Last year the Oakland A’s made big noise in the acquisition of Matt Holliday. Unfortunately, it also meant that the A’s gave up talent to the Colorado Rockies to get him and now that talent is doing so much more than Holliday did in an A’s uniform.
This trade by far was the worst decision Beane has ever made for the A’s. He gave up Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, and Huston Street to bring Holliday over from the Rockies. Holliday didn’t win many fans in Oakland with his lackadaisical play and his slow start to the season.
He eventually was traded on July 24th, 2009 to the St. Louis Cardinals and the A’s brought in Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson, and Clayton Mortensen. Only Mortenson has seen time in the big leagues for the A’s. Wallace was traded this off season to the Toronto Blue Jays for Michael Taylor.