Pull The Trigger?

So, you never know what you're going to be thinking about while huffing down your coffee, trying to ignore the midweek stories on the boring-ass Giants and Jets, pretending the New York Marathon never happened ... you know, a Thursday. One's mind begins to wander.

The Yankees need a third baseman to replace Alex Rodriguez, and Miguel Cabrera of the Florida Marlins is their top option. But Steinbrenner said that the Yankees’ top three young pitchers — Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy — would not be dealt to acquire a third baseman.

“As far as trading one of them — and, of course, it would require someone else as well — for a position player, I have doubts about that,” Steinbrenner said. “My choice at this point would be that those three, right now, are pretty much off limits. But that doesn’t mean we can’t work something else out.”

-New York Times, Nov. 8

We're not to the point yet where just because Hal Steinbrenner says one thing, the opposite immediately becomes a good idea. We're close. Just not quite to the tipping point.

Yet the question remains -- would it be a good idea to throw the complete package in for a slugger? In my view, there are clearly scenarios where that makes sense, and even a few where my answer is an unequivocal "Yes." For example, if you've got a Hall of Fame bat, a Hall of Fame-caliber eater, and arguably the most valuable commodity in the game on the market, it's tough to say no. For example, though it physically pains me to type this, I pull the trigger on this deal before Frank Lucas says "Squeeze."

Mets trade OF Blastings Thrilledge, OF Fernando Martinez, RHP Mike Pelfrey and RHP Kevin Mulvey to Florida for 3B/1B Miguel Cabrera

Got to do it, even at this steep price. The steepest. Forgive me for even saying it, Blastings. But that's the way it would have to be.

Of course, for obvious reasons, you'd have to follow that up with something like this.

Mets trade 1B Carlos Delgado to Minnesota for RHP Kevin Slowey and RHP Nick Blackburn or Mets trade 1B Carlos Delgado to Los Angeles (AL) for RHP Nick Adenhart

If you could even get something that good -- Joe Saunders would be a more likely target to acquire from the Halos. Other teams with pitching to trade who might be in the market for an old slugger include San Francisco, Oakland, etc.

But with this move, the Mets' infield becomes the best in the game until Obama's in his second term -- a trio at 25-and-under with unlimited offensive potential. Defensively, there's no reason to think Cabrera couldn't be better than average at first, while Reyes is getting better all the time and Wright's efforts are passable enough to earn him a joke of a Gold Glove (sorry about that, Ryan Zimmerman and Pedro Feliz).

Then again, Cabrera probably isn't the only Marlins star on the market. In an ideal world, the Fish keep all of their young talent -- in a slightly less ideal world, they keep Miggy and throw this guy away. In all likelihood, due to their contract situations, this guy's the more likely to stay. But despite what this idiot says, you'd rather toss him aside than the best young hitter in the game.

Who amongst Y2K's readership says yes to this deal?

Mets trade OF Carlos Gomez and RHP Phil Humber to Florida for LHP Dontrelle Willis

Now, the Fins would in all likelihood try to pry Blastings or Fernando away from Omar in exchange for their "ace," but the D-Train's stock has sufficiently slipped over the past year to make a trade like this plausible. I'm still not sure I go for it. You can go check out Dontrelle's numbers for yourself, but the short version is that his control is in the tank and he's got a lot of mileage on his arm already.

Reputation or not, how many prospects do you give up for a guy with a 1.59 WHIP and a 5.17 ERA? Is he even worth that? Hard to say.

Of course, there's also the trade option that has all the kids talking. Now, I don't mean just the little shits who keep stealing my paper in the morning. You know who you are. Lousy educated Park Slope hoodlums.

I mean the kids who follow any team with real dreams of a title. The ones who got, in the words of Kanye, "that ambition, baby." The ones who dream of a trade like this, a quick multi-year extension, and a 25-game winner on the roster for the next five or so years.

Mets trade SS Jose Reyes, OF Fernando Martinez, 2B Ruben Gotay and RHP Mike Pelfrey to Minnesota for LHP Johan Santana

Don't kid yourself -- this is what it would take. The Cabrera package wouldn't attract the Twins, who have about a zillion righthanded pitching prospects of their own and don't really neet the Mets'. Presumably, in this case, the Wilpons then pay A-Rod whatever he wants, pluck him at SS and immediately sign the remainder of their possessions over to the Devil himself.

Is that more or less reasonable than this?

Red Sox trade RHP Clay Buchholz, LHP Jon Lester, OF Coco Crisp and 1B Chris Carter to Minnesota for LHP Johan Santana

Is Reyes more valuable than Mr. No-Hitter and the Kid Who Beat Cancer? I think so, but let's not forget how fucking insane the market for pitching is. Kyle Lohse is about to get somewhere in the range of $30 million, you'll recall.

Or, of course, the nuclear option:

Yankees trade RHP Phil Hughes, RHP Ian Kennedy, OF Melky Cabrera and RHP Edwar Ramirez to Minnesota for LHP Johan Santana

I wouldn't be too upset if this happened, because a) it would be at least a year before we figured out who had won the trade and b) Yankees fans would be so unbelievably nervous about the prospect of Hughes turning into the next Clemens on someone else's roster that they'd never stop yakking about it. It would be HIGHLY entertaining.

Mind you, we're also hearing noises about the Orioles getting into the trading game for monetary reasons, and I'd love to see a dark horse deal like this come about.

Mets trade OF Blastings Thrilledge, OF Carlos Gomez and RHP Mike Pelfrey to Baltimore for LHP Erik Bedard

Bedard, who led the AL in K/9 (10.93) and had a svelte 1.08 WHIP pitching in the toughest division in the game, would be a perfect addition to Shea, and the Orioles are already making noises about not wanting to pay him the huge money he'll be owed after this year, a la Johan. This makes a lot of sense.

Any fans of Baltimore who happen to stumble across this post can feel free to kill themselves now.

Finally, if a certain team hadn't blown its $10 million wad on a guy who hit .286 with a slightly above-average OPS+ and over-emotes on camera, we could be talking about something like this ...

Diamondbacks trade OF Chris B. Young, OF Carlos Gonzalez, 2B Alberto Callapso and RHP Max Scherzer to Minnesota for LHP Johan Santana

... and fans of that team could be looking forward to having a rotation of Santana, Webb, Unit, Owings, Doug Davis in 2008 to go along with their fancy young lineup. But hey, he's a great guy, so no big deal.

The trigger's there for a reason. The question is, who's gonna pull it first?