Don't be fooled by A's spending -- Beane hasn't changed philosophy

The A's traded for Matt Holliday to give their young pitching staff some room for error. Brad Mangin/SI Jonah Freedman's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Jonah. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Jonah Freedman on Twitter

To say pigs are flying around the Oakland Coliseum this offseason may be a bit of an overstatement. But the way the A's have been going about their business this winter definitely has a different smell to it.

For one, they opened their checkbook and brought back one of their most popular and successful homegrown stars, former American League MVP Jason Giambi, on a one-year, $5.25 million deal. They also offered Rafael Furcal an eye-popping $40 million over four years in an audacious bid to lure the All-Star shortstop up the coast from L.A. (which he turned down to return to the Dodgers).

But what really moved the needle was when GM Billy Beane traded Huston Street, Greg Smith and Carlos Gonzalez to the Colorado Rockies in November for five-tool outfielder Matt Holliday. That bold swoop marked two major departures from business as usual in Alameda County:

1. It's the first time during Beane's tenure the A's made a play for an established, non-homegrown slugger in his prime since they landed Johnny Damon from Kansas City in 2001.

2. Perhaps more tellingly, Holliday's $13.5 million salary in '09 officially makes him the highest-paid A's player -- ever. In cost-conscious Oakland, that's the equivalent of buying a Hummer to add to a fleet of Toyota Priuses.

In short, the A's spent some money this offseason, and they're probably not done. They'll likely add one more piece from a thinning free-agent pool -- perhaps Orlando Cabrera after Furcal's rejection, or maybe even a veteran bat like Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu -- as well as a couple more spare parts. When the team takes the field on Opening Day, the payroll could end up in the neighborhood of $65 million, the second-highest it has ever been. To the naked eye, it looks as if Beane and the A's might be making a steep departure from their famous Moneyball days.

But the best part for A's fans is the mouth-watering prospect that all of a sudden Oakland has a middle of the order that includes Giambi, Holliday and a finally-healthy Eric Chavez. If that trio holds recent averages, that's combined production that could be good for 100 homers and 350 RBIs, a throwback to the '01 squad that featured power-hitting Giambi, Chavez and Miguel Tejada.

"Actually, I'm more excited about how they'll protect the pitching staff," A's manager Bob Geren told reporters last week, when asked about his new middle of the order. "When you have guys with big-number potential, your pitchers can pitch more aggressively."

And all of a sudden it becomes clear -- this isn't some rash evolution of baseball's shrewdest team-builders. The A's are simply taking out an insurance policy on their bread and butter: talented, young pitchers. It's the same thing Beane & Co. have been doing for years, but with different faces.

In '04, the A's began the dismantling of their original Big Three: Mark Mulder was traded to St. Louis, Tim Hudson soon was dealt to Atlanta and Barry Zito was allowed to walk two years later for a mammoth nine-figure contract across the San Francisco Bay. Late in '07, it was the second Big Three that was broken up: Dan Haren was dealt to Arizona, Rich Harden was sent to the Cubs the following July and Joe Blanton was shipped off to Philadelphia nine days later.

Coming into '09, it's a new set of talented young hurlers that Beane hopes will make up a third trinity, or perhaps an entire rotation: ace Justin Duchscherer (easily the old man at age 31), Dana Eveland (25), Sean Gallagher (23), Dallas Braden (25) and Gio Gonzalez (23).

It's been this way since Beane assumed the GM gig in '97: Surround young, unproven talent with inexpensive veterans on the downside of their careers. Spend the bulk of the team's resources on developing pitching prospects into top-of-the-line major-league starters. Then either trade them for more prospects -- or let them walk -- when their market value becomes too high and reinvest that money.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

"Ultimately, our long-term success is based on these pitchers coming up," Beane told SI.com. "And [Holliday] in an indirect way will help them quite a bit by helping score some runs."