OAKLAND, Calif. - For most of the 1990s, the Oakland A's won awards for their farm system. Not so anymore. In fact, the A's minor-league teams combined for a losing record last season and might repeat the feat this season.
The reason is simple: The A's have graduated so many players to the majors, and those they haven't have been traded to fill other needs.
Eight of the 25 players on the major-league roster are homegrown, and they're not just any eight. Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Tim Hudson won 56 games last season. Eric Chavez won a Gold Glove, Miguel Tejada hit 31 home runs. Catcher Ramon Hernandez and outfielder Adam Piatt are starters. Eric Byrnes is a reserve outfielder.
"The farm system for us is an asset that provides players and provides players for us to trade," said general manager Billy Beane.
In less than three years, Beane has traded 27 prospects. Three went in the deal for Jermaine Dye. Three more went for Johnny Damon, Cory Lidle and Mark Ellis. Last winter, Beane traded seven top prospects in separate deals for closer Billy Koch, outfielder David Justice, first-base prospect Carlos Pena and reliever Mike Venafro.
Those trades were made to help offset the free-agent losses of Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen and Damon.
"We are really not in the position where we get to go on the free-agent market," said Beane, whose team payroll is about $40 million. "So we have to use our farm system more than other clubs."
Most of the "can't-miss" prospects the A's traded have yet to hit.
Second baseman Jose Ortiz, the headliner in the deal for Dye, is barely batting .200 for Colorado. The other prospects in that trade - Mario Encarnacion and pitcher Todd Belitz - still are in the minors.
The hotshot shortstop the A's surrendered in the Damon deal, Angel Berroa, is batting less than .200 at Triple-A. Ben Grieve and A.J. Hinch, included in that trade, were Oakland products whose best days are behind them.
Three prospects who have had success are Eric Hinske and Justin Miller of Toronto and New York Mets minor leaguer Tyler Yates. But Hinske, whose 12 home runs lead American League rookies, was the price for Koch's 15 saves. And Yates brought Justice.
The jury remains out on Beane's biggest deal of the winter. For four prospects, including the minor-league Player of the Year (Jason Hart) and the organization's top pitcher (Mario Ramos), the A's got Pena and Venafro from Texas.
"We gave up some good players, but I'm also happy with the players we acquired," Beane said. "In most of those cases we had players up here who were very young and they were going to be behind, anyway. We're pleased with the results."
Nor is Beane displeased with the state of the farm system. The highest levels of the A's system have been thinned by the rapid progression of the homegrown talent, but there is heft at the lower levels.
The past three drafts have gone a long way toward restocking the talent - and trading - pool. This past draft, two weeks ago, was especially important because the A's had seven of the first 39 picks and they were operating without two chief architects, J.P. Ricciardi and Grady Fuson.
Still, the A's held to their course. Having used nine of their first 16 picks on pitchers in 2000, they took three more with their first six picks.
"We haven't had the opportunity to draft a Mulder or a Chavez or a Zito in the last couple of drafts because we've had success during the season and are drafting significantly lower," Beane said. "The one good thing is we've got bullets now."