If you were concerned that baseball’s rumor mill hadn’t been spitting out much in regard to some of the biggest names in the game recently, what’s transpired in recent days should be enough to put your mind at ease.
Take, for example, a report from WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford that Philadelphia is willing to pick up a more substantial portion of the money remaining on ace Cole Hamels’ contract to facilitate a deal. You won’t find a hypothetical Hamels package on the pages that follow, however, for the Phillies’ asking price remains too high, elite talent or not.
What you will find, however, are potential trades involving current and former All-Stars, big-time sluggers and some of the most talented youngsters in the game.
It’s important to remember that the teams we’d classify as buyers won’t be the only clubs in the running to acquire a given player’s services, so the packages proposed are not only geared toward giving the selling team a fair return, but to ensure that the seller takes their offer over the competition’s.
Additionally, keep in mind that these proposed deals are only ideas and pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication that any of them have actually been discussed.