LaMar will never be the same after encountering Duquette. He supposedly asked the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano for Baez.

He sounds like some of the last place owners in fantasy leagues I've been in. Of course, unlike them, he does have to prepare for the future.

But when the choices are demand only young superstars for whoever it is you're trading away, or make no trades and just let the team get older and continue to suck, you might want to try to find some kind of middle ground.

Not every GM is going to be stupid enough to give you Kazmir for driftwood.

He supposedly asked the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano for Baez.

If he asked that he belongs in a mental ward.

It would be one thing if he asked for prospects, but it's another to ask for someone who is already producing at a high rate in a more important position.

I disagree here to a certain extent... there would be some carryover by NOT trading for less than you can get as people will understand that you won't bend over.

No one takes David Littlefield seriously anymore cause he has gotten taken to the woodshed on these types of deadline deals so often. He does better on the large superstar type deals (see Giles, Brian), but for guys in between, not so good.

I'd rather have Chuck LaMar than Joe Jr. Period.

"It is a case where they have to give up one or two of their best young players and I’m not going to apologize for that,”

No apology needed, Chuck. Nothing wrong with asking for the moon. Can't hurt. But have you noticed that you keep getting transferred to voice mail every time you call and ask to speak to Omar? Not a coincidence.

Yeah. Littlefield missed out on trading a few guys by being a real hardliner in '03, and he appears to have compensated by adopting a new strategy: Curl into a ball and scream "Please don't hurt me!"

LaMar will never be the same after encountering Duquette. He supposedly asked the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano for Baez.

Oh, Chuck. Don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

Littlefield missed out on trading a few guys by being a real hardliner in '03

Vlad, I'm pretty sure you're referring to DL's insistence that other teams offer value for Matt Stairs and Reggie Sanders, and not the Aramis Ramirez/Kenny Lofton-for-squat deal.

I don't know what LaMar is asking for, but I generally agree with his philosophy. Particularly on Huff and Lugo. Both are young, still cheap, and not pending FAs. There is no compelling reason for him to trade them unless he thinks he's getting equal or better players in return.

The attitude (from media and fans mostly) he's bucking against has been one that's been bugging me for a few years too. It seems that every bad team with a young player who's arb-eligible but not a pending FA is still "supposed" to trade that player cuz, golly, he costs $3 M and they won't be able to resign him two years from now.

That said, for a solid but unspectacular reliever like Baez, strike while the iron is hot. He could be just as good a pitcher next year but blow 10 of 20 saves and no one will want him.

And if they finally think Upton is ready, Lugo should go too.

The Phillies offered Madson for Baez.

####.

The Rays would be crazy NOT to take that trade. ####

Yeah, especially since they'd actually plug him into the rotation.

Chuck LaMar post-deadline interview:

AP: Lots of discussions, but no moves for Tampa Bay

"I had talks with the Mets concerning both Danys Baez and Julio Lugo. I had discussions with Boston about Aubrey Huff," LaMar said Sunday. "And those talks individually weren't really going anywhere, so we met for three hours a couple days ago as a baseball staff and came up with this proposal knowing what we knew about Manny and his situation of possibly going to the Mets. Because we had discussions with those two teams, we thought there maybe a chance to make a blockbuster deal and sort of be a part of that kind of deal."

The D-Rays are insane. How can you not trade those guys?

There was no need to trade them. For the right price, sure, but what they were offered will probably be available in the offseason as well.

Plus, there's always the waiver trade route. No reason TB can't put most of the roster through waivers now, and pull back anyone they feel the need to.