"Jeremy Bonderman sure would look great in an A's uniform!"

I've heard this comment about a dozen times since the beginning of last season, since the Tigers and Bonderman became good. It's like a "Ha, ha! In your face, A's fan! Your GM traded this guy away! Ha, ha!" I just roll my eyes.

If you recall, Bonderman was the A's first round draft pick in the draft before the Moneyball draft. He's the guy who made Billy Beane throw a chair. Beane never really wanted him (probably because he looked great in a pair of Levi's), but, highly touted prospect that Bonderman was, he made his way to Detroit in a three-way trade with the A's and the Yankees in July of 2002. The Yanks got Jeff Weaver, the Tigers got Bonderman, Carlos Pena, and Franklyn German, and the A's got Ted Lilly, John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold.

This was a deadline deal, in which the A's and the Yankees were both in the thick of the AL pennant race. They both needed pitching, though the Yankees, of course, needed higher-profile pitching. And the Tigers? They were on their way to losing 106 games in 2002. They took this opportunity to sell off their best pitcher and beef up their farm system in the process.

This isn't an unusual occurrence. Deadline deals like this are made every year (though, as the market has changed, teams are less apt to give up prospects now than they were a few years ago). Yet, after a few years have passed, if said trade didn't lead to a World Series championship for one of the teams, it's used as a "Ha, ha!" moment.

I don't fault any GM who makes a deadline trade to try to better his team. If he makes the playoffs, he's done is job. As our favorite GM says, the playoffs are a crapshoot anyway. You have to get there first. Then, the hottest team takes over.

Jeremy Bonderman pitched Game 4 of the ALCS against the A's in 2006, 4 1/2 years after he last suited up as a member of the A's farm system. We all know who won Game 4. Sure, it would've been nice if it was the other way around. He would've looked great in an A's uniform, pitching the biggest game of his life that day. But I'll never feel like that trade shouldn't have been made. That's the beauty (and ugly) of a deadline deal.