T.R. Sullivan has his article for the S-T up now.
A couple of very important items:
The Marlins made it clear that they wanted Blalock and either Danks or Diamond for Beckett and Lowell. The Rangers finally agreed on Sunday but the Marlins were already looking for a better deal.
"I don't think there was ever a time where we could have pushed a button and made this happen," Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said. "The Marlins were trying to get maximium value for the player. I knew other clubs were going to get involved."
One source said Ramirez was ultimately the player Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest wanted in a deal for Beckett.
But an executive with another American League team said: "The Rangers deal is better than that. The Marlins must not be able to take on any money."
Sullivan's article touches on what several of us have speculated about...that Hanley Ramirez was the Marlins' top target, and Blalock would have been a consolation prize for them.
And Sullivan has found at least one front office type who thinks, as I do, that the Rangers' offer was the better offer.
Update [2005-11-21 23:23:17 by Adam J. Morris]: -- Gammons says this to say about it:
They had the player Florida most wanted, shortstop Hanley Ramirez.