Washington Nationals: Many limbs on the Gio Gonzalez trade tree
By TC Zencka
AJ Cole Branch
Now the big one. Like Peacock, AJ Cole never pitched for the A’s and actually was traded back to the Nats along with Blake Treinen and Ian Krol.
That trade was a three-teamer that netted John Jaso for the A’s, so let’s add his WAR to the group. Jaso was subsequently shipped to Tampa Bay as part of a package for new offshoots Yunel Escobar and Ben Zobrist.
Escobar never played for the A’s before he was traded to our Nats for Tyler Clippard. Clippard was sent to the Mets for minor-leaguer Casey Meisner, who remains a minor-leaguer, though no longer in the A’s system.
Zobrist played half a season in Oakland before he was traded to Kansas City for their 2015 title run. In return, Oakland netted pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea.
Brooks was flipped to the Cubs for OF Chris Coghlan, who was awful in Oakland before the A’s traded him back to the Cubs three months later for Arismendy Alcantara, who was also pretty bad for the A’s. Alcantara was selected off waivers by the Reds in 2016.
Sean Manaea is the current ace for the Wild Card likely 2019 A’s – and the most glaring “Buchter wrinkle,” so much so that I’m renaming this the “Manaea winkle”. Sorry, Buchter.
Manaea has accumulated 7.2 WAR thus far, which makes him the most valuable piece that Billy Beane and the A’s eventually squeezed out of Gio Gonzalez. For now, that ends AJ Cole’s limb of the Gio Gonzalez Trade Tree.
- John Jaso: 3.1 WAR
- Yunel Escobar: 0.0 WAR
- Tyler Clippard: 0.9 WAR
- Casey Meisner: 0.0 WAR
- Ben Zobrist: 0.8 WAR
- Aaron Brooks: -0.9 WAR
- Chris Coghlan: -1.6WAR
- Arismendy Alcantara: -0.3WAR
- Sean Manaea: 7.2 WAR
- Cole’s Branch: 9.2 WAR
Cole himself never played for the A’s, but he was their most valuable addition, clearly.