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Given the contract situation I would also welcome Felix to St. Louis. As someone pointed out above -it's a win now win tomorrow type of deal. Obviously losing Craig would hurt now - he's a good player. But Felix is a top of the line starter, and a player who could help you win a 1 game playoff and get a ticket to the dance. That helps today, and I like that. I'm generally more interested in today than tomorrow, but this is one of those trades where you can also make a case for it helping the future.

Craig + Miller .... that's a sweet deal for Seattle but I'd seriously consider it for our side too.

I'd do Adams+Miller for Felix. Trading Craig makes me nervous when it is for a pitcher. One blown elbow or shoulder (easy to happen) and you lose them for 2 seasons.

With as well as Saunders handled CF for Seattle at the beginning of the year, I wonder if we could get Franklin Gutierrez back in the deal? Righty CF with 1 of the best gloves in the game.

cards2468 wrote:With as well as Saunders handled CF for Seattle at the beginning of the year, I wonder if we could get Franklin Gutierrez back in the deal? Righty CF with 1 of the best gloves in the game.

At the same time Mo should look at getting Oliver Perez. As pebbles noted in a different thread, his velocity is back up to 94-96 and he's having quite the resurgence this year as a lefty specialist. He should be quite cheap to bring over.

Socnorb11 wrote:

Transmogrified Tiger wrote:

Fat Strat wrote:Don't forget that Felix is going to make $20M for the next two years. That's a ton of money and should hinder his trade value a lot. Not a lot of teams can take on $40M in guaranteed payroll while giving up multiple prospects.

Considering that teams are lining up in free agency or near free agency to give 20 million per to guys not as good as Felix(Hamels, Cain, Darvish), I really doubt his market is limited by his contract. Would it be the most efficient(air quotes on efficient?) use of resources? Probably not, but a 26 year old proven 6 WAR pitcher is maybe the most rare thing in baseball. It can't be replicated in the way that Allen Craig can, or that a litany of prospects can, or even dollars spent in free agency can.

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I think it would be insane to make Allen Craig a deal-breaker in a Felix Hernandez trade.

Oh, I agree, but if it's Craig + a package starting with Shelby Miller, then I would seriously hesitate. You can trade prospects for a quality starter without having to take on $40M+ in payroll. And then sign an elite pitcher to a huge contract next year if you want. That's my only point.

VEB is mystified with this talk of Seattle being after Craig

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2012/7/29/3 ... #storyjump

I would be more hesitant to trade away Craig until we knew that Adams and Oscar Taveras were both ready to play on the major league level full time.

JoeMcKim wrote:I would be more hesitant to trade away Craig until we knew that Adams and Oscar Taveras were both ready to play on the major league level full time.

Adams had a pretty good first look. I know his stats weren't great, but it was a short and choppy stint. I would be pretty comfortable with him. Taveras is a crap shoot. He's super talented, but so young. Hard to say how he would handle MLB pitching.

I would prefer to keep Craig unless it's for a real superstar. I think that Craig is essentially a superstar, though. An ops over 900 two straight years. That's hard to find.

This is nothing more than a hunch but I say Taveras comes to St. Louis and doesn't miss a beat. I think he'll hit from day 1.

FallenFromGrace wrote:It's laughable that you guys think you can possible get Felix Hernandez for Allen Craig. There is.a laundry list of reasons why this is crazy. Heck, I'm not sure if Craig nets you James Shields much less Felix Hernandez. My guess Seattle would ask for Craig AND at least two of the Cards big four prospects plus a couple of low level prospects for Felix. Allen Craig for Felix Hernandez gets you laugh at before the Seattle GM slams the phone.

You trade contracts, not players. How much surplus value does Hernandez have beyond 2y/$40m?