You're the GM

but more realistic trade offers are more thought provoking.

Anyway since this one is more of a alternate universe type thing, if you could land Tiny Tim Lincecum with the same package as above, would you take Poo Holes, Tiny Tim, or keep the prospects?

trade ideas, please. Pujols is a very different persona in St. Louis than Tex was here two years ago. Not only is he a better player, St. Louis is trying to win now, not trade for the future.

even though I know Pujols is the best hitter on the planet.

If I was the GM I stay the course and be patient. I know the Rangers have a shot this year , but I don’t mortgage the future for it. Keep the prospects and in fact I would probably be a seller at the deadline. Deal guys like Blalock, Byrd, Murphy, and Jones for anything they can get for them, if anything at all.

I’m a firm believer that if the Rangers hold onto the majority of prospects they have now they will have the same shot at winning in the next 5 or 6 years as they have this year. I don’t want to see them change courses from what they have built here in the last couple years.

4 top 5ers arguably, and 1 top 20 player from our farm?

I don’t think Pujols guarantees playoff success, and for that price just winning the division isn’t enough.

True. Pujols is a better hitter. Even if this is a theoretical excercise, I don’t do that. I keep Smoak to be a limited version of Pujols and Feliz to be a limited version of Pedro, and parcel the others out in trades for more pieces.

It’s not really that much further into the future (maybe just next year) that the Rangers are building by keeping Feliz and Smoak.

Earlier this year, the Giants really, badly wanted to obtain Chris Davis (I’ll try to find the link but it was in a chat session in which Sabean said they were looking for a young, power hitting 1B that needed to learn patience). Do you swap Davis and Cain?

I would’ve said no without even thinking, because CD has freaky innate power. He has excuse-me swing HR power. But, I’m beginning to think Rudy and CD are incompatible. It’s early to say that with any certainty, of course, but uncertainty is what nearly every trade is about.

So…. There may not be another team in the Majors that values CD more than San Francisco. If CD really just can’t hit with the approach Rudy wants, either CD needs to ignore Rudy or he needs to go elsewhere.

Cain doesn’t look like a #1 to me. He hasn’t developed in the way that either Greinke or Johnson has. He doesn’t show any signs that he will soon go that next level. His recent run of really good performance has come against a stretch of teams that rank high in K-rate.

So, Cain for CD? I guess I’m to the point that I would do that. Cain gives the Rangers something more reliable than Padilla through 2011. I’m not sure where Cain slots into the rotation, maybe just after Millwood, and maybe Holland goes back to the bullpen.

I would also make a run at Nick Johnson. Rumors are the asking price is high, as it should be since he’s the only bat on the market and the team trading for him now gets an extra month.

To screw it up now. This is a very nice season but it is here a year early. Stay the course.

Pujol sis signed through 2011. How would losing Feliz, Max, Smoak, Main and Perez hurt the ML team or even the minors?

Lots of fun tangents we can go off on from here.

For me, I pass on that deal as prescribed, because I don’t think the difference in ‘10-12 Pujols is so much better then ’10-’12 Smoaker is enough to give up Feliz/Perez/etc. for.

But if they’re willing to listen to a counteroffer of Max, CD, one of Feliz/Martin, another meh-ish pitcher (Kiker, Poveda, maybe Kirkman?) and a lottery ticket, then I do it and call Toronto about Smoak + for Halladay and I don’t get off the phone until he’s here.

but I’m a sucker for historically great players.

You also have to be realistic about what Main, Perez, Smoak, Feliz, and MaxRam will provide the Rangers. Over 5 prospects, you will probably sample several parts of the possible outcome distributions.

Most likely, one of these guys will flame out, maybe not even seeing the majors. Most probably one of Perez or Main.
Probably another one will never amount to more than a cup of coffee, bouncing around between the majors and the bigs.
Probably two will be solid major leaguers, maybe see an all-star game somewhere down the road, but who knows how many.
Probably one becomes a potential star along the Kinsler or Teixeira lines.
And there is less than a 10% chance that any of them has a career even remotely in the ballpark of Albert Pujols.

