RealGM

There may be teams aiming high, of course, and those teams may only consider a No. 1 type pitcher such as Hamels or Greinke. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reported on Tuesday that the Rangers are one of those teams, and that they favor Hamels, then Greinke, and probably no one after that.

The general consensus, though, is that while Garza seems to rank third among these three good pitchers, he is worth more than the other two on the trade market because of the following two points:

1.Garza will be tied to the acquiring team for a year and a half, not just a half year

2.A draft choice will still be attached to Garza whereas a team acquiring Hamels or Greinke would not have the benefit of an acquired draft choice should Hamels or Greinke leave via free agency after this year. That's because of the new CBA rules stipulating free agents must spend a year with their final team for their team to be awarded a pick.

"The duration always trumps how good the player is," one N.L. GM said, suggesting that while Garza wasn't as good as the other two, he is currently more valuable in trade.

"Based on 1½ years of control and the draft pick," Garza is worth more, said another N.L. GM.

Garza is drawing interest from the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and several others.

Jon Morosi‏

@jonmorosi

#BlueJays‬ showing most interest in pitchers under control beyond this year. Matt Garza and Wandy Rodriguez high on their list, sources say.

9:04 AM - 7 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

satyr9 wrote:But if the unexpected is expected, then doing a long-rumoured deal should actually be even more unexpected, therefore we should pretty much book Garza and Wandy in the rotation by August, right?

Holmes wrote:I guess we want to finish 82-80 rather than 80-82.

Raider917 wrote:Is Richard in SD a fre agent this winter?

Strav wrote:I'd be talking to Mr. Beane - dude has a dearth of young quality pitching that has shown they can throw in the major leagues.

Fairview4Life wrote:

Strav wrote:I'd be talking to Mr. Beane - dude has a dearth of young quality pitching that has shown they can throw in the major leagues.

Dearth means scarcity/lack of. Is that what you really meant?

mini wrote:Are there any "controllable" SP available other than Garza or Wandy? It seems as though those are the only 2 non-rental guys whose names keep coming up. Garza would be good, Wandy, not so much. I'm not too enamoured with the idea of Garza being the big fish we go after. What are King Felix, Gallardo, etc up to?


Also, I was thinking that we could offer both Greinke and Hamels deals similar to Cliff Lee's and it would roughly be equivalent to Prince Fielder's $$$. That would make us favourites for the WS in my mind (and we'd still have our prospects to round out the roster (or deal) to keep costs relatively low. It's a dream, but I wish that's the route we would take (this offseason... or deal for them now with extensions already in place)

Graham's Cracker wrote:

mini wrote:Are there any "controllable" SP available other than Garza or Wandy? It seems as though those are the only 2 non-rental guys whose names keep coming up. Garza would be good, Wandy, not so much. I'm not too enamoured with the idea of Garza being the big fish we go after. What are King Felix, Gallardo, etc up to?


Also, I was thinking that we could offer both Greinke and Hamels deals similar to Cliff Lee's and it would roughly be equivalent to Prince Fielder's $$$. That would make us favourites for the WS in my mind (and we'd still have our prospects to round out the roster (or deal) to keep costs relatively low. It's a dream, but I wish that's the route we would take (this offseason... or deal for them now with extensions already in place)

I thought I read on MLBTraderumors that Hamels was looking for $24M/season for 5 or more years. I wouldn't mind McCarthy as a mid-rotation starter. There have been reports that he'd be willing to sign an extension with the A's, maybe they could work out an extension & trade.