So what are we talking about here?

San Juan and Detroit agreed to terms on a trade that included one of the games top players. The result? A maelstrom of discussion on the chat that ranged from defenses by the owners and loud calls of "unfair" and "lopsided." In the interest of beating a dead horse (I get that from my mother's side of the family), let's take a look at the numbers.

DETROIT GETS

$3 million cash









Let's take a minute and remember the man in black.

$3 million goes a little ways.

Timo Phillips San Juan Epsteins Age: 32 B/T: R/R Born: Winterhaven, CA Position(s): RF/1B/OF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Reigning MVP Timo Phillips is arguably the best position player in the world. A five-year vet, Timo is 32 years old and has shown the typical age related decline in his ratings. My scouting shows him the low-to-mid 90s overall, with highly above average speed, contact, power, lefty, righty and batting eye numbers. His fielding numbers are average to above average.

Phillips' impact is unquestioned -- career .356 hitter with a 1.237 OPS, 97 homers and 260 RBI. Disciplined at the plate, he reaches base 46.5 percent of the time and has 174 walks to 38 strikeouts. He's swiped 88 bases. When he pees, liquid gold comes out.

The downside. Well, if you are San Juan and looking to rebuild, he's a burden. pengoman made the comment that he represents 14 percent of the Epsteins season two payroll and there are three more years left at $9.5 million per.

Alfonso Cruz San Juan Epsteins Age: 20 B/T: L/L Born: Elias Pina, DO Position(s): P (SP2) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

A high ceiling, five-pitch guy. Cruz, at age 20, is within arm's reach of his projected potential. My scouting shows him to top out in the 80s. He's a sinker-slider pitcher, with the projections for a dominant curveball and change. He also shows an average fastball. He shows above average numbers against lefties and righties.

He has cruised the levels. He started with Portland's AAA team. Traded to San Juan, he climbed from LoA to AA. This season, he is 9-5 with a 4.03 ERA with a 135-57 K/BB ratio. Cruz holds batters to a .239 OAV and a 1.38 WHIP.

Downside? He loses a lot of games (20-15 over his career) and has the ERA of a finesse guy (4.29). And he's a munchkin at 5-9.

SAN JUAN GETS

Richard Allen Detroit Great Lake St Age: 24 B/T: S/R Born: N Dartmouth, MA Position(s): CF/CIF/2B/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

A 24-year-old sophomore with a squirrelly mustache, Allen is projected as a high 70s/low 80s player with strong fielding, speed, batting eye numbers and good contact and lefty and righty ratings.

In 259 games, he is batting .276 with 79 seals in his career. His season one to season two numbers have made great progress -- up 23 points in batting average, up 13 in OBP, up 15 in OPS and nearly matching last year's numbers in steals, RBI and doubles.

Warren Rueter Detroit Great Lake St Age: 25 B/T: R/R Born: Monterey, CA Position(s): SS/IF/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

At age 25, Rueter is within arm's reach of his low-to-mid 80s projection. A great fielder with average to above average offensive numbers. He's currently at AAA after spending a fair successful season in the ML last season.

Last year, Rueter was .286-17-69 with a .806 OPS at the major league level. This season, he has 10 games in the show, going 2-21. At AAA, Rueter is batting .311-19-77 with 32 doubles. His OPS is .927 and he's closing the gap and slowing down the strikeout machine (67 Ks to 46 BB).