I would have had the Dave Roberts trade up there where KT looked like he was giving up a lot (Jay Payton, Ramon Vazquez, David Pauley) but those guys did next to nothing before going to free agency or getting released.

I also think the Ramon Hernandez trade was a good one. Terrance Long was a bust, but Kotsay was hurt a lot and even though he was on the A’s after Ramon was gone, it was only because he avoided free agency by signing an extension.

Also, I think the Cameron for Nady swap worked out well for us.

Both Greg Vaughn trades were pretty good too (although the acquisition trade was much better). In the acquisition trade we gave up a whole lot of nothing to get 2+ years of Vaughn, including an MVP caliber 1998. When we traded him away we got Reggie Sanders (which helped get Klesko) and the youthful years of Damian Jackson while the Reds got only 1 year of Vaughn before losing him to free agency.

And, of course, where is the Mirabelli for Meredith and Bard swap. I guess we’ve soured on this one a little, but they were both great in 2006 and pretty good in 2007. I guess the problem is that we effectively traded 1 year of Loretta for 2+ years of Bard and 2+ years and counting of Meredith and we miss Loretta more than we currently like Bard or Meredith.

I mean think about it, Phil Nevin and his awesome offensive years in Qualcomm for Andy Sheets.

I like Giles too. Yes, his offensive downturn is one big quibble, but the guy is a ballplayer and team leader. The unquibbling way he plays the game makes him enjoyable to watch. I do sometimes have quibbles and think “damn, wish we still had Bay,” but the only quibble I have about that is that maybe Bay would not have been as good in Petco. Oliver Perez? Bah. His inconsistency and attitude are quibbling.