Took our damn pitcher........
Damn you MLB and no salary cap. Makes rooting for the A's kinda hard....
No worries my friend. In 2010 we'll have a new ballpark and that will stem the tide of the players leaving Oakland.
As much as I love Zito, I don't love him enough to make him the highest paid pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball.
If Harden is healthy he is a TRUE #1 pitcher and the ace of the staff. Throw in the continued ascension of Danny Haren and Joe Blanton and we have the making of a pretty good 1 through 3, with or without Zito. Loaiza is a serviceable and somewhat frustrating #4 and one of Kennedy, Gaudin, Windsor, Komine or Dan Meyer will fill out the #5 spot.
The bullpen is fine, as long as Huston Street gets healthy.
I think (speaking from a partial homer, partial objective point of view) the pitching is in good hands, as long as Harden stays in one piece for a whole season for once. You'd have to ask other points of view on this because, like I said, I'm a homer....LOL!
I'm a lot more worried about scoring runs then the pitching.
This is where MikeO chimes in with "they'll fold up in the playoffs again"...well, I just hope they make it there so they have a chance to fold up.