IMO it could be a 3 way trade with the white sox and the reds giving us Jay Bruce and 2 pitchers Sweeney And Fields go to the Reds

Because the White Sox need another starter when they are trying to trade one and Crede right now for a CF?

Because the Reds have a young stud option at 3B already and why would they trade pitching when they have limited?

 

Makes total sense.

Someone said the Red Sox aren't a good fit, but I think a Jacob Ellsbury (looks to be a solid starting CF next year) and a Craig Hansen would be a great starting point for a trade.

rasmus kid might be nice someday but he is only in A ball himself and is at least 2 years from mlb ready. I remember it being mentioned an okay catcher prospect too but I dont remember his name. I will try to look for it.

 

I agree CWS isnt really a good trade partner as well.

 

There might be a few other teams that could be okay overall

 

NYY - possible Melky/Hughes? Tabata/clippard?

Bos - possible Ellisbury/hansen?

Tor - unlikely

TB - possible Baldelli/dukes?

Bal -unlikely

 

CWS - unlikely

Cle - unlikely

Det - Maybin/miller?

KC - unlikely

Min - unlikely

 

LAA - unlikely

Oak - unlikely

Sea - Jones/clement?

Tex - unlikely

 

Atl - unlikely

Phi - unlikely

Mets - milledge/pelfrey

Nats - unlikely

 

ChiC- Pie/Pawelek

Cincy - Bruce/?? (they wont move bailey I doubt)

Hou - Pence/Hirsh ?

Mil - Braun/Gallardo ?

Pit - unlikely

Stl - Rasmus/ Reyes

 

Ari - Young/Ownings ?

Col - Unlikely

LAD - Kemp/Billingsley

SD - unlikely

SF - unlikely

 

Only things we do know is the following:

 

1. The marlins would ask for a pitching spec that would be pretty solid back. It is team policy to try to always get one back whenever doing a trade (at least according to beinfest in a radio interview a month back).

 

2. Our primary need is CF. Secondary need is C.

 

3. We have no reason or need to trade him and only way we would do it I believe is if we get a steal of a deal or someone overpays. If D-train is indeed put on the market then he is the best arm (age/price) out there easily.

I would love to trade Willis for Milledge and Pelfrey but the thing is trading Willis to the Mets is not something I want to see.

NYY - possible Melky/Hughes? Tabata/clippard? I don't think they trade Hughes under any circumstance, meaning no deal for us. We need more MLB ready then Tabata, and Melky shouldn't be the # 1 guy in a trade for Dontrelle. He should be the 2nd piece involved.

Bos - possible Ellisbury/hansen? Hansen already declined to play with the Marlins out of the draft right? Don't think he'd be very happy coming here, not that that matters, but I don't see Boston trading us OF when they have constant Manny issues, Mo Pena can only hit RHP, and Coco is coming off a lower production year

TB - possible Baldelli/dukes? They need pitching, we need outfielders. Yes. more below.

 

Det - Maybin/miller? They can't trade Miller until June I believe since he was just drafted, but I don't see them needing a SP when they have tons of good young SP in Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson, Maroth, Ledezma, Miller himself, and there's another really good arm, I think maybe Gonzalez (it's something hispanic), sitting in AA/AAA somewhere.

 

Sea - Jones/clement? Yes. They won't be bidding for Matasuka, and they only have the King and Washburn. Rafael Soriano has also come out and said he wants to be a SP next year, and with his injury history, that's not a good idea. He ain't going to close for them which is the other scenario he wants, and we can surely accomodate him there. Clement is naturally blocked. They also have a lesser CF with Jeremy Reed who has a lot of talent, and might turn pretty good with a change of scenary. more below.

 

Mets - milledge/pelfrey. Love it. More below.

 

ChiC- Pie/Pawelek. I'd think about it if they gave us Aardsma or Wuertz too.

Cincy - Bruce/?? (they wont move bailey I doubt). No Bailey, no deal.

Hou - Pence/Hirsh ?Not bad, but I think there are better packages. I don't see the Astros dealing youth when they are going to have to deal with rebuilding losing Pettitte, Clemens, and who knows if they can count on Ensberg, Lidge, hell Biggio, Lance Scott, etc.

Mil - Braun/Gallardo ? They don't need SP with Sheets, Capuano, Bush (very under rated), Davis, and Gallardo. They need outfielders.

Stl - Rasmus/ Reyes. They might be crazy and mortgage the future for the repeat. If we can take advantage of it and get the single A catcher too, might be a really good deal. This wouldn't be the first awful 3-1 the Cardinals have done, see Dan Haren, Kiki Calero, and Daric Barton. More below.

