Yet another addition to the A’s disabled list Saturday, and this was an odd one. Daric Barton went on the DL with a stiff neck, complications from an unusual accident over the All-Star break. Barton dove into a swimming pool, not realizing how shallow it was, and struck his head on the pool floor. Barton said he never lost consciousness, but he suffered a substantial cut on top of his head that required a trip to the ER. He received six staples to close the gash, though they’ve since been removed. The lingering neck pain isn’t severe, but it was enough to keep him out of the lineup for a few days anyway, so the A’s recalled first baseman Wes Bankston, who started Saturday.

Considering the circumstances, it’s good to see Barton didn’t hurt himself more severely. But the whole turn of events has him in hot water with A’s manager Bob Geren, who called the incident a “careless mistake.” I can see why he’s upset.  Managers come out of the All-Star break assuming their players will be well rested, not nursing new injuries.  

Barton is having a tough year hitting-wise, and I can’t imagine this will do much to help his cause. Will the A’s chalk this up as a lesson learned by a 22-year-old rookie and leave it at that? Maybe. The A’s  think highly of Barton’s potential.  He’s one of the centerpiece players in this youth movement they’re emphasizing, and they’ve stuck with him in the lineup though he’s hitting just .224. But Bankston got lots of playing time during his most recent call-up, much of it at Barton’s expense, and if Bankston keeps hitting, there’s no reason to think the A’s won’t keep playing him.

Totally unrelated thought … I’m never sure what to expect each day when I glance at the A’s batting order. Geren is trying every combo he can think of to get some steady offense going. Last night Ryan Sweeney batted third. Today he’s at the top of the lineup. Carlos Gonzalez was in the 7th spot last night, today he’s the cleanup man. The A’s just don’t have that obvious choice for an everyday leadoff guy. And with Frank Thomas and Eric Chavez on the DL, there’s no middle-of the-lineup presence either. …  

A few very quick thoughts before the A’s commence the second half with their final visit to Yankee Stadium:

— Huston Street will be the next one out the door. This is pure speculation, based on nothing other than what the A’s already have done this season. Can’t imagine Street’s value getting much higher than it is now, and clearly, the A’s have made the decision internally that they don’t think they’ll win this year. Among the teams that could use a closer or additional set-up guy: The Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals.

— Justin Duchscherer will finish the season here, but don’t be shocked if he’s sent packing over the winter. Personally, I would hate that move — I love watching guys who can’t light up a radar gun pitch as effectively as Duke has — but again, it gets back to value, and Duchscherer’s may be at its peak.

— The A’s need to be very careful about the workoad they give to Dana Eveland and Greg Smith. No reason to pile on innings for these young arms.

— A .500 season is very doable, still. But it shouldn’t be, nor it will be, a primary focus of decision-making.

— Finally, a little late for this, and some obvious choices, but my first-half awards go to:

MVP: Justin Duchscherer. 

Biggest disappointment: Daric Barton.

Most pleasant surprise: Bobby Crosby, for staying on the field. P

rospect who impressed me the most: Carlos Gonzalez.

Prospect I didn’t expect to be this good: A tie between Ryan Sweeney and Greg Smith.

Won’t be blogging again til Sunday. Talk to you then.

The release is on the A’s Web site. Starting pitcher Joe Blanton goes to the Philadelphia Phillies for three prospects that casual fans have barely heard of, if at all. Two of them, second baseman Adrian Cardenas and outfielder Matt Spencer have not played above Single-A. Oufielder Matt Spencer just reached Double-A.

In other words, this is a deal for 2010, one that will supplement the deals that already have been made for 2009. Not an easy time to be an A’s fan, to be sure, but the A’s charted this course over the winter, so if anybody is shocked about this, they don’t know this team.

I understand the annoyance felt by A’s fans. It seems that as soon as a player gets good enough for fans to latch onto, he’s dealt. But I honestly don’t think it’s that the A’s don’t want to win. In fact, I know that’s not the case. General manager Billy Beane is as competitive a guy as I’ve ever met in my life; you don’t get to where he is in life without that streak and he would not stay in a place where winning is not the ultimate goal.

But one other thing about Beane is that he’s a realist.  And what is happening here is that he has determined that the A’s as presently constructed are unlikely to do special things. Therefore, the emphasis is on trading guys at their peak value. If the A’s had a young, dynamic lineup that was scoring five runs a game, I guarantee Dan Haren would still be here, and so would Blanton.

