[Hendu Style]

If you'll remember, the A's lost to the Royals in the 2014 AL Wild Card thanks to an endless siege of fireballing relievers. Greg Holland, Wade Davis, Yordano Ventura, Kelvin Herrera... so much for that pitchers duel between Jon Lester and James Shields. That bullpen would serve Kansas City well, all the way up to the World Series. You know the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." I'm taking that same approach to beat the Royals at their own game.

I was willing to do just about anything to land one of the top relievers in the game, even if that meant giving up a 30-homerun hitter and a closer who had saved 101 games over the previous two seasons. My prize was lefty flamethrower Aroldis Chapman. He had averaged a staggering 15.5 strikeouts per 9 innings over the previous two seasons. Chapman's only shortcoming was occasional bouts with wildness, which was to be expected of a pitcher throwing in the high 90's. It cost us dearly, as we lost our #5 hitter in the order, but we had acquired a true game changer in the late innings.

OAKLAND GETS:
LHP Aroldis Chapman* (38 saves, 2.54 ERA, 112 K in 63.2 IP)
*Cincinnati pays 75% of Chapman's $5.7 million salary

CINCINNATI GETS:
1B/OF Brandon Moss (.256, 30 HR, 87 RBI)
RHP Jim Johnson (50 saves, 2.95 ERA)
IF Eric Sogard (.266, 10 SB, 45 R)
OF Sam Fuld

With Cincinnati picking up all but $1.4 million of Chapman's 2014 salary, we cut a total $7.3 million from our ledger for the upcoming season, while paring another $4.4 million for 2015. We finally had the breathing room we were looking for with just under $1 million available for extensions.

Next, I set my sights on Royals reliever Wade Davis. The 28 year-old right hander had been in and out of Kansas City's rotation and bullpen, never really finding himself a home in either role. But with a 100 MPH fastball, he seemed like the perfect candidate to be a setup man for Chapman. He would be eligible for free agency, but I figured his asking price would be very low for an extension. The Royals' asking price wasn't high either, though it did cost me one of a starting pitcher and a middle reliever.

OAKLAND GETS:
RHP Wade Davis (8-11, 5.32 ERA, 135.1 IP, 114 K)

KANSAS CITY GETS:
RHP Dan Straily (10-8, 3.96 ERA, 152.1 IP, 124 K)
RHP Dan Otero (1.38 ERA, 39 IP, 27 K)

On paper, the Royals clearly got the better end of the deal. But neither Straily nor Otero has the upside of Davis, whose fastball tops out at 101 MPH. And with that, I had radically reshaped our bullpen, getting the two hardest throwers in baseball. Now I just had to find a way to replace the slugger and starting pitcher I had just traded away.