All right. The New York Yankees went all-fantasy team on MLB by signing C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Now a rumor surfaces that the Boston Red Sox, following the Teixeira signing six days ago, decided to get in the game and approached Florida Marlins about acquiring their superstar SS Hanley Ramirez. As of 8:13 AM EST, the rumor hasn't been covered in the online editions of either team's local papers, but it was reported by two of the heaviest weights at SI.com - John Heyman and Tom Verducci, so I believe it has legs.
Because Ramirez is a superstar under contract at bargain basement prices through 2014, the speculation about the price in young major league ready players and elite prospects knows little rational bounds. I would think the Red Sox' package begins with SP Clay Buchholz, CF Jacoby Ellsbury and SS Jed Lowrie with two or three more elite prospects involved. I'll throw in AA reliever LHP Daniel Bard and AA 1B Lars Anderson for a launching point. (See Baseball America's Top 10 prospects for the Red Sox for more candy store shopping for the Marlins.)
Before thinking those five young players is too much, consider how much Teixeira was given for similar power production at a non-premium position and then look at Hanley Ramirez' salaries through 2014 (courtesy of Cot's Contracts):
6 years/$70M (2009-14)
signed extension with Florida 5/17/08
09:$5.5M, 10:$7M, 11:$11M, 12:$15M, 13:$15.5M, 14:$16M
extension does not include a no-trade clause