Alright, so it doesn't sound so pleasant as a headline, but read Dan O'Dowd's statement to Dave Krieger at the Rocky Mountain News:
"Santana has a no-trade clause and has a desire to stay more on the East Coast, somebody that trains in Florida. Haren, for whatever reason, (the A's) just felt like the number of players they were going to get, the match that they had with Arizona was better than with us."
We had heard already about the Rockies interest in Haren, but this was the first I've read that we even looked at Johan as a possibility. The rest of the article goes into what would probably be our biggest fantasy wish for Spring, that either Ian Stewart or Jeff Baker can miraculously transform themselves into a Ryne Sandberg or Bobby Grich type of second baseman. I still harbor heavy doubts that this happens, but since we're still in the optimism of Spring I leave the dream floating around my head like a butterfly.