or perhaps a center fielder who will eventually move B.J. Upton to a corner.

You mean like Desmond Jennings? And why is moving B.J. to a corner a priority?

But I think this idea has been discussed here before. My opinion is if/when the Rays trade him, it should be no sooner then the last year of his deal, and with absolute certainty that with his removal from the rotation, the falloff from him to the next guy does not leave this team considerably less competitive.

Right now, the Rays have two starters in the rotation with questionable health histories in Kaz and Niemann, and the only ready-to-go-right-now starter available is Price. Trading him away this season would be rather stupid IMO.

and though Joe has the right idea, there’s no sense in dealing Kazmir during a year when we can compete for October. Maybe Price is as good or better down the road, but that’s asking a lot of a rookie pitcher. Maybe Kazmir isn’t an ace in terms of innings pitched, but I’ll take the 160-180 innings of ace like pitching, with one of our excellent prospects covering up for his injuries. And when it comes to a short series in the playoffs? Yeah, it’d be nice to have Scotty K out on the mound.

Talk about dealing him in the off season, or should Burrell-Pena suffer major injuries.

/sarcasm

The main thing to remember in any trade, especially one involving a really good player signed to a really good contract is that you’re not giving away the player. You’re trading him for something of equal value, probably a player or group of players without as much MLB experience and more cost-controlled (i.e. cheaper) seasons.

If the Rays could trade Kazmir for Wieters, that would be a win, for example.