ESPN.com's Buster Olney caught our attention yesterday when he guessed the Brewers would trade Prince Fielder to the Red Sox after the season. Some MLB executives who noticed Olney's post "flatly disagreed" with the suggestion. Here are the details from Olney's latest column:
- The executives Olney spoke with believe the Red Sox would prefer not to give up the young pitching it would take to acquire Prince. They gave up a lot of pitching in the Victor Martinez trade, so they will want to keep Clay Buchholz and others.
- The same executives didn't rule out a Matt Cain for Prince Fielder swap. There's no indication that there's even the smallest amount of truth behind the suggestion that the teams could trade stars, but it makes some sense, in theory.
- The Brewers, who know they need an improved rotation, get a top young starter to pair with Yovani Gallardo. The Giants get a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat to place behind Pablo Sandoval. Both Cain and Fielder are under team control for two more seasons, so the suggestion is imaginable, if unlikely.
