It's being reported on ESPN right now. The As are apparently getting three minor leaguers in return. So I guess Beane was not as sold on this team's contention chances as he said in interviews. This certainly can't hurt the As much, though,with Blanton not having a great year.

In return, the Athletics get:

2B Adrian Cardenas

P Josh Outman

OF Mathew Spencer

Baseball Prospectus ranks Cardenas, 20, as the third best prospect in the Athletics organization and a three star prospect. Kevin Goldstein projects him, in a perfect world, as Ray Durham without the speed, and had this to say:

The Good: Cardenas has good bat speed and outstanding hand-eye coordination, using his strong wrists to whip the bat through the hitting zone, leading to consistent hard contact with gap power to all fields. He has a good approach and solid pitch recognition, and gets high grades for his makeup. He shows decent speed once he gets underway.
The Bad: Drafted as a shortstop with the knowledge that he'd have to move, Cardenas continued to struggle with the glove on the right side of the infield in 2007, and need to improve his reads off the bat and his work around the bag. He's a little on the smallish side, and doesn't project for more than average power.

Outman, 23, is ranked as their fourth best prospect, also three stars, and is projected in a perfect world by Goldstein to be a solid middle-rotation guy.

The Good: Outman has excellent velocity for a southpaw, sitting at 91-93 mph with his fastball, and touching 95. His secondary stuff is solid, as he gets decent two-plane break on his slurvy breaking ball and has a deceptive changeup. His unique delivery makes his pitches difficult to pick up out of his hand, and scouts like his competitive fire.
The Bad: Outman's mechanics come with good and bad. While the combination of his arm angle and release point make it difficult to throw anything straight, he also has problems throwing strikes with any consistency. He tends to work high in the strike zone, and Double-A hitters made him pay the price.

Gotta say, for Blanton, that's not bad return.