But desperation sometimes results in irrationality. If the Braves stay close to the Phillies in the NL East race, the front office might feel some pressure to make a win-now move. Although this trade greatly favors the A’s, I could actually see the Braves making it.

but if it is true, exactly how much of a jackass is Escobar that they’d be willing to move him for a rental?

The fact that it is out there, in MLB circles, and not just circulating on the internet should give beane somewhat of an advantage in trade talks for Holiday because it sets a bar for where other teams will have to go to match atlanta. They may say too high, thats rediculous and pass- but they may also get nervous, fear that they are missing out on their best shot to secure a playoff spot, and bite.

For instance, if the cardinals were serious about trying to acquire Holiday. How could they justify that brett wallace is untouchable in negotiations if Escobar is possibly in play.

I think that given the economy- and the fact that a lot of teams are competing but simply can’t add payroll via a trade- it sets up a unique position for beane to capitalize and sucker a team to give up a better player/prospect- than a team normally would for a 1/2 of an underperforming Holiday- if beane is willing to pay some or all of the remaining salary….

comes together I am fairly certain it would involve the A’s sending one or more of their better prospects along with Holliday and OCab. The Braves would have to recieve something with some long-term upside for the deal to make sense for them. Two months of a weak hitting, aging shortstop and an underperforming Scott Boras client hardly justifies the Braves dealing one of the best young players in their entire organization. Young talented shortstops with GG potential and Escobar’s offensive upside don’t come around too often, and even with his apparent attitude issues im sure the Braves realize how valueable he truly is. If the A’s can pull this off without dealing any prospects, or at least any in their top 10 they HAVE to jump all over it. We’ll see how it all turns out.

But I wonder if he is not a little bit over-valued around these parts. We have suffered too long through the Crosby years and then Cabrera this year that a lot of A’s fans have come to regard a cost-controlled player who can be an average hitter and play SS to be the holy grail of baseball. A commodity so great that it should only be moved for a king’s ransom.

Escobar is a good player who may see a couple All-Star games depending on how he starts his season but he does not really profile as a “Star” and the Braves have managed to continually get production from the SS position from Furcal to Renteria to Escobar and may feel that they can find a way to replace his production with a guy who doesn’t get on Cox’s nerves.

Obviously I would be extatic to acquire Escobar but I don’t think it is that far-fetched to think we might be able to get a couple mid-level prospects to come along in exchange for salary relief.

assuming all the A’s would get back is a bunch of low-salary players. Why not just flat out buy some high minors prospects?

But do we not expect good players to play everyday when they are healthy anymore? Should all players be on 140-150 game limit?

Maybe we have reached that point but I guess I still think that when you have a field player who is pretty clearly your best hitter, is in his prime, and is not nursing any specific injury you should expect him to be out in the field every day.