I asked assistant general manager David Forst on the conference call what he would say to the fans, and to paraphrase him, he essentially said that A’s management is “not immune” to the feelings of their fan base, but that the desire is to build a team that’s really good for a really long time. That was the thinking back in 1999 when the A’s made some trades to add to a foundation that eventually made four straight playoff appearances. 

Forst also said the A’s like the team they have now, one that should get a lift from the returns of Frank Thomas and Mike Sweeney from the disabled list by the end of the month. So don’t be shocked if the A’s go out and add somebody. But the bottom line is that the team they had was six back of the Angels in the American League West, and as Forst said, “we want to be the team being chased.”

Does it take faith to feel OK about what’s happening. Darn right it does. But Beane does not whiff on deals very often, and I like that the A’s are adding young hitters to the mix. The lineup they’ve trotted out recently could match the ol’ 1978 and ‘79 A’s for sheer impotence, and there’s nobody in the minors that’s going to make that a lot better anytime soon. So the A’s need to add some offensive talent. Whether they’ve done that here, who knows, but I don’t blame them for taking a shot at it.

Tell me A’s fandom, what’s your reaction?

The A’s just sent an e-mail advisory about a 4:30 p.m. conference call for a trade that will be announced then.  If the ESPN scroll is correct, Joe Blanton is on his way to the Phillies.

A’s fans, will you ever go to another game?

I’ll blog more later, but just glanced Buster Olney’s ESPN blog, and it appears Joe Blanton could be the next Athletic on the move.  Phils are apparently interested. Anybody on the Phillies big-league roster that you guys would want in Oakland (besides, of course, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, none of whom would be on the move)?

I’ll be back this afternoon with my thoughts on the second half.

One question for you guys this afternoon. Did you stay up and watch the entire All-Star Game?

I caught about the final six innings, and I can’t imagine anything that happened in the first nine topped any of what I saw. Aaron Cook’s 10th-inning escape with the bases loaded and no outs (the Colorado pitcher should’ve been the MVP), the incredible defense by Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, and the nerves experienced by AL manager Terry Francona (I could feel how nervous the Red Sox skipper was, could you?) were great theater.

I have to say, though,  that all this talk about how to avoid the tough decisions Francona and NL/Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle faced is bunk. If you’re going to play the All-Star Game to determine home-field advantage in the World Series — a ludicrous notion, by the way — then you play to win. If you’re a player at the All-Star Game, then you’re available to be used. Period, end of subject. If, say, Tampa Bay’s Scott Kazmir throws 100-some pitches on Sunday and the Rays don’t want him used in the All-Star Game, then DON’T SEND HIM.

I think a lot of this could be avoided if managers resorted to playing the All-Star Game the way they did back in the day. Starting pitchers should go 2 or 3 innings. The starters should play 4 or 5 innings. We should not see situations like we did Tuesday, where Giants closer Brian Wilson was removed after two batters — and two outs — to be replaced by someone else. Why is it so vital that everybody play? What is this Little League?

On the A’s front, I didn’t see Justin Duchscherer, but I take very little out of what a guy does in All-Star Game (unless his name is Jay Howell or Atlee Hammaker). It rarely portends to anything big picture. I’m glad Duke got a chance to pitch, because he didn’t get an opportunity in 2005. That sure affected him an adverse manner, didn’t it?

Face it, that’s what everybody was thinking last night, right. Sean Gallagher dazzles the Angels in the opener of a series showdown. Matt Murton makes a great catch and adds a two-run single.

Nothing to it for Mr. Beane, huh.

Hey, I loved what I saw from Gallagher. Kids threw hard. Seemed to have the “I’m in control, here” demanor that you like to see from your starter. And he seemed to have an idea what he was doing. But before we go overly crazy, let’s remember that he’s facing a new league with little information on him. Let’s give him four or five starts, including a couple against the same team, before we hail this traded as a runaway success.

Murton, meantime, already moves toward the top of the A’s outfield chart, at least as far as defense goes. No reason ever to have Jack Cust out there or even Emil Brown if it can be helped. Murton was able to cover some ground and seems to know what he’s doing when he’s tracking the ball, unlike the two players mentioned above. Not sure how well he will hit, and obviously, he’ll need to contribute offensively. But better outfield defense makes an outstanding pitching staff that much better.

