Marte to the Giants?

Ironically, they traded Phillips in part on the premise that he wouldn't be well suited to a bench role -- a premise that in retrospect was almost certainly false as it turned out.  Now they've got a very similar situation, minus the attitude perhaps, and the guy legitimately would make a lousy bench player.

You say Marte is the "odd man out," but as a strategic matter, the most valuable asset of the bunch -- even after factoring in risk -- cannot be the odd man out.  One would hope they learned that lesson a few years ago.

Why do I say Marte is the most valuable?  Because we don't really know how any of these guys will perform -- Marte's viability is only slightly more in doubt than Dellucci's or even Blake's -- and Marte is under control for five years at reasonable dollars.  Michaels is cheap for one year, Blake won't be cheap for one year, and Dellucci is a dubious value at best for two years.  (One wonders if we shouldn't just put Dellucci on irrevocable waivers, assuming Choo is healthy, someone with a need might just take him at that salary.)  In any event, Marte is as projectable in 2009 as any of them, and he's cheap for three years and reasonable for two more after that.

You point out that something has to happen in order for Marte to get playing time.  I say, something has to happen anyway, because we can't carry all four guys on the roster (not to mention that having Francisco and Snyder as 6th and 7th outfielders in Buffalo is just not a sensible use of 40-man spots).  But back to the main point:  We only have three bench spots outside of the backup catcher, and those three spots will not be going to Choo, Michaels and Marte.  So someone or -ones are going to be traded, even if only for a bag of balls.

Sabean's stupid, but he at the very least realizes he would put his life on the line by dealing Lincecum.