A lot has been written about this potential trade (in all its various forms). Even if I buy the arguments that have been put forward in favor of the trade, it still doesn't gel in my mind for two reasons:

1. Michaels arrest - this is not the type of personality that Shapiro gets excited about
2. When Shapiro trades an established player for a prospect, it is usually 2 or more legitimate prospects coming our way - and that makes more sense because of the probability that any prospect actually makes it

That being said, I have a hypothesis about what has been going on here. I think the original deal that started all this was (essentially):
Crisp to BOS
Marte to CIN
Kearns to CLE

Then CIN got cold feet (see #2 above) and so BOS says to Shap: "We'll give you Marte and a relief pitcher so you can go get Michaels from PHI."

Shap says, "I don't want Michaels, I want Kearns. You are going to have to sweeten your offer to CIN."

BOS says "NO" & keeps pushing the Michaels option. Shap says,"I'm always willing to listen, put together something that I can get excited about." And that's actually where we stand right now. I don't think there is any deal at this point.