TRADE - CUBS, RANGERS, A's

Unless Beane has some inside information nobody else has, he got hosed seriously.

I have a '94 Cadillac. Bought it new, and drove the living heck out of it.
I've wrecked it, my wife has bent it, my kids have explored non-highway environments with it .. just all around, over the past 120,000 miles, used it. Still, it's a hell of a car. But it doesn't make the starting five, so it sits out front looking used. My wife is on my ass to get rid of it. For anything. "Just give it away." Oh, I'll probably cave. I gave away the '90 Caddy, and I gave away the '88 Lincoln....so I will probably give this away as well.......the point???? Beane is acting like me with old cars. Can't figure out any way to get value out of his players he has no plans on using, every potential trading partner KNOWS he will give the player away if they're just patient, and when they figure his allegorical wife has ridden his ass enough, they off him Dominquez.


But maybe I'm crazy. Maybe Beane's info says Rheinecker is still high-risk; the engine might blow, so dump him. The thought was posited on another blog that the Marlins will be looking to trade away Cabrera sometime this year, in an effort to get younger, cheaper, and better. So is Beane stockpiling AAAA pitching talent (and perhaps JR and Dominquez could be considered a wash, with an edge to Dominquez?), with a willingness to hand the Marlins 3 AAAA pitchers and Swisher, for Cabrera?

Speculation, to be sure. One hopes Beane doesn't have his cranium in an anal position. Currently.
Having seen BB go with Rhodes and Dotel as his closers, and Pena AND Bonderman for WHO?,,,,,,,anyway, trading personnel is NOT Beane's strength. He's got abilities, to be sure, but they aren't at the negotiation table. Despite having seemingly done well with the Mulder trade.

Catfish STew blog suggests another explanation for this trade. If you look at this trade together with the one to the diamondbacks, Beane traded a righty and a lefty (Cruz and Rhinecker) for younger versions (Dominguez and Halsey), with the price being Bynum. Who knows?