After reading GM Matt Klentak's trade offer, I knew this wasn't happening as requested. I called and forwarded GM Klentak's e-mail to Asst. GM Neal Huntington and the manager/coaches for their input. By the time I got out of the hotel shower, the replies were already in.
Neal had the same reaction as me, and was going to put together a list of possibilities from the minor leagues. Mgr. Clint Hurdle and his coaches were pretty unanimous that no one on our 40 man roster was lesser a talent than this prospect currently.
By 930AM I had forwarded our rejection of the trade, and a list of available minor league prospects we had to offer. When GM Klentak's list came back it was still pretty incredible, he wanted me to virtually "give" him one or several of our best players with only two possibilities from the minors. I forwarded this to the rest of the management team and we met in my hotel room (suite?) for debate. The coaches gave their opinions first because they had practice to run, then it was Mgr. Clint and me there, and Asst. GM Huntington on the phone.
Interestingly one player (C Grant Koch) was pretty equal in both ours and OSA scouting with CF Muzziotti. Clint asked Neal where Koch was in the list of C depth, Neal said he was around 25th ranked and two stars max ceiling. Clint stated he had to get going but he would vote yes to that trade. Neal thought we were on a slight disadvantage as Muzziotti OSA scouting numbers were slightly worse than Koch was, but I announced our decision based on the thought we had plenty of depth to compensate for the slight inequality.
I sent our counteroffer to the Phillies by 11AM, and received GM Klentak's approval by 1145AM! My first trade accomplished...
