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Over the next three days, Jeff Moore will be proposing three deals that could help get the trade market moving during what has been an otherwise stagnant off-season. Three types of trades will be featured: the obvious, the less obvious and the one that will never actually happen but should.

THE OBVIOUS TRADE

The Rays get

• George Sherrill

The Orioles get

• Reid Brignac
• Jeff Neimann

The Orioles are not going to compete in 2009.

Between their own status in year two of a three-year rebuilding project and the off-season reloading of the New York Yankees, the Orioles would have to shock the world to be legitimate contenders next season.

George Sherrill turned out to be the cherry on the top of last off-season’s Orioles-Mariners trade. Coming off an excellent season as a set-up man in 2007, he was handed the closer’s role in Baltimore with little competition or alternative options to pressure him. He turned in 31 saves, an all-star appearance, an ERA in the high-4’s, and a city full of kids want to wear their hat brims flat as a board. His popularity in the Charm City far exceeds his actual reliability as a closer, but he is serviceable in the role, and would excel as a set-up man who is dominant versus lefties and can pitch the entire 8th inning. For his career against left-handers, Sherrill’s line is .171/.235/.287 with 128 strikeouts versus 26 walks.

But what value does a player of that mold have to a team who will almost certainly not compete in 2009?

Whatever that value, it is certainly less than the value Sherrill would have to an already competitive team with potential bullpen issues and a need for someone who can be flexible enough to fill in the closer’s role when called upon.

If the residents of Tampa feel like that description sounds familiar, they would be right.

While the Rays bullpen actually performed quite well in 2008, it was done so with a rejuvenated former closer who took numerous trips to the DL and a collection of middle relievers, some of whom performed well beyond expectations.

The formula may have worked for a year, but continually hoping for career years and filing in the blanks with reclamation projects is a good way to be forced into overpaying for a closer at the trade deadline. And in the AL East, it’s a direct route to 3rd place.

And it would be a shame for the Rays to not support their great young nucleus with a properly equipped bullpen. Would you buy an Aston Martin, and fill it up with regular gasoline instead of premium?

And don’t think that this week’s Rays signing of Joe Nelson solves their bullpen problems. Yes, Nelson posted a 2.00 ERA last year in 54 innings for the Marlins. But he’s 34 and has only pitched in 103.3 Major League innings, and he’s been let go by the Braves, Red Sox, Mets, Cardinals, Royals, Marlins and the Rays. A $1.3M, it’s a relatively cheap signing with upside, but Nelson can’t be counted on to give the Rays the solid bullpen innings they need.

The Rays need to make another bullpen move, and the Orioles would be foolish not to trade Sherrill while his value is highest. They can gamble and hope he improves in his closer’s role, thinking they can get even more for him at the trade deadline, but that would require the same bravado as calling an all-in with an inside straight draw. You either have to have enough guts to teeter on the brink of foolishness or know something no one else does. Unless Sherrill developed a new devastating pitch this off-season or did what he did last year with a now healed injury, he needs to be moved for more young talent to help with the rebuilding process.

Brignac and Neimann would do just that.

Now if you’re going to make the argument that two of their top-10 prospects are a lot for the Rays to give up for a fringy closer, well you’d have a good case. But trading is all about leverage. Supply and demand factor in here even more so then in most trades.

What are the Rays other bullpen options?

They can stick with what they had last year and hope to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Maybe one-pitch wonders like Grant Balfour can continue to fool the American League with a “here it comes, see if you can catch up with it” fastball. That plan shouldn’t excite Rays fans.

They could have signed a free agent. They could have offered Brian Fuentes $17.5M over two years, which is what he took from the Angels. But that’s a lot of money for the Rays, and they have an abundance of power arms in their system, some of whom could potentially be closers not too far down the road. The Rays also have a number of players they need to begin to lock up long term and don’t want to trap themselves financially just to get a mid-level closer.

But luckily for the Rays, they are in a unique situation of actually being richer in their farm system than they are in their wallet. Many of their prospects are currently blocked, so why not flip them for a piece they need immediately?

Brignac and Neimann are two of those blocked prospects.

Brignac is blocked by Jason Bartlett, a shortstop whose defense was so spectacular this year he actually got an MVP vote despite hitting at a .286/.329/.361 clip for the season. While that MVP vote was likely the result of an overexcited Tampa writer, Bartlett nonetheless played an important enough role in Tampa’s success that Brignac is not replacing him, at least not this year. Bartlett is also controlled for a few more years and does not figure to get extensive raises through arbitration, so he could easily be the shortstop in Tampa until the Rays 2008 1st round draft pick (number 1 overall) Tim Beckham is ready to take the reigns. If the Rays agree, then Brignac is the odd man out, making him expendable. The Orioles, on the other hand, could give Brignac another shot at Triple-A to get his bat back in gear, slating him for a 2010 arrival in the Majors full time – the last year of Cesar Izturis’ contract.

Neimann faces more of a road block than Brignac. The big right-hander out of Rice has been stuck in baseball purgatory, having been Major League ready for about a year, but without a spot in the Rays rotation, and not suited for a role in the bullpen. Neimann does not have the ceiling of other Rays prospects like David Price (who will likely take Edwin Jackson’s vacated rotation spot for 2009) Jake McGee, Wade Davis, and Jeremy Hellickson (among others), but he does project to be a 3-4 starter and is ready to be so immediately.

Neimann would be a cheap alternative with possible upside down the road for an Orioles team currently trying to fill in the blanks with healthy arms until their own top prospects are ready for the big show. He can both jump into the rotation right away and possibly stay there down the road. The Rays on the other hand are willing to part with Neimann for something significant in return, as he has little value to them without a place to pitch.

Would the Rays be willing to part with two talented players for Sherrill? Only Andrew Friedman knows that for sure, but the trade would give them a dominant left-handed set-up man and closer insurance for Troy Percival’s bi-monthly trip to the DL, without giving up anything on their current roster or any major pieces of their immediate future. The Orioles, on the other hand, forfeit inconsistent saves for two more young pieces of what could be an increasingly bright future. The only obstacle I see is the hesitation some GM’s have trading within their own division, but in this case it doesn’t make sense to let that stop them.

Check back Friday for Part 2 of Jeff’s trade proposal series, this one involving the Mariners and Giants.

Jeff Moore is the creator of mlbprospectwatch.com, a one-stop site for all information regarding baseball prospects and the minor leagues.  Check back for daily updates on your team’s future stars.