A Good Trade...To Avoid

After a trade of C.C. Sabathia to any team willing to pony up a herd of minor league stallions, which I predict will never materialize, the most discussed mid-season swap out there in sports talkland is the Rays nabbing Ken Griffey, Jr. for a couple of their myriad stable hands.

Apparently, sports talkland believes that the dysfunctional 2000 Devil Rays management team that inked Greg Vaughn, Jose Canseco and other dilapidated statues to expensive contracts is still guiding the team. Because there is not one single redeeming feature of such a trade.

To wit:
1. The Rays were built for long-term success by amassing a great farm system. (It helps to pick first every year.) Trading the future for a one-year fix makes no sense. Trading it for a one-year fix and a one-year albatross is downright Littlefieldian.
2. The Rays don't have much need at Griffey's position. They are winning because of pitching and defense, but their outfield is above average and improving. BJ Upton, Carl Crawford and Cliff Floyd/Eric Hinske are an excellent defensive outfield with two good bats.
3. Junior is a marginal player at this point in his career. A constant injury risk, the future HOFer is hitting .245/.354/.405. and not nearly the defender he once was. That's not good enough to supplant any of the above-named players.
4. Fourth outfielders aren't worth $16 million. They aren't even worth $1.6 million, particularly not on the Tampa payroll.
5. Whoever they'd have to give up has a whole career ahead of him and will be avaialable at below-market wages for the first six years. That $16 million could pay a whole infield and outfield of players with limited service time.
6. There's already a highly-valuable veteran outfielder available for less money. And he's a free agent, so the Rays wouldn't have to mortgage the future to get him. It is He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken. $3 million and a three-month commitment would get you .245/.420/.500.

I have heard some object to signing Darth Vader on the grounds that it would be anathema to the Rays' fans. Tell you what, get me both their phone numbers, and I'll allay their fears. Because last I looked the Rays didn't have enough fans to vent a large bathroom. They play in a space bubble, a living room with a blow-up roof, and they cram 7,000 people into the 40,000 seats. There are more Cubs fans at any given moment on the Dan Ryan Expressway than Rays fans in all of Tampa and St. Pete.

So please, spare me the silly Junior to Tampa talk. And the C.C. to anywhere talk too. The Indians are the best team in the Central, seven games out with 90 to play. They're more likely to pick up a second-baseman than ditch their best pitcher.