that if the pitcher bats, don’t bring in a reliever?

always start any conversation, with this: “we want Stewart and Morales”.....but we haven’t even said who we are interested in…..doesn’t matter, Stewart and Morales

Toronto is not going to send their ace packing, especially when they feel they could find themselves contending for the AL East again. Secondly, they aren’t really wanting for corner infielders up in the great white north currently. They just picked Rolen up and honestly, their outfield isn’t in bad shape either.

Anybody remember when Buddy Bell was our manager and he was trying to engineer an even-up swap of Todd Helton for Tony Clark?

Yeah, sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

Two minutes on Lexis-Nexis led me to this article, written by Mike Klis in the Post on August 1, 2000.

“CHICAGO – The Colorado Rockies were one three-letter word from elevating Julian Tavarez to the staff ace.

Two contending clubs presented serious offers to the Rockies in exchange for starting pitcher Pedro Astacio. Led by general manager Dan O’Dowd, the Rockies were listening, then discussing, then thinking seriously about accepting. But they couldn’t agree to say ‘yes.’

The New York Yankees offered starter/reliever Ramiro Mendoza, shortstop/center fielder Alfonso Soriano and one other prospect. In the morning hours of the Monday trading deadline, however, the Yankees pulled out. They wanted Astacio, but they weren’t crazy about taking on about $ 2 million still owed him this year, $ 6.6 million in 2001 and a $ 1 million buyout on a $ 9 million option in ‘02. Apparently, even the Yankees have a budget…

Thus, Astacio – the third-best strikeout pitcher in baseball, behind Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson – was there for the Toronto Blue Jays to take. Toronto put together a package industry insiders say would have been a great deal for Colorado: starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, Triple-A outfielder Vernon Wells and either Triple-A second baseman Brent Abernathy or Single-A pitcher Coco Reynoso.

Carpenter has pitched poorly this year, but he was 12-7 for Toronto in 1998 and 9-8 last year. He is only 25, and Rockies scouts like him more than they do Roy Halladay, the former Arvada West star. Wells, 21, once was considered one of baseball’s top prospects. He was the fifth player chosen in the 1997 draft. Abernathy is considered a year away from becoming a solid major league second baseman. Reynoso, unlike Armando Reynoso, throws hard.

Still, the Rockies wondered if a 3-for-1 deal was enough for Astacio. They could get five pitchers for Astacio, and none of them could do what he does for the Rockies. Astacio is the only starting pitcher in Rockies history who has survived the test of time at Coors Field. Wasn’t the idea to get better starters around him?

Then again, Astacio has slipped this year, going from 17-11 in 1999 to 8-7 entering his start today at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. And the Blue Jays were offering a lot of talent…”

The bit about Wells in the article leads me to believe that his prospect luster had dimmed at that time. And who could have seen Carpenter’s emergence into a Cy Young caliber starter in his early 30s?

Soriano might have solved our second base problem for a few years, though… always fun to play ‘what if’.