A’s Are Down to a ‘Big One’

The Oakland Athletics traded their second top starter in three days, sending left-hander Mark Mulder to the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday for a package of prospects.

Mulder follows Tim Hudson out of town, leaving Barry Zito as the only remaining member of Oakland’s vaunted “Big Three.” Hudson was dealt to Atlanta on Thursday for three mostly unproven players.

“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves every year,” A’s General Manager Billy Beane said. “This is probably the most drastic.... There’s certainly some sadness losing first Tim and then Mark from a personal standpoint. Unfortunately, this is something we’ve had to deal with. We’re still the Oakland A’s. We’re still going to go on.”

Mulder could be the top-notch pitcher the Cardinals lacked when they got swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, but that’s if he’s healthy.

In return, the A’s acquired pitchers Danny Haren and Kiko Calero and minor league catcher Daric Barton.

“We’re extremely excited to have obtained a pitcher of Mark’s caliber,” Cardinal General Manager Walt Jocketty said. “He is the top-of-the-rotation-type pitcher we’ve been working hard to obtain this off-season. It was difficult to part with the three players we traded, but to acquire someone like Mulder we felt that this deal worked for us in several ways.”

Mulder replaces Woody Williams, who signed a free-agent deal this month with San Diego. Mulder will join Chris Carpenter, Jason Marquis, Jeff Suppan and Matt Morris in a rotation where all five pitchers won at least 15 games last season. Morris might not be available until May after off-season shoulder surgery.

Mulder might have some health questions of his own, especially after his perplexing finish to last season. But Beane said Saturday that Mulder was healthy.

The 6-foot-6 left-hander, the AL starter in the All-Star game, seemed destined for Cy Young Award consideration midway through the season, but went winless in his last seven starts -- 0-4 with a 7.27 earned-run average.

On Aug. 24, he became the first 17-game winner in the majors, then didn’t win again. There was speculation he was hurt and not telling anyone.

Mulder sat out the end of the 2003 season with a stress fracture in his right leg near the hip, then pitched a team-high 225 2/3 innings in 2004.

He repeatedly claimed to be healthy despite a drop in his velocity late in the year. Manager Ken Macha said the day after the season Mulder probably was worn down by his work load.

Mulder (17-8) pitched so poorly during the playoff push, the A’s briefly considered skipping his turn and using September call-up Joe Blanton during the final weekend against the Angels. Mulder did get the start but was knocked out after two innings, his shortest outing of the season -- and the A’s wound up missing the playoffs for the first time in five years.

After Hudson was swapped to the Braves, the news of Mulder’s departure was even more shocking. At least in Hudson’s case, there had been rumors swirling.

“What, you’ve got to be kidding me,” outfielder Eric Byrnes said. “Wow. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Haren, a 24-year-old right-hander, was 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 14 games, including five starts, in three stints with the Cardinals last season.

Calero went 3-1 with two saves and a 2.78 ERA in 41 relief appearances for St. Louis in 2004, allowing a .176 opponent batting average.

Barton was the Cardinals’ first-round pick (28th overall) in 2003.