Prospects Report: All A's pitchers come in threes

If you are like most and wondering why the surprising A's, still in contention, would wave the white flag and trade Rich Harden for a pair of marginal outfield prospects, a pitcher and a catcher hitting around the Mendoza Line in Class A, check these guys out:

• Lefty Gio Gonzalez, a key piece in the Nick Swisher trade ...
• Righty Trevor Cahill, 20, their top homegrown pitching prospect ...
• And righty Brett Anderson, 20, a key piece in the Dan Haren trade.

As if they needed any more young pitching, the A's have already had a stacked young rotation. They are enjoying breakthroughs of Pitch-22 (good enough to start, once too valuable in relief) Justin Duchscherer and Haren trade chips Greg Smith, 24, and Dana Eveland, 24 -- a new-wave Big Three if you will.

That terrific trio above appears to be well on its way to setting them up well in the long term with the next wave.

Gonzalez is the closest, having the most minor league experience and proving dominant of late in Triple-A. In the past month, he has posted strikeout totals of 13, 12, seven (twice) in four of his past four starts. He has allowed just two earned runs in the past 21 innings, striking out 27.

For the season, Gonzalez is merely 6-6 with a humble 4.56 ERA, but he has a .239 batting-average against and 110 strikeouts in 102 2/3 innings. The 49 walks are alarming, but after the Harden deal, Gonzalez went out and posted six one-hit innings Wednesday night, fanning seven and walking just one.

A second-half opportunity could present itself to Gio Gonzalez. (Getty Images)

Unlike recently acquired No. 5 starter Sean Gallagher, who is more advanced despite being younger at age 22, Gonzalez is more a knockout pitcher in the mold of a Harden. Strikeouts and hard stuff tends to bring more homers, though, which is something Gallagher does a great job of limiting.

So, too, do Futures Gamers Cahill and Anderson. This pair of 20-year-olds have recently been promoted to Double-A and look like potential top 20 prospects in baseball next spring.

Cahill was our No. 1 player to watch in the Futures Game, having gone a combined 8-4 with a 2.62 ERA, 121 strikeouts and a ridiculous .167 batting-average against in 17 games and 106 1/3 innings between Class A (14 games, 87 1/3 innings) and Double-A (three games, 19 innings). He has allowed just four homers combined to date. Just four!

A rare combination of a groundball pitcher (almost 2 1/2 groundouts to flyouts) who also gets strikeouts and limits homers makes us believe Cahill is something real special. You can't hit him, he makes you hit it on the ground when you do make contact and you rarely take him deep. Wow. He isn't as certain to arrive in the second half as Gonzo, but he deserves to be owned in far more than just 2 percent of CBSSports.com's leagues right now.

Just a step behind Cahill is his left-handed Double-A complement Anderson, who is exactly a month older. Anderson is a combined 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA, 95 strikeouts and a .240 batting-average against in 16 games and 83 2/3 innings between Class A (14 games, 74 innings) and Double-A (two games, 9 2/3 innings).

Like Cahill but to a lesser extent, he is tough to take deep (seven homers allowed) and gets more outs on the ground, almost 2-to-1. Anderson is owned in less than 1 percent of CBSSports.com's leagues, so he too is undervalued in deeper AL-only and long-term keeper leagues.

Gonzalez is our initial pick to take a flier on in Fantasy immediately, but Cahill is the favorite long term. Both Cahill and Anderson can really raise their stock this Sunday at Yankee Stadium at the Futures Game. It should be fun to watch.

If you are hoping for a 2008 arrival for Cahill and/or Anderson, you might have to root against them this Sunday, though. They could position themselves to be the aces of Team USA in the Olympics, Ben Sheets-style.

Prospect watch

Every Thursday, we break down all the minor leaguers who are owned in at least 1 percent of our Fantasy leagues. This will be your essential guide to unearthing the elite prospects before they hit the big time.

Rookie watch

Top AL rookies to date

1. 3B Evan Longoria, TB -- This will be some race for AL ROY and in the AL East.
2. OF Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS -- Ellsbury and the Red Sox trail Longoria and the Rays, but will close the gap.
3. SP Armando Galarraga, DET -- Yet another breakthrough pitching prospect the Rangers let get away.
4. SP Nick Blackburn, MIN -- He is hittable, so we think he will fall off in second half.
5. SP Joba Chamberlain, NYY -- His name exceeds the production, but he will be big-time in the second half.

