AM: Teams had legit interest in Hardy

[quidam]

This discussion is mind numbing to me folks. Where is the actually debate in terms of pros and cons? Hardy HAD to be traded off of a VERY BAD Orioles team. I hear people saying that the Rays built their team with prospects, but where has that really gotten them? Well, they have a payroll of about $43M and are only 8 games out of first and 6.5 out of the wild card. Do you think the Rays could find 8-10 more wins with an additional $40M-$50M of payroll? Yeah, me too. The Ray get it folks, they let Crawford and Pena walk for draft picks and will add to their top-7 farm system while saving upwards of $30M.

Once again, does a good player on a losing team have more value than that same player on a winning team? Two top 100 prospects, that is what you could have gotten for Hardy. You are not likely to get a top-25 guy and a top-60 guy, but a top-50 guy and a top-75 guy in addition to a low level prospect would have been possible. We would have saved $7.5M in the process and while I know we would have needed a shortstop in 2012, why would we really need a star? What is he going to do to take us from 25+ games under .500 team with him to a 10+ game over .500 to have a chance in the AL? Keep in mind that that same player was on the exact same team that finished last in the AL East even though he was having a great year!

Pros:

Hardy contributes to the next Orioles winner

He continues this pace and the Orioles deal him next year in a market that is as weak as this years in middle infield talent.

He gets his own T-Shirt Tuesday and Bobblehead in 2012

Cons:

He accounts for $7.5M of the 2012 payroll

He can not net us two draft picks

He is an injury risk

He played for the 2011 Orioles who will run out mostly the same core of talent in 2012 and they finished last

Not trading Hardy provides a ripple affect as the Orioles not only have to pay him his money over the next 3 seasons, but they do not get the 2-3 young players that would be controlled at inexpensive prices over the next 5-6 years.

Let's just use a made-up trade for example. Hardy is traded to the Reds for Alonso and Billy Hamilton. Alonso was the #78 ranked prospect in 2011 per Baseball America and Hamilton was #50. You get a guy who could be a legit bat while playing 1B/LF and you get your next UTI and a replacement for Brian Roberts if you would ever prefer him to hit as a DH verses play the field. The rest of the lineup would be good enough to allow a guy like Roberts to DH as needed. Now we do not need to overpay for a quality UTI/Future second baseman or for an offensive upgrade at 1B/LF. So maybe this one move saves $20M+ from the 2012+ payroll.

They also kept Crawford and Pena after a 66-96 2007 season.

[Sports Guy]

If we trade Guthrie for Cozart and Hardy for Wheeler we may have possibly upgraded one spot in the rotation in 2012/2013 (who knows, Matusz was as close to a sure thing as pitchers get) and we'd massively downgrade at SS. How does that make the team better? And even if Wheeler is a massive upgrade over Guthrie we still have three rotation spots to fill which is exacerbated without Guthrie. So how is that not simply re-shuffling the deck chairs?

First of all, you would get more for Guthrie than just Cozart.

Secondly, you are also neglecting to mention the money saved.

And lastly, if Wheeler ends up being 5ish WAR pitcher and Cozart is a 2ish WAR SS than you have gotten better.