As MLB prepares for spring training, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane isn't in Hawaii taking in his final couple weeks of freedom before baseball starts. Rather, the inspired front office executive is busy blowing up the Blackberry's of rival general managers within the AL West. 

Just a couple weeks after acquiring John Jaso from the Seattle Mariners in a three-team deal, Beane wasted no time welcoming the Houston Astros to the division by making what has to be a surprising trade for both sides. 

Below is how this five-player deal worked out. 

I am a bit surprised that Beane parted with Carter, who hit 16 homers in limited action with Oakland last season. Despite striking out 38 percent of the time he was at bat, the youngster shows a tremendous amount of pop with the bat. Meanwhile, Oakland gave up the second major piece from its blockbuster Gio Gonzalez trade last offseason by sending young starting pitcher Brad Peacock to its division rival. While Peacock did struggle in the minors last season, he does have some electric stuff. Stassi was made expendable by Oakland's acquisition of Jaso a couple weeks back. 

Jed Lowrie, a former top prospect of the Boston Red Sox, has yet to play in more than 100 games in any of his five MLB season, but still possesses a tremendous amount of upside. The shortstop hit 16 homers in 347 at-bats with Houston last season. He also fills a need along the middle of Oakland's infield after it sent Cliff Pennington packing in a trade for Chris Young earlier in the offseason. In my opinion, Lowrie is a major upgrade with the bat. 

It now remains to be seen what Oakland has planned for Japanese-import Hiroyuki Nakajima, who it signed back in December. At the very least, he should provide depth at multiple infield positions. 

The A's, who ranked sixth in the AL with 195 homers in their division winning 2012 season, have now added four players who have 15-plus homerun power to what is a suddenly improved lineup. 

It seems that Beane is taking a "win-now approach," as he views the AL West up for grabs once again in 2013. 

As it relates to Houston, it received a mighty fine haul for player who has yet to appear in 100 games in a season. Carter should get the starting job at first out of spring training, Peacock is a solid young arm and Stassi translates into being a solid starting catcher sometime in the near future. 

In its first season in the AL West, Houston was going to have a hard time escaping its cellar-dweller status from the NL Central last year, so it made sense for the franchise to go out there and look for some organizational depth. At the very least, it did a solid job here against one of the best in the business. 

It remains to be seen who got the best in this deal, and we probably won't find out in 2013.