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1) We cannot play all our young players.
Franklin, Miller, Ackley, Seager, Romero and Marder are all aimed at the same 3 positions. We have complete duplication. Even if we assume that Felix leaves in a couple years and we need to turn over our entire starting 5, we have Hultzen, Paxton, Walker, Erasmo, Maurer, Beavan, Noesi, Mitchell, Carraway... and we're NEVER going with a starting 5 that has 2 years or less experience.
2) We have no idea which players are the future.
Is Ackley the future? Franklin could take over for him tomorrow and play the same level of defense while deploying a lefty swing that isn't so long and prone to misuse. Is Montero the future? Zunino has busted the knob PAST eleven in the minors this year...but so did Montero in 2009 as a teen. Who's the fixture?
3) We do not want to give up the best player in a deal.
Paxton is basically Brandon Morrow as a lefty, or Max Scherzer if you prefer. Is there any scenario where you don't want that guy when he hits the afterburners? His motion is awesome, his power pitching is phenomenal, an his only concern are the spikes of wildness that occasionally overtake him. At 80% of his potential he's a strong #2-3 pitcher on a World-Series winning roster that has Felix as its ace. If you're trading Paxton + Franklin + a couple other pieces, what you're getting back had better be immense so that you're not coughing up TWO best players in the deal.
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Paxton + Franklin + a couple seems too high for Alex Gordon or Billy Butler, but we're almost certain to overpay. We have a lot of young talent and we're not gonna be able to trade JC Ramirez, a worthless CF and a busted reliever for Cliff Lee anymore. Nobody's taking Carraway, Mike McGee and Chance Ruffin in a deal for a top talent, unfortunately.
If we're gonna cough up a boatload of talent, I'd rather go for broke and swing a mega-deal that sends Montero, Ackley, Walker and Paxton to Miami to get Stanton. We might work Josh Johnson into that deal as well if we want to go nuclear on the prospects-for-stars conversion.
Franklin would slot in for Ackley in that scenario, Zunino for Montero, Stanton becomes our offensive cornerstone the way Cabrera did for Detroit, and we still have Hultzen/Maurer/Erasmo/etc to slot in after Felix and whomever else are our starters. if we included Johnson in that deal... Felix / Johnson / Iwakuma / Erasmo / Hultzen is crazy-town for a starting 5, and we'd still have money for another bat to help Franklin/Seager/Saunders/Stanton/Jaso/Zunino with the hitting duties.
But I expect to move Paxton for a smaller gain, and keep more of our ammunition. I just hope whatever we keep is devastating and fired by us, and whatever we trade are blanks. Not that I'm greedy... :-)
~G