QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 23, 2013 -> 12:51 PM)
But the bigger point remains....
Unless we are willing to trade Reed, Ramirez, Peavy or Rios, we're very unlikely to get a PROJECTED major league average (or better, potentially) bat back in trade. There's just no argument there. Crain will probably get us a guy in High A or two low A prospects, but nobody ready to contribute in 2014 (I'll believe it when I see the Cardinals trading us Adams or their CF prospect, Taveras or Taveres or whatever his name is).
Which leaves the scraps left over in the FA market, because we're not going to be outbidding many teams this offseason, simply because it wouldn't make any sense to try to spend our way into contention and then pare back payroll when the fans won't or don't support it. (Which is how we ended up dumping Teahen/Jackson for nothing).
He is probably one of the top prospects if not the top prospect right now, no way they trade him for anything we have