Here's a Thought: Examining Both Matt Holliday Trades

Last offseason, the A's sent Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, and Huston Street to the Rockies for Matt Holliday. Today, they unloaded Holliday to the Cardinals for Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen, and Shane Peterson. I'd like to take a look at this trade in a big-picture sense. So forget Holliday. Over the past year, the A's traded three young players for three different young players. Did they ultimately get the better end of that deal? The A's sent out Gonzalez, Street, and Smith, and received Wallace, Mortenson, and Peterson. To examine how well the A's did, let's break each group of three down into a "primary" player (the key to the deal), a "secondary" player (also important to the deal), and a "tertiary" player (needed for the deal, but more of a throw-in).                    Traded               AcquiredPrimary         Go...