I could understand, though was disappointed by, the A’s trading Tim Hudson. After all, he had one year left before free-agency, and the A’s have been burned three times running in that situation (Damon, Giambi, Tejada). So they were able to get something useful for him, and it’s sad to see him go, but that’s life. Now, however, comes the news that Oakland has sent Mark Mulder to the Cardinals.

Citing the need to continue to improve in creative ways, given the team’s limited budget, Beane traded Mulder, a two-time All-Star, for right-handed pitchers Dan Haren and Kiko Calero and minor-league catcher Daric Barton.

“We’re not looking at just right now, but on the horizon,” Beane said. “We wanted to get progressively better, rather than stay with the status quo. I felt that (status quo) would be the riskier road to take.”

Mercury News sportswriter Mark Purdy weighs in:

It isn’t just that the Bigger Two of the Big Three have been traded for the Far Lesser Six (the players obtained by the A’s in return). Those are the headline numbers. But it is the other numbers that matter most, the ones in the box scores.

The trade Saturday of Mark Mulder, in the wake of Tim Hudson’s departure on Thursday, means that far too many quality innings have left the roster. Starting with the 2000 season, Hudson and Mulder have combined to win 162 games. Over those five years, the team has won 483 games.

In other words, in this decade, one out of every three victories by your Oakland Athletics has come courtesy of Hudson or Mulder.

And now they’re gone. Vamoosed. Shipped out the door like so many holiday packages, in exchange for some questionable fruitcake recipes.

Like a tinfoil-hat wearing nomad outside the gates of Area 51, I want to believe. Billy Beane, don’t let us down again.