You may have heard today that the Arizona Diamondbacks engaged in trade talks with the Oakland Athletics about home run derby winner Yoenis Cespedes.  You also may have heard that the package around A.J. Pollock and Tyler Skaggs just wasn’t enough for Billy Beane to pull the trigger on a deal to send away his biggest star.  The takeaway from today’s talks is one thing, that Billy Beane would be willing to trade Cespedes if the price is right.  So what would it take for Beane to be accept a trade of Cespedes?

Obviously two young big league ready players are not going to get it done if Beane declined the rumored trade of Pollock and Skaggs, but if the Diamondbacks replaced Skaggs with someone like Patrick Corbin (Which is pretty obviously not going to happen) you have to believe Beane would pull the trigger.  Beane wants a game changer if he is going to trade away his biggest asset, or maybe a haul similar to the return the Rangers got for Mark Teixeira in 2007.

In 2007 the Rangers had the best hitter in baseball, but they were one of the worst teams in baseball.  To remedy the situation they traded away Teixeira for one of the best hauls in the history of baseball, but most importantly, it set them up for the future.  In that trade they received five players in return, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz, Elvis Andrus and Beau Jones (The only player who has not made a MLB impact involved in the trade).  Three of the five in the trade helped the Rangers reach back to back World Series, and although Harrison and Feliz have struggled with injury recently, one has finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting and the other won rookie of the year.  Let’s not forget too, that they received two players back in the Saltalamacchia trade to the Red Sox who could still pan out and make this trade even better for the Rangers.

While it is hard to predict that a trade like that will pay off like it did for the Rangers, that is the kind of trade it will take if Beane is going to part with Cespedes with two years still left until he becomes a free agent.  A five for one trade doesn’t happen every day, so it is unlikely that someone will be willing to make that kind of commitment.  Also, the A’s aren’t in the same boat as the Rangers were where they need to rebuild, they are back-to-back AL West Champions, so it is hard to see them making this kind of trade with the win now mentality Beane has shown this week.

Another potential trade could be a one for one trade, similar to the recent Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler, like a trade that brings back a game changer to the pitching staff like the Marlins Jose Fernandez.  There is no sign that the Marlins would be willing to trade Fernandez, but if Cespedes could bring back a young phenom caliber pitcher similar to Fernandez, and free up enough cap space to sign Nelson Cruz to take Cespedes spot in the lineup, Beane would make that move in a heartbeat.

It wouldn’t be a great idea for Beane to make the trade right now, though.  Beane has shown with the moves he has made this week that he is all-in for the 2014 season, and trading Cespedes wouldn’t be the best move if that is the true plan.  While Cespedes struggled last season as compared to his rookie season what he has done in the postseason should make him indispensable, at least for the 2014 season.  Cespedes has a hit in every single game he has played in the postseason, and his will to win on the field seems to spread throughout the clubhouse.

So there are moves that could make sense to send away Cespedes, who is going to make big money in free agency in two seasons, the Athletics should hold on to the slugger for the time being.  Don’t expect him to be on the team when his contract is up in 2015, though, because Cespedes is going to get the kind of contract that the A’s have been reluctant to pay their stars in the past.  Beane is eventually going to trade Cespedes away or watch him walk via free agency, but now is not the time, now is the time to push all-in.