Firstly, get your mind out of the gutter. Secondly, think about the Braves and their never give in approach and their play for one year approach. The price for Matt Holliday of the Rockies is likely a pretty steep one. He’ll be around for next year (like Tex was last year) and he’s got good enough power and hitting numbers away from Coors for other teams not be scared off from dealing top prospects for him. The scenario I’m about to unravel is highly unlikely, but it occurred to me, I have a blog, so I put it out there for all to comment on.
First of all the assumption is that there truly is a team that has a need for Mark Teixeira, something the blogosphere’s trade rumor clearinghouse (MLBTR) doesn’t think there is. Take for instance the Angels, who would love more power, but don’t want to supplant Kotchman at first for the future, don’t need another outfielder, and aren’t usually a team that trade away a ton of prospects. In that instance this Teixeira-Holliday three-way might match up pretty good.
Here’s the magical mythical deal:
Angels – get Mark Teixeira; give up one A+ prospect and one B prospect
Braves – get Matt Holliday; give up Teixeira and one A- prospect
Rockies – get two A prospects and a B prospect; give up Matt Holliday
Crazy, wild, far-fetched, I know. Sometimes trades are all about how teams match-up, not about what a team has to offer or what a team has to give up. The Angles usually do not like to give up the haul of prospects needed to get one of the two best hitters available, but with the Braves kicking in an extra prospect to the Rockies the deal might seem palatable for the other two teams involved. The Rockies would also have a better selection of prospects to choose from. Of course, would the trade be palatable for the Braves?
In this scenario we’re giving up Teixeira and the chance to get perhaps two prospects from the Angels or two draft picks should we not resign Teixeira. But we’re already revamping our team for next year with the hottest bat on the trade market. We are, of course, giving up a second top-prospect, but remember that’s what prospects are for, and traditionally that’s how the Braves have treated their prospects – as fodder for trades. This move actually allows us to keep more prospects than we would have normally had to give up for the likes of a Matt Holliday. We presumably would still get two draft picks for Holliday, when his agent, Scott Boras, takes him to free agency after 2009, so all we’ve really given up is one prospect and we’ve added a premier hitter for a run at the postseason next year.
Anyway, this is just a pure hypothetical, but in the era of creative trading and trying to find ways to match up Teixeira with a willing recipient, things like this could begin to circulate.
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