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As much as I like all of them, I hope the Astros can deal Loretta, Erstad and Brocail if the team has a poor month. All three would, I'm sure, like to get into a pennant race again before they retire and have played well enough that a contender might want them. We could get a AA player or somebody with some upside who just might blossom.

I would only trade them if you could get a significant prospect in return. I wouldn't trade them just to get something in return. I think it is going to be difficult to get much more than B type prospects, if anything, in return for one of them, and if that is the case, I would skip it. The Astros have plenty of those type "prospects." It will be difficult to replace any of these 3 guys for the remainder of the year, and it won't be worth it just to pick up guys who are the bottom of other teams' prospect list.

It is hard to say right now whether any of the three might be Class B free agents, and thus worth keeping for that reason. My guess is that Loretta and Brocail stand a pretty good chance on that score. Brocail might even reach Class A free agent status. I don't know why you think Loretta or Brocail will retire after this season. Loretta probably can continue playing for several more years if he is willing to be a utility player, like Vizcaino. The Astros' contract with Brocail has a 2009 option, which makes me think that retirement wasn't contemplated.