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Best chance for Mike Sweeney's career: Billy Butler
Best chance to suddenly pull a Joey Bats: Alex Gordon
Best chance for recovery to All-Star level: Justin Morneau
Best chance to never be a Mariner: Matt Holliday
Best chance at a cheap-ish vet trade: Cuddyer/Willingham (tie)
Best chance fo fall off a cliff: Cuddyer
Best chance to be overpaid for in a trade: Upton
Best chance to make Jack laugh: Rios
Best chance to get overpaid for all the wrong years: Choo
So. Willingham or Headley for decent parts would be okay. It would certainly HELP. From KC, Gordon is the untapped-upside pick while Butler will just keep being this guy forever. I prefer Butler, who is still ridiculously young even though he's been a big-leaguer for a long time. Morneau is gonna cost so much to get out of Minny, even for his expensive contract, that I have trouble seeing the worth in it since his next concussion will lead to retirement.
IMO, Butler's the best option. It means giving up on one of Smoak/Carp, and going with Wells / Saunders / Guti in the OF. I just don't see how you fire Wells, and Guti's immovable right now. Signing Carlos Quentin or trading for a Willingham is just paying more for a bit more than what Wells is doing right now and has done his whole career. I've been an advocate for Quentin in the past, but there's no guarantee we can get him in FA, especially with this park's rep against righties. Sometimes you just gotta make a trade.
IMO, Smoak is about to lose his place. He's had 800 ABs with an OPS of .675 as a Mariner. If I offered you prime Sweeney in place of Smoak you'd have to take it, right? That's Butler. To get Butler, you're coughing up starting pitching, probably one of the Big Three. Well, since it won't be Hultzen, it'd be either Walker or Paxton. And since it won't be Walker (unless we're going crazy trying to get Myers back as well) it'd be Paxton.
Maybe we also swap current starters (Hochevar for Vargas, since Hochevar is getting expensive in arb) in arranging the packages.
Do you do that for "only" a Butler return? Their offense, with Butler as their best hitter, is at 97 OPS+, so it's not like they've got oodles of offense out of their young hitters so far. Ours, with John Jaso as our best hitter, is at 88.
They have Wil Myers coming up, who's gonna be a mashing OF (on pace for 45 HRs in the minors this year) that they'd prefer to keep, but they only have Odorizzi who looks ready to maybe help in the rotation.
Anybody we add is gonna cost us somebody, most likely somebodies. Who do you like? Butler's a heart-and-soul guy, and I'd pay for that. Your mileage may vary, and there might be a cheaper option.
~G