While we are dreaming why not put together a similar trade for Hanley Ramirez? Florida loves to trade away its talent for prospects and I would have no problem including Alderson in a deal with Villalona for Hanley.

I would love to trade Rowand, Villalona and Sanchez for Cabrera, but Detroit is currently in first place. We'd have to hope that either they slide out of contention or the economy pushes them into a corner.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Villalona has shown huge power potential, with disturbing hints of being lazy and sucking at defense. I would definitely be on board with trading him for a great major league hitter that has shown signs of being lazy and sucking at defense.

Lefty--I'm not sure I agree with this, given the cost and the potential value of Villalona.

Our issue is losing too many games 2-1 and 1-0. We might be that rare team for whom the standard playbook--clog the bases and get a big hit--needs to be thrown out in favor of a an approach that would complement our pitching.

Here's a question I'd like to see addressed by someone with some statistical expertise. I've seen various figures suggesting that, as a general rule, base stealers need to have a success rate of about 75% to make a real difference, but that's assuming an average offensive output. It seems to me that with an offense on the level of the Giants, that number would be drastically lower, somewhere just above 50 percent--i.e., on this team, the chances of advancing someone from first to home are quite slim. I'd like to see the team write a new playbook while they wait for their sluggers to move through the minor leagues. An example: given how poorly they've scored runners from third base, maybe they should be running a squeeze once a game. Makes no sense on a normal offense, but we're not a normal team and perhaps we should be applying the rules of asymmetrical warfare to the baseball diamond.

What I'm arguing--and perhaps a stats person could tell me whether this is true--is that on a team with low slugging and OBP, the value of speed, bunts, squeezes and hit and runs is magnified quite dramatically.

Dare I say it? That's the way the Dodger's won in the sixties. A different era--I know--but it was damn fun to watch, and it would be much cheaper to implement.

At the risk of being repetitive, what in Sabean's history suggests to you that he is capable of making this deal?

I like the deal, although I'm not sure that either Lewis or Winn are the answer in CF. I might even give up Alderson instead of Sanchez, who (prior to Wednesday) was diminishing his trade value with every outing.

What about dealing for Matt Holliday? He's not giving the A's much, they are going to lose him at the end of the year anyway, and it's already clear that they are not going to contend this year. Would Beane reverse course and trade Holliday for a couple of prospects?

Zito - "if they don’t exercise his 2014 option" hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I tend to be more in the first camp, but certainly acquiring a legit right handed bat (for an appreciable amount of time - no rent-a-players) without losing too much in the way of prospects would be the ideal scenario for the Giants.

I love this idea, I just don't think it will happen

Acquiring Cabrera would be awesome. I think the Giants entire offense would be lifted enormously by having a true no. 4 hitter and moving Molina to the back of the order. The Giants have enough pitching that they can afford to make a trade and play for the future. Cain's stock is up right now and I would be all for trading Cain for the right package. The Giants don't control him throughout the period in which they are likely to be serious division contenders and he would bring back an enormous bounty of young bats in a trade. Everyone's been ragging on Sanchez, but I think it would be a huge mistake to trade him right now since his stock is low at the moment and I think he is going to have an outstanding season after which he will be worth a lot more. Sanchez hasn't developed consistency yet this season, but the Giants skipped his start and I think that has delayed him finding his groove.

However, all-in-all I would most like to see the Giants target an unproven huge potential (almost can't miss) minor league bat and trade unproven but equally promising pitching to acquire the bat, and continue to build for the future. I would trade Molina and Winn for prospects while they still have value and try my best to unload Rowand and use this year to give prospects some extensive experience. Really, could they do worse offensively than the current Giants squad? I think Bochy would have to be fired in order to do this because it is not humanly possible for him to bench vets even when prospects need to be evaluated, as was demonstrated last fall by all the ABs Aurilia and McClain inexplicably received. The Giants completely missed their chance to evaluate Ishikawa and Schierholtz the entire second half of last year when they weren't competing and had every opportunity, but they didn't do it. Tragic.

Note: I love Cain as a pitcher just in case this post is misconstrued.

Also, I wouldn't trade Villalona even if Cabrera or some other superstar was "blocking" him after a trade. The Giants have a shortage of young power bats and a surplus of pitching. If Villalona is ready in two years and Cabrera's locked up for five, then trade Cabrera away when you are sure Villalona's ready.

In response to Sabean having a good track record with trades I will agree that he pulled a few off in the past but really nothing over the last 4 years that has been significant. For over 5 years this team has known the clock was running out on Bonds and should have found a replacement that could have played with Bonds on the field for his final years and then stepped in to take over once he was gone. 4 years of losing baseball and the problem has been in front of everyones faces yet Sabean has refused to address it. There is no end in sight the way things are going. Sabean is afraid to trade young pitching probably partly because of the Liriano deal with the Twins but that doesn't excuse the fact that he isn't getting it done as a GM over the last 4 years, I don't think anyone can argue that he is.

My biggest knock on Sabean is that he has refused to commit fully to a rebuilding process which means putting your faith in guys like Schierholtz, Burriss, Frandsen, Ishikaka, and Bowker while staying away from signing guys like Rowand, Aurelia, Uribe, Renteria, and the other veterans that don't do anything to help this team win. They are expensive and prevent younger players from getting a shot to prove themselves or prove they don't belong so we can move on and they prevent management from signing guys like Tex and Manny.

A compitant GM would have also found a way this offseason to inject some life into this lineup instead of investing over 20 million in relief pitching, a 45 year old dinosaur, and a soft hitting shortstop especially when there was middle of the order potential in the free agent market for bottom basement prices such as Dunn, Abreu, Burrell, and how about Ibanez. Sabean has to go and Bochy should go with him.

Lefty, I think others have covered the essentials, but I just dont see Detroit moving cabrera while they are in first...Sanchez for Ordonez is another matter...they could save something like $12 mill if they move him...

And what if Vllalona is more Pujols than Cantu...I dont think you can risk potentially losing such a player...

this clown said with the the addition of sandoval its done nothin to recharge this offense.. think again. we are now 34-28.. a lot better than most of u clowns wouldve projected. we could use a big hitter but dont necessarily need 1 unless were tryin to win a ring.. which i think is a long shot for us. give us 2 to 3 years with our prospects movin up and we should be good. i hate watchin us lose but we are winnin more then we are losin and doin much more then expected. so be happy with where were at compared to last season

ok, here's the deal. The giants are in such good shape for the future with all of their young talent in the minors and the majors (though there are few amounts). WIth the top prospects, being Villalona, who could potentially be just as good as Cabrera, maybe Pujols, Bumgarner and Alderson, new draft pick Wheeler, and even Buster Posey, plus the talent they have locked up in the majors for at least 2-3-4 years, they are in FAR too good of shape in 2-3 years to deal them. Even the lower touted prospects shouldn't deserve to be traded, because their ceiling is pretty high up there.

If we deal these players now, our set up seasons for 2010-11 could be ruined. The potential for these seasons is the WORLD SERIES PEOPLE!!! We dont want this to be destroyed. If anyone says we need a bat this year, they are full of balogna. They overlook the possibility of a world series ring!!! Possibly two! or maybe even a LOT more than that! We will be a GREAT team, my fellow Giants fans, just be patient. Miguel Cabrera alone isnt going to get us to where we need to be.