Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – The King is dead. Long live the King.

We all remember when Hudson, Mulder, and Zito were synonymous with annual trips to the post-season. But the Big Three was also synonymous with annual trips home in time for Halloween following the ALDS.

Now Huddy and Mulder are gone, having joined perennial NL bridesmaids Atlanta and St.Louis, respectively.

Click below for more!And sooner than later, Zito will be heading East, to the Bronx or Boston most likely.

But A’s fans don’t seem very concerned. And for good reason.

That is because there is a new Big Three on the verge of being officially anointed. This is a trio that promises to make the Coliseum faithful forget about the perpetual “wait ’til next year” days of Zito, Mulder and Hudson.

Rich Harden, 24, Joe Blanton, 25, and Danny Haren, 25, now appear ready to take the Athletics to another level. But there are some question marks.

The only thing separating the Athletics, in this column’s view, and the World Series appearance we are all anticipating is the durability of Harden, their most dominant hurler. He has spent significant time on the DL each of the last two seasons. And the A’s future rest heavily on whether he can avoid further disabling injuries down the stretch run and into the fall.

Haren, a workhorse who did not miss a start in a strong 2005 season, gave every indication last season, his first full year, that he is developing into a premier pitcher. But he had an occasional lapse of, perhaps, concentration, as all pitchers do, and we want to see him continue churning out effective innings before making his New Big Three status official.

Blanton, on the other hand, appears to have no downside. This kid might be the next coming of Dave Stewart. He is a quiet bulldog. He wants the ball, he doesn’t waste any time once he gets it in his mitt, and he throws strikes. Don’t be late for one of his starts. The show might be over by the time you get there.

I am not jumping on the “we can do without Zito” bandwagon. It’s true–Blanton, 10th in the AL in ERA at 3.53 (even after a horrendous first month), Haren, at 3.73 and 14th in the league, and Harden all pitched better than the old man last summer.

But, although outdone by the New Big Three in 2005, Zito pitched very well last year after adding a slider to his repertoire, despite a rather innocuous 14-13 record. Let’s not forget that Barry has had only one bad year, 2004, when he struggled with his location – and lack of variety – the entire season, and inexplicably came out of that Angel’s game in the seventh inning tied 2-2 with the pennant on the line on the second to last day of the season. But this kid – he is still only 28 – might have two or three Cy Youngs left in his arm.

However, probably not for the A’s. Keeping him around as part of the Big Four – in a world where money grew on trees – would practically guarantee an A’s dynasty, when one also considers the position players, bench, and bullpen that the A’s have now assembled. But keeping him around – even in the giddy affluence of Fremont or Las Vegas – would mean losing some of the players that make this team look so impressive.

Except, maybe, if someone didn’t have the brilliant idea of spending all that money on Esteban Loaiza. Without his contract, and keeping a more-than-adequate Kirk Saarloos in the rotation, maybe the A’s could keep Barry AND the Coliseum!

Speaking of money, did I read it wrong, or are the A’s actually paying this guy $21M for three years? Loaiza is basically a career .500 pitcher, if you take out his one mysterious dream-like year. In 2003 when he added a new pitch (readers, help me on this, was it a cutter or a splitter?), he went 21-9 and actually was in the Cy Young running.

But he never pitched anywhere near that level before or since. Last season, for the Nationals, he was credible, at 12-10 with a 3.77 ERA, the second best year in a highly mediocre 11 year MLB career (He is actually below .500 W-L lifetime if his two best years are removed.)

Why doesn’t Saarloos get any respect? Every time you turned around last year, Kirk was giving the quintessential five or six solid innings and keeping his team in the game.

‘HWIP’ is a pitching statistic that seems to be gaining popularity. It is the sum of hits (H) and walks (W), averaged over innings pitched (IP). The front-of-the-rotation types seem to give up around 1.1-1.2 hits plus walks per inning. Zito, Blanton, and Haren and were all near 1.2 in 2005. Harden was at 1.06.

Saarloos was at 1.4, with a 4.17 ERA. But Loaiza, at $7M a year, was also at 1.4 HWIP, with a 3.77 ERA and, he lasted just over 6 innings a start, compared to Saarloos’ just under 6 innings.

Loaiza, 35, is on the other side of the curve. Saarloos, 27, making under $400K, is going to get even better, and would have been happy with a tenth of the money they are splurging on Loaiza. And, I think with Saarloos, they may even have a better fifth starter, and might have even been able to hold onto an important future free agent longer, the likes of a Crosby or a Swisher or a Blanton.

The way Loaiza threw in his first start, and his earlier tune-ups in spring training, maybe we will get a chance to find out if I’m right.

That’s what makes being a baseball writer fun.