MVN - Most Valuable Network

Should the D-backs Trade for Teixeira?

Ken Rosenthal reports:

The Diamondbacks have inquired about Teixeira, major-league sources say, renewing their interest from a year ago. A trade is unlikely — the cost in players would be high, the payroll bump of nearly $5 million difficult for Arizona to absorb. But the D-backs, under general manager Josh Byrnes, have proven to be a resourceful bunch.

The obvious concern for the D-backs is that they traded six prospects for right-hander Dan Haren and minor-league pitcher Connor Robertson, then another youngster, second baseman Emilio Bonifacio, for reliever Jon Rauch. The Braves, though, likely would want a major leaguer — first baseman Conor Jackson — as the centerpiece of any Teixeira package.

…

Three-plus years of Jackson clearly is more valuable than two-plus months of Teixeira. Then again, the Diamondbacks would not bid for Teixeira as a free agent. So, the deal would amount to Jackson for a Teixeira rental plus two high draft picks. The Diamondbacks also could ask for other players back if they traded Jackson and prospects — and they still would have Chad Tracy to play first base next season.

A simple mathematical statement: Tracy < Jackson < Teixeira

But does that mean we should trade Jackson and who knows how many prospects for a couple of month of Teixeira, only to be stuck with just Tracy in 2009?  Sure, we’d get a couple of compensation draft picks, which would serve the purpose of rebuilding the farm system — but wait, won’t trading away more prospects for Teixeira only further deplete the once storied Baby Backs system?  he Snakes already have a few potential Type-A free agents: Brandon Lyon, Juan Cruz, Orlando Hudson (though with Bonifacio being traded, I have to assume O-Dog will be staying put).

In a perfect world, the D-backs would be able to afford Tex.  They can’t.  Without his bat, the D-backs still have a great chance to win the division this year.  The team’s chances will be even greater in 2009, however, with Co-Jack at first.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:22 am and is filed under Opinions & Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.