I don't know how you figure Happ is selling low. I mean he'd basically have to hit 30-35 HRs next year to be better than he was. Sure he has some room for improvement but that's almost certainly baked into his trade value. Schwarber I wouldn't trade. As for Baez, i mean it really comes down to whether or not you think he's going to break through offensively. I'm not going to rant on why I doubt he will. I've certainly said enough on the matter that people know where I stand. At the moment you're looking at a glove first defender who is a career .255/.300/.427 hitter over 1267 PAs.
If it were up to me, I wouldn't give up any of those 3 for Colome. As I have mentioned above I think his value is essentially what the Red Sox gave up for Thornburg. If you can make that deal without giving up any of those three and without giving Ademan and the top group of pitchers why wouldn't you? For example, if the best pitcher you give up is say Hatch and the best player overall you give up is Caratini are you really hurting the club?
In terms of Archer, if it were up to me I'd likely offer Baez as the centerpiece. I get why people like him but the guy hasn't hit RHP and that's roughly 75% of the people you see. He's a career .242/.282/.398 hitter vs RHP(76 wRC+) over 865 PAs. Maybe he makes adjustments in the future and maybe he doesn't. But we already know that Happ can hit. And while he's not Baez defensively he's not going to kill you either. You'd need to sign some minor league depth behind Russell at SS in case of injury but if Baez is the center piece of a trade for Archer I think you're solving one of your issues from a strength. Obviously it depends on what goes with Baez in that sort of offer but so long as it's not an additional one of Happ/Schwarber and preferably not Alberots I think there's plenty left over. For example, even if you were to give up Baez, Alzolay and De La Cruz for Archer(plus some likely non-top 30 guys) you have a rotation set for the next 3 or so years and you'd still have Albertos, Lange, and Little.
Overall though i'm still not sure Tampa deals Archer. But with regard to Colome they are basically over a barrel. It's not quite to the level that Miami was with Stanton but it's not like they have the money to hold out. They gotta make the best deal they can which puts quite a bit more pressure on them to yield than the cubs.
You know, when a guy is ALL defense, like an Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel, people value their D, and nobody ever felt that those two didn't "break through". Vizquel ever gave anything offensively, and is currently eligible for the HOF, with a lot of people saying he belongs.
Baez just played terrific D, hit .274, and over 20 HR's, and we are discussing whether to trade him because he hasn't "broken through"???
Only because he was viewed as a huge HR guy when he came up do people look at him negatively now. How on earth is a gold glove caliber middle infielder, with the ability to play SS (not just 2nd), who has over 20 HR's considered a less than complete player.
List the better middle infielders. He's not at the top of MLB, but I would love to see a list of middle IF - SS or 2nd - that fans think are more valuable - and I say that as one who, as others, believes he may still "break through" and be better offensively.
Face it, if his "swing wildly" K's were ground outs, and all offensive numbers the same, people would talk about him differently. Only because he flails at balls and looks bad do people undervalue his actual offensive production.
Seriously, list the better middle infielders. I don't think the list is as long as some imply.
