That depends on whether or not you believe that's the A's end game. Because they've been saying "we're building for the future" since Giambi left. Then they let Tejada walk, then they traded Mulder and Hudson, Then then let Zito walk. Then they traded Haren, and Swisher, then it was Harden and Blanton.
A's fans (bitter ones like me) can accept a rebuild/restock. But, at some point the A's front office has to say, here are the group of 25-40 guys we were building towards. If you can tell me which 25 guys, hell, I'll make it easier, which 5 guys the A's hope to make a young nucleus out of and continually build outward around, I'd tell you you know five more guys than Billy Beane does.
Where I will agree is that it's a crap shoot once you get to the playoffs, as A's fans also painfully are aware in the Moneyball era. You can get lucky in baseball and if you get a good group of players (which the A's for the most part have had - keeping them healthy has been an entirely different issue) you can win some games and stay in the playoff race. The A's model has been to stock up on arms and if those arms pan out you can always win some games in this league. They don't do well in producing solid power guys or guys who hit consistently for average and for the most part their defense and speed is sorely lacking in the team's philosophy and therefore in their farm system. So they can usually pitch themselves into contention but that's about it, they can't hit enough to beat the teams that have the sluggers they can't/won't go out and buy unless they can rent them (see: Frank Thomas, David Justice et al).
But the day these trades for young arms starts turning up dry, is the day the bubble bursts. The other little secret for the most part is these guys are starting to not come out of the A's draft any more, their upper level prospects are being culled from other team's via trades. That should be a red flag waving for the Beane worshippers. But it's not. Oh well...