So the question is, do you trade two solid players + a Kinsler/Teixeira type under control for 6 years for 2 1/2 seasons of Albert Pujols? When there is enough of a foundation here to actually compete over the next few seasons (unlike when ARod was signed)?

Yes, I do.

the best player to put on a Rangers uniform, but why would you make that trade? This team has more that one hole to fill, so it is basically a PR move (but hey, I hear we are trying to sell the team…).

At this point, I don’t want to see this team make a huge trade, unless it is something that addresses multiple holes (like the Clayton/Stottlemeyer (sp?) trade of yesteryear. This team has been building up to truly compete in 2010 and I still believe that is the best year to focus on. I’d actually rather see them trade the likes of Byrd and Blalock (if they actually have any value) for people who can help beyond 2009, rather than blow their load on an ill-fated, premature run this year.

But then, I am generally risk averse.

If I’m JD and I really want to help the Rangers I fire Wash and then resign.

because i dont think one great hitter will solve our problems. i think our starting pitching has over-performed so far, even with the injuries. i dont think it is likely we will see this kind of consistency from them the whole season. and as maddening as the offense has been, i think it will get hot eventually.

im not opposed to making some strategic deals to fortify the big league team, but im more on the side of trading away prospects who are more or less expendable for minor additions like a bullpen arm or a solid LH bat. trading away the really good prospects does pose a serious threat to our long-term success and id rather have a team that is competitive for a number of years than one that goes for broke trying to win a single WS. we’ve all seen great teams crumble in the first round of the playoffs, teams more well-constructed than this rangers squad could possibly be no matter what trades you make.

….simply because sometimes “the five maybes” listed, might be better than “the one great player”, when you take the sum of all their parts.

1) Pujols is a great hitter, but I don’t agree that he is the “best player in baseball”. Very important, a key ingredient to a great team, etc., but I don’t feel the best player in baseball title would/should ever go to a first baseman.

2) If Smoak ends up being “a pretty good hitter”, and we still have the potential of the rest of that crew, that more than makes up for having/not having Pujols. The number of players viewed with great potential allows for flexibility in strengthening other “glaring needs”. If Smoak is pretty good, 1B or just a pretty good bat, isn’t a “glaring need” over the next several years.

If all 5 of those guys are shipped for one player, then that would be tragic. That group should be able to net at least 2 impact players, even if neither of them is erroneously considered “the best player” in baseball.

We laugh at fleecing Atlanta in the Tex deal? Imagine the laughter (Again) if we gave up even more talent for one first baseman, especially when the talent we speak of is closer to the majors than what we received at the time.

I love the trade analysis excercises. On this one, I say no effing way.

If Pujols was a Ranger and lighting up the AL just like he has in the NL, would you trade Pujols to obtain:

Smoak (projected to be a pretty good hitter, who would replace Pujols at 1B)
Feliz
Main
Perez ( 3 highly touted pitching prospects, with one possibly ML ready within a year)
Ramirez (strong hitting catcher prospect who could serve as a very viable DH and backup Catcher) (Yes, I’m aware he’s struggling right now, but you know what I mean)

I think you get the idea, so would you pull the trigger on this deal?

but I must say having a pitching staff and defense that perform like they currently are through the playoffs, and we get Josh back to 2008 Josh after the ASB, and have Pujols, goodness…

Kinsler, Young, Pujols, Hamilton, Cruz, Byrd/Murphy, anybody at DH, Salty, Andrus would be an absolutely insane lineup.

I don’t think there are two players on the same team right now that I would trade that package for. It would hurt so very much.

If it’s 2010, and our rotation consists of healthy Sheets, Millwood, Harrison, Holland, Feliz, I’d pull this trade off with Feliz out of the offer and something else in place…maybe Purke or Scheppers?

I would only consider this trade if and only if the team’s biggest problem was needing one uber-bat to put us over the top. I do not make this trade under the current conditions because whether I am a GM or not I am not convinced that bringing in one guy is going to solve this team’s institutional suck at the plate, even if that guy is the best player in baseball.

Sadly, I think the only thing that trading the future for Pujols would do right now is to start another streak of MLB-leading consecutive solo home runs.