Hot Stove chitchat this morning jells around the prospect of hauling in both Edwin Jackson and Carl Crawford in one euphoric offseason... there's some basis to the chat, seeing as Tampa is reportedly in on the Tigers rumor.  Tampa has two players who are perfect fits for the Mariners, LF and 1B, and those are precisely the two highly-paid players that Tampa has to cash in, Beane-style.

We mentioned yesterday that Tampa fans, generally, see Carl Crawford as deserving an MVP-type trade return, and Carlos Pena being available for a bag of spike-doctored baseballs.  

They see Pena as being, like, their 7th-best player but highest-paid, along with a guy who has a deteriorating game at the plate.  (For example, Pena has been fishing at pitches off the plate more as his career goes along.)  In essence, Rays fans pretty much want Pena gone, but run screaming into the night at the thought of losing Crawford.

Bear in mind, the FANS think they deserve a Halladay-type ransom for Crawford (while fearing that Pena will bring back nothing but a Grade B prospect).

They're out of contact on reality on both counts IMHO, but still, if a deal like this ever occurred, we might wind up seeing this be the deal in which Jose Lopez met his doom (in Detroit, of course, where they need a second sacker)...

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Just for fun, if there were ever a deal in which the Mariners reeled in both Edwin Jackson and Carl Crawford in one glorious 3-way, we might see the cost as being something along the lines of :

In:  TOR Jackson, LF Crawford

Out:  SP Morrow, 2B Lopez, CF Saunders, RP Kelley, SP Fister or Vargas, BLUE Halman or Aumont

I think that Zduriencik has enough chips to trade with that he doesn't have to give up either of our young catchers, or Carlos Triunfel, or Tui, and I think that he's more than savvy enough to say, "Hey, if the key to the deal is (say) Morrow and Lopez, you're not getting your pick of my minor leaguers." 

All propaganda aside, Bavasi wound up protecting 3 of our top 4 young players (Clement, Morrow, Triunfel) even in the Erik Bedard deal, and neither Jackson nor Crawford command the type of trade-market value that Bedard did at the time.   You don't have to give up your four best-and-brightest to get a blockbuster done.

If you're shopping an impact major leaguer, you do get to be the one to call the first name (Adam Jones, Brandon Morrow, etc) but you don't get to call the first four.  Even on Felix, you'll remember the Yankees held back four or five of their favorite players.

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But both teams, Detroit and Tampa, are going to want multiple blue-chippers (from one direction or another) for their young arb-eligible stars.   That means to get both, we'd have to brace for three other extremely valuable commodities going out, along with Morrow ... plus booty.

These trades always wind up surprising at the end ... had you ever heard of Freddy Garcia or Carlos Guillen on trade day 1998? ... but to get Jackson and Crawford, figure on four glamor names plus some quality filler.  That's my guess.

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Would you rather give up considerably less to get Jackson and Curtis Granderson, or Jackson plus 35-homer lefty Carlos Pena?

You could possibly keep Lopez in a Granderson deal, and could probably keep him in a Pena deal.   That's my guess at the relative values, anyway.

Cheers,

Dr D