Ever since AA took over the GM role at the end of the 2009 season there has only been one trade (Halladay for Drabek, d'Arnaud, Taylor who was flipped to the A's for Wallace) that had any publicity leading up to it. Alex to the fan base seems to pull trades out of thin air, although this is not the case, it is just him playing his cards close to the vest. Although it kind of sucks for myself, who loves to read the rumors, I don't blame him for his approach even though it may make a sportswriters job much harder to try and dig up any rumors to give the fans. A perfect example was last year at the winter, or GM meetings (not sure which one) where AA traded for Santos and no one saw it coming. checking the web before the trade, there were no rumors anywere preceding this trade. The Mathis trade was also along the same lines. The only trade other than the Halladay one I remember reading anything about was the Rasmus one, but who saw him trading for Jackson, who was a Jay for all of about 2 hours before he was shipped to the Cards along with pretty much the Jays pen for essencisly Rasmus, as the other arms were released or sent down before the end of the season. My questiion is: who gets traded before the deadline and for who. AA's track record with rumors and what he actually pulls off is pretty low, and I am not saying that is a bad thing. But with all the Upton rumors, and Garza, Wandy and to a lesser extent Hamels and Grenkie, what are the chances he actually makes a trade for one of them. I am guessing that Upton is probably the most likely to land with the Jays, especially with AA's knack for aquiring young talent with huge upside. I could see a Garza trade as well, but in all likelyhood he is going to pull a trade "out of thin air and everyone will be going who saw that coming. With the Jays in contention, I honestly dont see them trading away EE who has had a stellar season, even though he will be a free agent. With the new rules in place, AA may actually keep him because he won't be getting a draft pick back as compensation, and we all know he has the money to play with. THe only argument I can see for trading him is selling high, but who do they have waiting in the wings to be a DH with as much pop as him. Johnson is an entirely different story, as he is decent, but i could see him going somewhere if the Jays fall back a little in the wild card race and bring up Hech. what do they have to lose with that transaction. We know that barring any trade Escobar will most likely shift over to 2nd and Hech will be the shortshop of the future. Again barring any trade involving those two. Right now If I was AA (and I claim to be on the Show for PS3) my main trade bait at the big league level would be johnson, Lind Davis, Francisco, Cordero, Oliver, and maybe frasor depending who we get back for him. Minors I would have any of the top prospects dangled as well as Snyder and Thames, cooper and Gomes, all who have had a taste of the big leagues and failed although in small sample sizes (more snyder and thames as the others have been decent). So who do you think AA will trade for that is not in the list of Grenkie, Hamels, Wandy R, Garza and Upton? and who would you trade for them?