By the way, noticed a stat last night that indicated the A’s team ERA trails only their 1990 mark for their best before the All-Star break. It was generated on Comcast, and since A’s expert David Feldman is usually in charge of those, I imagine that’s accurate.

This from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: National League All-Star manager Clint Hurdle is considering four pitchers as candidates to start Tuesday’s game. One of the four is Arizona’s Dan Haren, who started for the AL last season for the A’s. Seems like an unlikely pick, if you ask me, but Haren has the chance to be the first pitcher to start back-to-back All-Star Games for different leagues. Only three pitchers — Vida Blue, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson — have started for both leagues, period.

Haren’s stats are very solid (8-5, 2.83) and he’d be plenty rested heading into Tuesday. But I can’t see him getting the nod over Ben Sheets or Edinson Volquez, the others Hurdle is considering along with his own pitcher, Aaron Cook. And that’s not a slam on Haren, who has fulfilled expectations since being acquired from the A’s. But he isn’t even the best starter on his own staff, even though his ERA is lower than Brandon Webb’s right now. Who would you give the ball to?

Heard this from a talent evaluator in the aftermath of the Rich Harden trade: “I think (the A’s) just traded damaged goods.”

That seems to be the majority opinion around the Coliseum right now. Harden just didn’t look right in his final two A’s starts, and that has everybody wondering if (when?) he might break down again. Wonder if Billy Beane was wondering the same thing, not that he’d ever admit it if he was.

Anyway, here are some quotes:

From Rich Harden: “I had kind of heard about (the rumors). But I was surprised when it happened, a bit of a shock. I think it’ll be good. They’re a good team, got a chance to do something special. It’s tough leaving her at the same time.  I’ve been here my whole career.”

From Beane: “I would say the Cubs were pretty aggressive. Me and (Cubs general manager Jim Hendry) talk a lot anyways. We consistently had conversations over the last month. We finally came to an agreement this morning. I don’t think there was necessarily anything that put it over the edge, other than Jim’s consistent contact, the fact that they were looking for a starting pitcher — I wouldn’t say they were looking for a starting pitcher, they were looking for Rich.

Also from Beane: “We were balancing, respecting that the club is playing well while also keeping in mind we’ve had numerous injuries over the past week. Guys have done a good job trying to battle as much as they can. But I think we also started thinking as we go forward, what we set out to do this year. I don’t think we’ve taken a step back, but I think we’ve taken a step forward for the next five years.”

From second baseman Mark Ellis: “(As players), we’ve got to be out there, play every day like we’re making a run to the playoffs. I don’t think it sends a message to us. I think it’s something they felt they had to do.”

Where’s there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, and a blaze was uncovered about 20 minutes ago when the A’s announced that they’ve traded Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs along with reliever Chad Gaudin. In return, the A’s get right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton and infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Josh Donaldson. All but Donaldson have spent time on the Cubs’ roster this season, and Gallagher will immediately jump into the A’s rotation, A’s general manager Billy Beane said.

The deal comes amid myriad reports out of Chicago that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry had been talking often with Beane about Harden. Beane basically confirmed that in his session with reporters, saying that it was Hendry’s stick-with-it-ness that ultimately created the deal.

I like the move from the A’s standpoint. As I blogged Monday, Harden hadn’t looked like his normal overpowering self in his past two starts, and with 11 straight starts behind him, I felt like the A’s were playing with house money. Talked to a couple of people in the organization moments before the deal was announced, and they seemed to  have that same sense.

As I also blogged, the standings had something to do with it, too. Beane said the team has weighed the recent injuries to Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez against what its goals were at the beginning of the season. He said he sees this trade “not as a step back, but a step forward for the next 3-5 years.” We’ll see, and what will be real interesting is the reaction of fans to this move, given that Beane’s winter trades of Nick Swisher and Dan Haren yielded very positive results.

I think Beane, again, deserves the benefit of the doubt. This A’s club was not built to win this year. And even with Harden aboard, it was hard to see that happening. Beane obviously is a better evaluator of such things than me, and I tend to go with a guy’s track record on such things. So I’m guessing the short-term pain will be replaced by long-term gain.

As for Harden, it potentially could be a great deal. It could also be a nightmare. He goes to a legitimate World Series contender in a great city. This move is essentially the Cubs’ response to the C.C. Sabathia acquisition by Milwaukee, so there will be pressure on Harden to be the type of ace he’s always been envisioned as being. But if Harden gets hurt, the fans will be far more unforgiving than they are here.

More later.