[Prodigal Son]

Honestly, and I know this will sound crazy...I'd rather see McCann go.

I don't get really crazy about young players too often, but Salty just has "it." And the more expensive McCann can bring us more in terms of finding a quality starting pitcher.

Salty has a better arm than McCann's, switch hits (!), is not ridiculously slow like B-Mac (which worries me about how he will age) and is cheaper and locked up for longer. Additionally, McCann could probably draw more on the market to get us a pitcher...perhaps a top-of-the-rotation caliber arm. And if we trade McCann for a legit #2 guy (which I think is feasible), Salty will do just fine at C this season, and then we can use Andrus/Harrison/Lillibridge or whomever to pick up one of the decent-but-not-great 1B's on the market right now.

If you add a pitcher who is a McCann-caliber player to this team, plus a league-average or slightly below first baseman and have Salty behind the plate, that's as good or better than a team with the current rotation--if you want to call it that--plus Teixeira. And it's certainly better long-term, especially if Teix leaves in a year and a half (which is very, very likely).

I know it's blasphemous to talk about trading McCann, but I just have a feeling that we'll regret this one if we trade Salty, McCann could get us more (teams weren't willing to move younger quality arms for Salty, but probably would for McCann), and Salty is cheaper. I don't think I'm off my rocker here...