The Washington Nationals acquired LHP Gio Gonzalez from the Oakland A’s on Thursday, sending four prospects to Oakland in return for the 26-year-old starter.  Gonzalez has been a pretty solid starter for the A’s, compiling a 38-32 record and 3.93 ERA in 89 starts since 2008, including a 31-21 record and 3.17 ERA over his last 55 starts (2010-2011).  Gonzalez can still be wild, posting a league-leading 91 walks in 2011, but he makes up for it with solid strikeout rate, including 197 in 202 IP last season.  You may wonder if he’ll be a superstar outside of pitcher-friendly Overstock.com Stadium (where Oakland plays for those of you who don’t follow terrible marketing ploys).  The last two seasons, these are his home/road splits:

Home: 18-8 record, 212 IP, 2.63 ERA, 189/95 K/BB

Road: 13-13 record, 190 2/3 IP, 3.78 ERA, 179/88 K/BB

Gonzalez is moving to what has been a pitcher’s park in Washington and it’s not like a 3.78 ERA isn’t solid, but he had a much better split at home in Oakland.

In return, the A’s received these four Minor Leaguers, with career stats shown:

Brad Peacock

Derek Norris

Tom Milone

A.J. Cole

These four are truly a great return on Gonzalez by A’s GM Billy Beane.  Peacock (#2), Cole (#4) and Norris (#10) were all ranked in the top 10 prospects list of the Nationals organization by Baseball America.  Peacock and Milone both saw some starts in D.C. last year and are Major League ready.  Norris is an intriguing prospect at catcher, looking like a Mike Napoli-lite with his big powerful swing and low average (pre-2011 Napoli, of course).  Cole is very young but he has a huge ceiling.  His K-rate last year was very good and he’ll probably be tested by the A’s to see what they have.  At 6’4″, 180, he has a nice frame and his already solid results and ability could continue to improve.  It’s a lot to give up, as these four are truly tremendous prospects, but after the Mat Latos deal, it looks like this will be the cost of cost-controlled, young starting pitchers this offseason.

This deal solidifies the Nationals rotation, creating three aces at the top in Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez.  With John Lannon and Chien-Ming Wang rounding out the rotation and Matt Purke and Alex Meyer on the way still in the prospect wing, the Nationals are suddenly a team to be reckoned with.  It will be interesting to see if this acquisition will lead to a push to sign Prince Fielder, which would put the Nats into a contending role in a suddenly exciting NL East, with the Nats, Phillies, Braves and Marlins developing nice rosters to compete.  They still have the Mets to point and laugh at, though.