 

Ari - Young/Ownings ? I don't think they'd move Owings when they have nothing else SP that projects any good, more below on them.

LAD - Kemp/Billingsley. Don't think they'll move Billingsly or Broxton or LaRoche, and I'd need more then Kemp + prospects. Who knows though. Maybe they can pry one of those three away.

 

Thinking about free agency, the Cubs are going to go bananas and probably sign Jason Schmidt and a Suppan/Meche type and try trading for a big bat (Tejada), the Mets will go after Matasuka/Zito and live with a rotation of one of those, Glavine, Maine, Traschel, and probably Pelfrey and anticipating Pedro in August. Plus I don't think the Mets would include both guys, and they are in the division. I can safely cross those two off. Then looking from the Marlins perspective; Rocco and Crawford have cheaper contracts, but it's still contracts, Elijiah Dukes is crazy, do we want to trust BJ Upton in CF? Tough calls. That knocks them down for me. This leaves a clear top 3.

 

Seattle, St. Louis, and Arizona. All of them NEED a top of the rotation SP to match with their ace (Felix, Carpenter, Webb) and don't have one coming up from the minors anytime soon. Their organizational talent is solid in the field with good cores that are signed/young, and they all have specific young, high profile CF and C options that they can live without for the premier starter. This is how I would rank it.

 

1. Arizona - Chris Young, Montero, Arms. Maybe Callaspo, move him to SS, Hanley to CF, Chris Young to LF, Hammer 1B, and trade Jacobs for pitching. Now their's my crazy idea for the month, and it's only the 2nd.

2. Seattle - Adam Jones, Rafael Soriano, Jeff Clement, Jeremy Reed. Pick 3, and if its Jones vs Reed, we'd probably have to include a second player like Petit. I think they can live with a Ibanez, Ichiro, Snelling, OF, with Reed and a cheap FA as their backups, but maybe they really like Jones more then I think they do.

3. Cards - Rasmus, Reyes, young catcher (I think it's Anderson). Not as good as the two above projection wise because the CF is younger, but still a real good haul.

4. Tampa Bay - Any of the OF in a package, as long as payroll is willing to go UP to accomodate them without meaning we skimp on other areas (bullpen) of the team. Tampa goes to # 1 if the answer to that question is YES and it won't effect our bullpen/other costs.

5. Astros/Dodgers - are they going to rebuild like Anaheim next year, or try to force another year of contending?

 

Just how I see it. That's the order of phone calls I'd make and see who wants what.

If it should get to the point where we can no longer afford him, why don't we just trade him then? What's the rush? As long as we can still afford him, let's keep him...rather than weaken the team by dealing him for some prospect who may or may not pan out. I just don't get why we would want to deal him in anticipation of not being able to afford him next year. He still won't be a free agent, so we can just trade him then.

 

Unless you all think he's going to blow up next year, which I highly doubt. If anything he probably improves on this year, which, by the way, was still pretty good.

Because if we deal him when we no longer can afford him, we don't have the upper hand in negotiating, but if we negotiate knowing we can still afford him we can field all the offers in the world, get the bids high, and get everyone drooling over him.

 

That's only true if ONLY one team wants him. If more than one team wants him, than those teams will have to bid against each other. And there will be many teams bidding against each other.

Lou, all well and good but:

 

1) Arizona is adopting the Angels philosophy regarding their talent, doubt we get the haul we'd want from them. Realistically, pass, but in theory, why not.

2) Seattle thinks they're in the Matsuzaka sweepstakes, but thanks to posting rules, it'll be the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets...I can see each of those teams bidding well over $40 million. As a result, I think they're more likely to tear down than keep throwing good money after bad. Ichiro's made overtures he wants out, and Beltre's a bust. In a market where teams are looking for outfielders and corner infielders, I think they're a coinflip to go either way, and after the Matsuzaka efforts blow up in their face, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to sell off.

3) Cards...I can't think of a good reason to refute this, I think they'd give us those players, but I'm not so sure that's the offer that makes us fall over ourselves to deal Willis, especially when I think we can get Rasmus for some of the lesser pitching we have.

4) We all know how difficult it can be to deal with Tampa...do I want their players? Absolutely, I'd do Willis for Crawford straight up, but the fact of the matter is, when they have a player they know is in demand and they don't have to move, they hold out for 150% of value, plain and simple.

 

So, to me, our most realistic trade partner is St. Louis...kind of makes you throw up in your mouth, right?