• Honorable mentions: OF David Murphy, TEX; 2B Alexei Ramirez, CHW; SP Greg Smith, OAK; OF Ryan Sweeney, OAK; SP Justin Masterson, BOS; RP Masahide Kobayashi, CLE; SP Aaron Laffey, CLE; OF Ben Francisco, CLE; SP Glen Perkins, MIN; SP Garrett Olson, BAL; 1B Chris Davis, TEX; SS Mike Aviles, KC; RP Dennis Sarfate, BAL.

Top NL rookies to date

1. C Geovany Soto, CHC -- Catchers just don't produce like this, especially rookie ones, much less start the All-Star Game.
2. SP Jair Jurrjens, DET -- Braves have a big-time winner for a long time here.
3. OF Jay Bruce, CIN -- Hopefully you sold high on him before, but if not, don't sell low now.
4. OF Kosuke Fukudome, CHC -- This pair of Cubs rookies is superior to the Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith duo in 1989.
5. SP Johnny Cueto, CIN -- It is hard to argue between the Cubs or Reds as having the best set of ROY candidates.

• Honorable mentions: 1B Joey Votto, CIN; SP Hiroki Kuroda, LAD; SP John Lannan, WAS; OF John Bowker, SF; SP Jorge Campillo, ATL; OF/3B Chase Headley, SD; 2B Edgar Gonzalez, SD; 3B Blake DeWitt, LAD; RP Kyle McClellan, STL; OF Gregor Blanco, ATL.

Newbie needs

Mark Michels, Livonia, Mich.: I am in a 10-team AL-only Rotisserie keeper league, and I am looking to pick up a closer for the second half to make a run at first place. My pitching staff is loaded with young talent and I am trying to determine which to offer in a trade for a closer. I have Joe Saunders, Dana Eveland, John Danks, Kevin Slowey and Luke Hochevar with David Price and Francisco Liriano as reserves. I know Price has immense upside and is pretty much untradeable, but how would you rank the remaining pitchers based on potential?

Emack: It is tough to trade your staff ace, but try to sell high with Saunders for an elite closer. Failing that, deal Eveland and/or Hochevar if anyone is buying.

Brian Hodak: By the way, on Jamie D'Antona, in 2003, in 271 at-bats, he had 15 homers. In 2007, in 483 at-bats, he only had 13 homers, but, as you like to note, with those 13 homers, he had 43 doubles to go along with his .308 average. With his 2008 average around .380, 13 homers, 55 RBI and 28 doubles in 299 at-bats, this guy has got to be a keeper.

Emack: D'Antona was the third piece of the Carlos Quentin and Conor Jackson trio the D-Backs were raising on the farm, but he has fallen behind for some reason. Some of it is his lack of a position. Some of it is Mark Reynolds blocking him. But D'Antona is not quite a top prospect anymore because we are no longer convinced he can be a big-league regular. He can really hit, though, obviously.

Capt. Buckhead: If the Pirates trade either Xavier Nady or Jason Bay, which one of their top prospects do you think they will call up first: Steve Pearce or Andrew McCutchen?

Emack: Well, Pearce was up for a spell last week, so he is clearly the more immediate call-up, but he has been rather disappointing this season. McCutchen, meanwhile, has been more impressive and is an elite speed-and-power prospect. He is the one to stash in keeper leagues, while Pearce is the one to have in non-keeper NL-only formats.

Tom: Michael Inoa, can you add him to the database? He is a wanted commodity in our league already.

Emack: Done, but don't expect him to be a factor for years. We have also recently added: SP David Huff, CLE; SP Neftali Feliz, TEX; 3B Taylor Green, MIL; RP Robert Bryson, CLE; SP Timothy Alderson, SF; SP Matthew Torra, ARI; 3B Matthew Dominguez, FLA; OF Desmond Jennings, TB; SP Dellin Betances, NYY and SP Kyle Ginley, TOR. Huff is the only one we think will arrive in the majors this season, and he has a pretty good chance to help deeper AL-only leagues in the second half as the CC Sabathia-less Indians take a look at their prospects for spring 2009.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball prospect questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Prospects in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.