Imitation is the best form of flattery. Last winter, the Philadelphia Phillies dealt an over-paid, bad back 1B, Jim Thome, to open a spot for an underpaid, healthy one, Ryan Howard.
As Howard produces at elite levels, Thome does so for the White Sox and Aaron Rowand gives everything expected of him to the Phillies, this trade can be deemed a win-win for all parties involved. (I know I did not mention the two minor league pitching prospects the Phils received.)
As the formula has been demonstrated to work once, why couldn't it work again? In this case, the Colorado Rockies' Todd Helton can play the role of over-paid, bad back 1B and Ryan Shealy can play the one of the underpaid, healthy 1B.
And the destination for Helton? The Baltimore Orioles! The Rockies would receive Luis Matos, Adam Loewen and Javy Lopez for Todd Helton and cash. Ryan Shealy would slot right into 1B for the Rockies.
The Orioles would clear up a glut of outfielders and move unhappy Javy Lopez to a team where he can catch and boost his production ahead of his free agency this winter. They'd also receive a box office draw that would prevent them from playing Kevin Millar or Jeff Conine at 1B in the powerhouse AL.
The Rockies would receive a major league outfielder that can play centerfield (albeit not as well as Aaron Rowand), a top lefty pitching prospect and a catcher who can contribute offensively. Ryan Shealy's bat at first needs only make-up the difference between Helton's production minus (the boost in Javy's production over their current catcher's production).
This I believe he can accomplish readily, and, as the Rockies are in the play-off hunt, the improvement provided by Javy and Matos makes even more sense than trying to add two minor leaguers to make the deal exactly parralel the Phils-WSox trade.
See fantasy bloggers can provide well-considered, rational trade scenarios too. Now how about paying me something. Anything.