It is the most significant and fascinating trade of the winter. Or, in Oakland GM Billy Beane's words, "three small-market teams making a complicated deal for three different, complicated reasons."

Johnny Damon and Cory Lidle give the Athletics a realistic hope of making the World Series with a thirtysomething-million-dollar payroll, which could alter the future of a market-limited franchise.

Roberto Hernandez gives the Kansas City Royals a chance to stabilize their franchise while waiting for a collective bargaining agreement that would allow an aggressive, well-managed organization a prayer, at the cost of an extraordinary player in Damon who, when that agreement is signed, will be somewhere else. And while getting someone for the present, the Royals got someone for the future in a terrific young shortstop named Angel Berroa.

Ben Grieve gives the Devil Rays a badly needed No. 3 hitter, who at 24 can be a consistent .300/35 HR/100 BB/120 RBI producer as the waves of talented young players make their way onto I-275 and try to save a troubled franchise.

"It makes a lot of sense for each one of us," says Tampa Bay GM Chuck LaMar.

"That's true," says Kansas City GM Allard Baird, "but three-team deals are very hard to put together. What's unusual about this is that it happened so fast. It really got rolling Friday and got finished Monday."

Oakland had made it clear for two months that it would like Damon. Kansas City wanted Hernandez, and Baird knew he could only trade Damon in a three-way deal. The Rays preferred doing the three-way with the Mets for Alex Escobar, but when New York refused, they turned their attention to Grieve. Problem is, the A's wouldn't do the deal without Lidle, and that held up the deal for a couple of days.

"In the end," says LaMar, "it's a great baseball trade. In the winter of free agency, this is a baseball trade of old."

From the A's standpoint, to sit and mumble about the future makes no sense.

"We have to go for it while we can," says Beane.

And while he's made several moves the last three years to make the A's so successful that they were plumb unlucky to lose to the Yankees in the playoffs, his team in 2001 will be younger than the team in 2000 -- which was younger than the team in 1999.

What is the A's future? The farm system is loaded; but if the A's win, their owners might be able to move to San Jose. If not, the club is worth more, and Beane will be sought by every team with an opening. Damon, Jason Giambi and Jason Isringhausen are free agents at the end of the coming season. Why not go for it?

With Damon in the leadoff spot, the A's have a weapon they lacked. Terrence Long was terrific, but he is a potential 30-homer guy whom they want deeper in the lineup. Damon gives them a slasher, speed, a .381 on-base percentage, 70 extra-base hits and a higher slugging percentage (.498) than Grieve's .487.

Jose Ortiz -- a big-time fastball power hitter -- will hit second. If John Jaha comes back as he should, then the A's can run Jason Giambi, Jaha, the right-field platoon of Jeremy Giambi and Adam Piatt, Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, Long and Ramon Hernandez down a lineup that has 900 runs written all over it.

"Someone asked me if we are now going to small-ball," says Beane. "Not really. We just didn't have someone like Damon. We were like Loyola-Marymount the year they made (the Elite Eight). We had to have something that was completely different. Now we're good enough to win on what we have."

After Cy Young runner-up Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder, Gil Heredia will be there for innings, then Lidle, Mark Guthrie and Omar Olivares will vie for the fifth slot. Beane really likes Guthrie as a starter, but he and director of player personnel J.P. Ricciardi love Lidle, who was outstanding in his four starts down the stretch. The A's have two or three left-handed starters in a league with a lot of lefty lineups, and they have a deep bullpen. Damon is a huge defensive upgrade.

The Royals figure Carlos Beltran will move into Damon's leadoff spot, and in many ways he is a key to their 2001 season.

"Tony (Muser) and I met with him this winter," says Baird of his superstar talent. "He gave us all the right answers, and we're optimistic."

Either this season or next, hot prospect Dermal (Dee) Brown will be ready. When he is, the Royals may know where they are going.

"It's important we hold leads and learn how to win," says Baird, whose bullpen has blown 56 of 118 save opportunities the last two seasons to kill the improvement of their young players. "If (Hernandez) saves 80 percent of the leads he inherits, we'll be a very different team. That whole bullpen thing can be very psychological. We had a great run last season, but we knew they were having to score too many runs to make it last.

"Then," says Baird, "this collective bargaining agreement is crucial to us."

Right now there is little chance Kansas City can re-sign Mike Sweeney, Jermaine Dye and Joe Randa when they become free agents after the 2002 season under this agreement and this bullpen work environment. They have Hernandez for 2001 and 2002; they had Damon for this season and this season only.

Tampa's situation is different. The Rays signed a bunch of veteran players to try to be representative in 2000 and increase attendance, and it turned into a disaster for a number of reasons. The first reason was that their $15 million starters Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman combined to throw 1 1/3 innings. The Rays are loaded in their farm system and figure Esteban Yan can close, Alvarez and Guzman will come back, Paul Wilson will continue his comeback schedule, Ryan Rupe will return, and Matt White will be ready. Then Albie Lopez can work the bullpen if needed.

When the Rays are ready to win -- and with their talent, that's a 2003 proposition -- Hernandez and Lidle will be gone, solid gone. This season Grieve (who hit .302 on the road, .256 at home) can play right field, with Gerald Williams in center, Greg Vaughn in left and a Steve Cox/Fred McGriff 1B-DH combination. Rookie Brent Abernathy will take second. If any one of three currently active deals for Vinny Castilla gets made, then Aubrey Huff will play third. Castilla has had a good winter, as has Huff, who is approaching an acceptable level at third base.

Two years from now, Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford will be in the outfield with Grieve, and the Rays could be one of the better young teams in either league. If Grieve fufills the expectations of .300/30/120/100 and is then 26, LaMar will have made a great trade.

"This league is a lot more balanced at the top than many realize," says one AL GM. "New York, Cleveland, Boston, Oakland, Chicago -- there a lot of teams that can end up in the World Series. Remember, if Mark Mulder hadn't hurt his back weightlifting in September, Oakland (would have beaten) the Yankees, who had fewer wins than the Indians who didn't make it. This season is open. Really open."