RealGM

Doug Melvin has never seen a trade market like this. "Nothing this quiet, in all my years," he said Tuesday evening, from Milwaukee. The trade value of veterans has gone down as their salaries have gone up, and the value of young (cheap) players has skyrocketed. In the past, teams might have looked to dump prospective free agents, but now their trade value is so low that teams might keep them just to get the compensation draft picks in return.
Oh, sure, there are a few guys out there available in a deal. You can trade for Jose Contreras right now, but you'd have to be willing to accept a pitcher who is 9-20 since last year's All-Star break; has seen his velocity drop by six to eight mph; and is owed $20 million on a contract that runs through 2009. You can make a deal for Scott Elarton of the Royals, but he might be more attractive if he wasn't allowing more than a run an inning.

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