He’ll go to a team with an unprotected first round pick, because those are the most likely to splurge on a big free agent. That pick would then be ours, along with an additional “sandwich” pick between the first and second rounds, I believe. When you consider the sandwich pick we got for Mahay’s free agent contract with the Royals, that’s three top-40 or so picks to restock our farm system. If those replace the three lower level prospects we sent to the Rangers in the trade, we essentially traded two top prospects for a couple months of quality lefty relief during a playoff run and 1.5 seasons of Tex in his prime. That, I believe, is a fair deal. We may have overpaid by a prospect, but we had no leverage and a fanbase that is proving why the deal was necessary with their lack of patience this season. Besides, what would we get for half a season of Tex if everyone knows we’d only shop him because we have no chance of resigning him? He’s also struggling pretty badly so far this year…

Also a glaring void in the system. Here’s hoping Gilmore takes the reins….

I’m sure that once Cashman is out or the Yanks make a run at the Wild Card, Hank will force him to make a move. If we can get one of their young pitchers at a reasonable cost (most likely as the third team in a bigger trade) I’d be fine with that. I know you’re probably kinding, but both Hampton and Chucky could pass through waivers unclaimed right now. I’m still hoping they convert James to relief, cause that’s his last chance to be effective.

You think we do better in the trade market than the two draft picks (firt round and sandwich) that we get if he walks as a Type A free agent? If we shop him, people will know it’s because we acknowledge our inability to keep him, costing us leverage. He’ll be a pure rental for a couple of months, intent on testing free agency in the offseason, hurting his value further. If we’re still hovering around .500, I’m gonna go ahead and assume he’s still having a sub-par season… you get what I’m getting at. Trading Tex is a bigger pipe dream than resigning him.

i would hope that Hanson isn’t dealable right now

he is as good as there is in the minors, and still underrated.

But you can check the bolded part of my reply to braves077 below to see why trading him would still not be better. The O’s are still a while longer away and they’d be silly to spend big bucks on a free agent 1B when what they really need is starting pitching and they’ll be plenty of that available this offseason; they’ll be involved, but they won’t win. The M’s could be players, but I don’t think he’s a West Coast guy and they might be apprehensive about spending that kind of money on another free agent 1B; besides, they’ve got to play Clement somewhere and, after extending Johjima, 1B would be the logical position. The Yanks are the only threat to sign him with a protected pick, in my opinion, but they’ll get better as they get healthier; they’ll also make a trade or two (even if they have to fire Cashman now and have Hank negotiate them) to help themselves get back into contention.

Maybe two of those guys and I doubt it. We’re talking about half a season of a guy who is definitely going to test the FA market and will have multiple big market suiters. Besides, aren’t they in first place already and likely to remain there? He’s more of an East Coast guy and that’s where the really big money is; the Angels have also said that they wouldn’t give anyone more money per year than Vlad, so he’s going to be out of their price range. When you’re thinking of a potential package for Tex, don’t think of what we gave up, think of what the Twins got for Santana and cut it in half (at least) because Tex is less valuable, a guarantee to test the market and would only be a half season rental in the worst case scenario.

You couldn’t get Joba from the Yanks for anything in the world, let alone a half season rental of a player they could just as easily sign in the offseason. You’re right, though, Tex isn’t worth $200M; no firstbaseman is. I hope we offer him something reasonable, but let him walk if he sticks to what I believe are ridiculous demands.

Chipper’s runs are down because Tex has been off and Francouer has taken up too many 5-hole AB. If McCann had been hitting clean-up after Chipper all year, he’d be right up there with Berkman in runs scored.

Man, if we can get him for someone the caliber of Chuck James…I’d do that in a heartbeat. Reyes is ELECTRIC.

I’ve always been high on Reyes myself. But you’re right, Duncan and the Cards have screwed the kid up – he’s getting lit up in AAA right now. But that can be fixed, he just needs his confidence back – and the Cards have shown they have none in him – thus he isn’t performing to his best.

If we could steal him away from the Cards, I think he would fit fine in the rotation.

But don’ t they want a top prospect in return? Maybe they’ll change their tune as time goes on, but they seem to overvalue him at this point. By the way, for anyone that believes that Chuck James has any trade value: let it go. That’s like when people thought Thorman had value last year after he fell of the map.