Originally Posted by KalDanielsfan
because Billy Beane is smart enough to know his A's arent winning a World Series this fall, and knows Zito is leaving and he wants to at least get something for later down the road versus getting nothing.
a guy on 710 AM here in Los Angeles made a great point about what teams do (at the cost of somewhat deceiving fans)
Almost all small market teams will trade for young talent, groom their talent in the minors, bring them up to the majors for 3-6 years while still under a rookie contract, turn them into superstars, then when trade them for young talent again (restarting this entire cycle) versus having to pay a huge contract or lose the star for nothing
This way, they have a constant cycle of good young talent coming out and performing for relatively cheap, while winning some ball games, the fans think they are actually competing for a W.S. title when really the owners/gms are content with just "being in it" while keeping payroll down