I think Nelson should be at or near the top of any trade ideas the current brain trust may be compiling. I just don’t know if we could even hope to land him for “just” AReyes. But there again, I may not be fairly judging Reyes’ current value.

We have Clement coming back . . . Mulder coming back (hopefully decent) . . . Carpenter coming back. Thompson has also shown he’s more than capable of being a starter.

If we can get a top SS prospect in return for Reyes, we should pull the trigger immediately. We have plenty of replacement-level pitchers on this team (yes, I know Reyes is better than that, but he’s not going to be while he’s on the Cardinals). We don’t have plenty of top prospects.

I have that argument from time to time with people who insist that “duck” is either correct or at least an acceptable alternative for the product. I understand their reasoning {brand name argument; old Army term argument} but I think it’s silly to call duct tape “duck tape.”

Has Dunc been bad-mouthing Reyes lately?

Just as you have a good point in Reyes not being enough to get Stewart, you made the same mistake at the very end of your post. If you think that Ian Stewart is worth Anthony Reyes AND Wainwright or Perez, you are drinking the cool aid my friend. While I agree that it would take more than just Reyes for Stewart, I think that you are VASTLY overvaluing Stewart. I could see Reyes and a lower level player being enough…but not Reyes and the Ace of the staff. If you think that you could land Wainwright, who is signed long term now and is quickly becoming one of the better pitchers in baseball, I’d say you’d have to start at someone like Tulowitzki. No team in baseball would trade their best young pitcher for a minor league prospect who is blocked by an All-Star…especially not one who is competing as well as the Cardinals are.

I guess I’m going to anyway. Wainwright has become the kind of pitcher that you don’t have to package to gain value in a trade. This guy is young, he’s signed to a very friendly deal, and he is showing top of the rotation type stuff and approach. I wouldn’t trade him at all, personally. If you are going to trade him, then you better get a young, All-Star position player. If Mozeliak packages him with Reyes and Perez, then the Cards better receive two major league ready players, at least one top prospect, and several additional good prospects.

There is no way that you trade Wainwright straight-up for Ian Stewart, much less packaging him with a true closer prospect and an additional starting pitching prospect.

would be WAY too much to give up for Stewart. He is good, but no one rates him to be an A-caliber prospect that Wainwright is worth. Most see him as a B, 3-star prospect, which is what Reyes is worth, assuming he has a few great starts at Memphis.

signed Jorge De La Russa, who pitched well Thursday night against St Louis. So it would look as if their search/need for a SP would have been solved, at least temporarily.