So, I'm reading this item over at U.S.S. Mariner, where they are discussing who on the team could be sold off, and Dave CameronDerek Zumsteg talks about the price for King Felix:
This is difficult for me to say, but this might be the best time ever to trade Felix. If the M’s can get a huge haul in blue-chip prospects, it’s worth thinking about. Felix is a tremendous talent, but we’re a couple years in seeing him at the major league level and in a way we’re asking the same questions we did about Garcia in the day. Felix’s best pitch isn’t his fastball, as we saw with Freddy, but over and over he chooses not to go with his best pitch to get outs, insisting on trying to throw the fastball. This year we’ve seen his game take a big step back in every way but the most widely accepted stats like ERA. I worry he’s not ever going to learn to harness his ability, and we’ll see exactly that Garcia path.
Yet the perception of Felix as a rising star is as strong as ever, and his superficially impressive stats make people drool.
Set aside plausibility for just a second and just consider this. Tampa Bay calls tomorrow and says “Did you read what Hank Steinbrenner just said about us? We’ve been up all night drinking Red Bull and planning revenge and we are going to mess that guy up. We’re making a run at this thing, and we want Felix. We’ll give up Evan Longoria, two of our ML-ready mid-rotation guys, and one of our top pitching prospects — take your pick. Come on, help us stick it to the Yankees.”
That’s how it was pitched to me. And If you’re like me, you didn’t have a ready answer, and you’re going to have a lot of confusing and dismaying thoughts for a while. I was surprised my answer wasn’t an immediate “no” when confronted that way, and the more I thought about it… I know, but there it is: the M’s are so deeply screwed right now, my worries about Felix are substantive enough, and his value is high enough that there are trades I’d make for Felix and, what’s more, those trades may well be out there this coming month.
The D-Rays aren't the only team that could pitch a scenario like that, or for whom such a deal might make sense. One of the things we've talked about is how the Rangers have a lot of depth of prospects, but what they are really lacking is someone in the upper levels who projects as a legit #1.
King Felix, of course, does. And he's under team control through 2011.
Would Christopher Davis, Eric Hurley, the M's choice of one guy from the Harrison/Hunter/Feldman/Mendoza/Diamond grab-bag, and any one pitcher (other than Neftali Feliz) below AA (which would allow them to sift through Main, Beavan, Ramirez, Font, Castillo, and Kiker, among others) be enough to get King Felix?
Would you give up that package?
If you do that deal, and bring Bradley back, are the Rangers legit playoff contenders in 2009 (and I mean, really legit, not "if everything breaks right and the stars align" contenders like this year's M's)?