Revisiting the Gio Gonzalez trade

Gio Gonzalez had a great year with the Athletics in 2011. He went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA and had 197 strikeouts. Billy Beane and the entire Athletics front office knew that Gonzalez's value was extremely high and they decided to take advantage of it. They traded Gonzalez and pitcher Robert Gilliam to the Nationals for pitchers Brad Peacock, Tom Milone, and A.J. Cole. The Athletics also received catcher Derek Norris in the trade. Obviously, the Athletics gave up an All-Star pitcher about to enter his prime in Gonzalez, and they also gave up Robert Gilliam, a 24 year old pitcher who had a DECENT year in 2011, going 12-7 in single A with a 5.04 ERA. The Athletics received a boatload of prospects who they assume will be with the team for the foreseeable future and are capable of major contributions to the major league club. They received pitcher Brad Peacock, who had a great year in double a and triple a and made some good starts in the bigs at the end of the year. Tom Milone was another pitcher they received and he enjoyed a nice year in triple a with some spot starts at the end of the year for the Nationals. He went 12-6 with a 3.22 ERA in triple a and that skyrocketed his trade value. The centerpiece of the trade was top prospect A.J. Cole. Cole was the Nationals' 4th round draft pick in the 2010 draft. He has very good potential and the Athletics swooped in and grabbed him. Finally, catcher Derek Norris, was coming off of a down year in double a and he was expendable by the Nats because catcher Wilson Ramos was blocking his path to becoming an everyday big league catcher.

Nationals Receive:


Gio Gonzalez- 2-1 win loss record, 1.82 ERA, 10.3K/9
Robert Gilliam- Double A Stats: 1-3 win loss record, 5.03 ERA

Athletics Receive:


Brad Peacock-  Triple A stats: 2-1 win loss record, 3.49 ERA
Tom Milone- 3-2 win loss record, 3.69 ERA
A.J. Cole- Single A stats: 0-4 win loss record, 5.55 ERA
Derek Norris: Triple A stats: .304 BA, 3 Hr's in 101 at bats

Can Gonzalez continue his success?

Analysis:This will definitely take a long time to see who the winner of this trade will be. The Nationals have felt very good with Gonzalez's performance so far this season, and they must be happy that they locked him up to an extension that will keep him in a Nationals uniform through 2016, with options for 2017 and 2018. Robert Gilliam isn't performing very well but it seems like he was a throw-in that the Nationals received in order for the Athletics to get another prospect. As for the Athletics, they must be happy with what they received. Brad Peacock is doing well in Triple A and appears like hes ready for the show and Milone has proven that he can take on American League hitters and succeed against them. A.J. Cole is having a bad start but luckily for him he's only 20 years old and has time to learn from his mistakes. Derek Norris doing well in Triple A and even though he isn't hitting home runs, he's hitting for average and I think Billy Beane will take that. I'm assuming the Athletics will keep Norris in Triple A until they trade Suzuki at the deadline this season. Anyway, like I said earlier, its too early to determine who won this trade and there will definitely be pressure A.J. Cole to live up to his potential and pitch like the Athletics hoped he would.