You know, another interesting question, assuming that we could trade for a bat without giving up one of the Buffalo trio, is do you go for a short-term rental or try to get someone who would stick around for a while. And, what position? If it’s 1B or DH, they’ve made a statement about Garko or Hafner - I don’t think that’s what they’d do, to be honest. Corner outfield is the most likely position, I think, especially if it’s a “rental”, since it would only delay but not derail Gutierrez’ development. 3B is tough - hard to find someone who’s available and you already have Marte collecting dust in the corner.

Another scenario no one has discussed lately is trading Shoppach. I like him, and they don’t have a great alternative as back up, but he’d bring a fair amount in return, I suspect. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they’ve been getting calls about him (even from the Yankees!)

I’m curious why you want Uggla. He’s a pretty good player, and would add some power. But, he doesn’t look to me like an on-base machine at all (not bad, not great), plus he plays 2B, where they have two (Cabrera, Barfield) young guys for whom they have high hopes. I guess you could “rent” Uggla for a year (and give the young guys a chance to improve at Buffalo), but if you’re doing a rental, you could probably get someone less “expensive” —Uggla’s the kind of guy a team might see as a core player, so the Marlins would probably ask a lot to get him.

Uggla has been remarkably consistent for 2+ years, so I’d say that at age 28, you know is ceiling. Which is an OPS of 800—very nice for a 2B. But it’s not world-beater kind of stuff, and he’s nice and cheap, which is what Florida needs.

Couple of things on Uggla…

Anyone know, off-hand, the average OPS adjustment when a player switches NL to AL?

Also! With our luck, we’d get a guy who hasn’t shown any signs of being better than a .340 OBPer, and he’d stop walking. He’s not walking a ton now, but enough to provide an effective OBP.

I really can’t imagine trading CC to the Yankees (or really anyone in the AL). He might sign as a free agent with one of those teams, but Shapiro would have to live with the fallout from a trade like that. I think it’s instructive that Santana went to an NL team. And, I don’t think they’re really thinking about trading CC to improve the hitting—I think they might do something if they fall out of the race, though, as many people have said.

If Jay’s right, Byrd would be attractive to a team that has weak pitching. I can’t see why a really bad team would want him—how many more years does he have in his arm? A team that’s in the race and needs to shore up its pitching (let’s say, as a possibility, the Cardinals) might want him. I guess you’re suggesting a team might want him, a la the NBA, so they can lose his salary at the end of the year (plus the salary of the player they dump on the Indians). But, they’ll want prospects too, so Byrd might not even be a necessary part of a deal like that.

Paying anything for a guy like Barajas is overpaying. They’d do just as well to keep running Jose Molina out there every day for all the value most of those guys have.

Only guy on that list that would intrigue the Yankess as a FA is Varitek. And as a Red Sox captain, if he switched over to the darker side, he’d catch more flak than Damon ever did.

Some of those guys are good defensively, most can’t hit that well.

I will again reiterate that if, a big if, Posada does not come back as a catcher, that Yankees pitching staff will really struggle, especially the Hughes/Kennedy young guys (Joba is not a concern in my eyes, his stuff is too good).

Oh hell, just go buy Russell Martin and Brian McCann.