Oakland GM Billy Beane, who just happens to be one of brightest minds in baseball, sat down at BaseballProspectus.com for a chat with the fans tonight, and as per usual, he was pretty candid about how the Oakland franchise is run. No mention of Vancouver per se, but plenty that gives insight into why the Canadians have the players they have this year, and what the future holds.

Select portions of the interview follow:

Steve (NYC): Why all the High School pitchers in this years draft? Didn’t you once fire somebody for drafting HS pitchers too early?

Billy Beane: No, we’ve never fired anyone for drafting HS pitchers…urban legend. In looking at this year’s draft, we just felt that a lot of the premium college players were being pushed up in the last few drafts, and there was some premium HS talent that was falling as a result. Despite reports to the contrary, we don’t deal in absolutes here, and are always looking for the best value relative to the draft position and the talent that’s available.

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Twins and Athletics Fan (DC): Congratulations on making another great 2nd-half run and doing what all us statheads knew you could, and on the great Mulder-Hudson trades. Since the decision to keep Zito is long over, would you mind sharing with us your thought process in deciding which of the Big Three to keep? Thanks.

Billy Beane: Thank you. I’m lucky to have some real smart people around me. Quite frankly, if you were going to trade any 2 of the 3 guys, you’d still be left with a great pitcher. One of the great things about Barry is that in his entire team here in Oakland, he’s never, ever shown up on a trainer’s log for any type of injury whatsoever. His durability has been as good as anybody’s in the game.

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Gavin (San Francisco): Juan Cruz has been absolutely dominating in AAA (57/14 K/BB in 41 innings; 1.54 ERA). It seems to me he has to be put into the rotation - as much as I like Saarloos and what he has done for us this year Cruz has earned a shot at the rotation (which he has wanted his whole career). What’s the plan with Juan?

Billy Beane: When we acquired Juan, we felt his long-term future was probably as a starter. As you point out, he’s been absolutely spectacular in Sacramento, and building up the confidence and experience he needs to be a major league starter. His opportunity to contribute to our major-league team will come.

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justin (Providence, RI): I’ve notice that the A’s have very good defensive players compared to a few years ago. Does reflect a change is philosophy, do you value defense more, or is it just a coincidence?

Billy Beane: We’ve had to evolve to try and find gaps in the marketplace, and determine where the best values were. It wasn’t that long ago that we were a very poor defensive team that did nothing but walk and hit homers. The Kotsay acquisition was a direct reflection of this shift. I think you can point to the Red Sox’ Garciaparra trade last year as another example of this. There are some real smart people out there running teams these days, so opportunities are fewer and these windows close quickly.

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bctowns (Chicago, IL): Billy, Thanks for chatting. What’s the most rewarding part of your job? Making a deadline trade that helps your team? Watching players you drafted develop into productive major league regulars?

Billy Beane: I would say watching players you drafted turn into productive major league players. It’s something the entire organization can take pride in, from the scout that signed him, to the player development system, all the way up to the major league staff.

Wanna read the rest? Go read the entire transcript at BaseballProspectus.com