At first glance, Billy Beane's trade for Matt Holliday seems strangely out of character.

The widely respected Oakland general manager is generally on the other end of these deals for established players. It was Beane who traded away most of his starting rotation last year, dealing Dan Haren, Rich Harden and Joe Blanton for a passel of prospects.

This constant churn is necessary in a small market like Oakland, Beane will tell you. So why give up three promising young players for an established star making $13.5 million who is about to become a free agent?

Paradoxically, to assist in the internal rebuilding plan.

"The value of having Matt for one year was worth the cost," Beane said. "We are a club that builds through the system, but part of that building is giving some of our young pitchers a chance. Last year, we had a less-than- ideal offense. And we really didn't want to put our young pitchers in a position where they had to go out and throw a shutout while they're developing."

The A's are very high on their young pitching, at both the major league and Triple-A levels. But, as manager Bob Geren explained, the team's inability to score last year retarded the development of the pitchers.

"We have a pretty good pitcher's ballpark, and we like our pitchers to throw strikes and be aggressive and trust their stuff," Geren said.

"Part of the mental side of that is if they challenge hitters, once in a while a hitter's going to square one up and hit a home run off them or something. And if they feel like we have the ability to catch up if they get behind, I think it will help them throw strikes. And being aggressive in the zone is what's going to help them develop into the kind of pitchers they can be.

"So, in a roundabout way, getting a Matt Holliday is helping us develop and rebuild. It's a different way of looking at it, but that's true."

Of course, the A's wouldn't mind contending. With Holliday, Jack Cust, Eric Chavez and Jason Giambi in the middle of the lineup, they hope to be competitive this year.

"I think Billy saw a window of opportunity, as far as the West is concerned," Chavez said. "Matt's obviously going to fill a big hole in the middle of our lineup. With the Angels losing a few of their key components, I think the window is open a little bit."

But if the young pitching isn't ready to carry the load and the A's disappoint, Beane acknowledged Holliday might not last the season in green and gold.

"Ideally, we have Matt all year," he said. "But it would be disingenuous in our marketplace to say that if you're not having the year that you'd like to have or you're not seeing things develop, it stands to reason with Matt or anybody else in a similar situation that you'd have to (make a move). But I hope that's not the case because it would mean that we haven't had the year we wanted to have."

Holliday understands being traded again before he reaches free agency is a possibility.

"Obviously, I think if we're doing really well like we anticipate, I'll be here for a year," he said. "If health or for some other reasons we're not doing as good as we thought we would, I'm sure that that could be a possibility. I haven't talked to anybody, but that seems to probably make the most sense. So we'll see."

If the A's contend, Beane will be content with the compensation for losing a Type A free agent.

"The way we looked at it, if Matt left at the end of the year, we'd still receive two very high draft picks for him that would at least help take the sting away from moving the three players we did," he said.

Beane was willing to trade outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, twice rated the top prospect in his organization, and pitchers Greg Smith and Huston Street because of the depth of prospects in the Oakland system.

"For us, it's always sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul a little bit to fill things in," he said. "We have to use our young players not only to get to the big leagues but also in trades. We've always done that. We've had to."

So the trade for Holliday was both a one-year shot at contention and an investment in the development of the Athletics' next generation of pitchers.

"You look back at that run in the decade of our success, we had the big three of (Mark) Mulder, (Tim) Hudson, (Barry) Zito," Geren said. "We have a cast now that could very easily have another big three or four in that group out there."

"We didn't really interrupt or change what we tried to do, which was started last year, rebuilding with young players," Beane said. "But part of that is also giving these kids a chance. And having a guy like Matt will help with that."