I saw on SportsCenter this morning that Samardzija's ERA since joining the A's is over 4. It made me wonder how anyone could be shocked by this. I never understood all the hand-wringing over whether we should trade or keep him. I, for one, wanted to keep him because he seemed to me a reliable 3 starter. But the idea that, after all his history, he had suddenly turned into an ace never made sense to me. In fact, he had begun to come back to earth well before we traded him. I guess the only real mystery to me is how Billy Beane was blinded into thinking Samardzija was worth giving up his top prospect. Ultimately, I don't care. I'm just glad he did.