich Harden to the Cubs, basically giving up on the season and looking towards the future.  Apparently Beane thinks the future is now.  There were rumors Holliday might have been coming to Anaheim to play leftfield for the Angels, a move I wasn't too excited about because of Holliday's numbers away from Coors Field.  With Holliday moving from hitter-friend Colorado to the pitcher-friendly Oakland Coliseum, and the switch from the NL to the AL, one could expect to see a drop in his production.  But the deal is still a decent one for Oakland as they get a player who can put up respectable numbers, something Oakland's outfield has been missing for a couple seasons.  If the A's are truly making a play to compete in 2009, expect to see Beane make another deal or two to improve their pitching.  Here are some links regarding the two deals:  ESPN - Nats/Marlins, Fox Sports - Nat/Marlins, CBSSports - Colorado/Oakland, and Athletics Nation's take on the deal.  Now that the first significant off-season deals have been made, and the end of teams' exclusive rights to their free agents, we should see the Hot Stove start to heat up.

Daily Notes:

• Apparently I was wrong about the cost of Randy Johnson.  I was projecting Johnson as a possible addition to the Angles pitching staff at a reasonable salary.  What I was expecting as reasonable was a deal in the $5M - $7M range.  While my e