There appears to be a fair amount of speculation involved in this article, but it's definitely interesting:
Make outfielder Matt Kemp available, and the Dodgers' trade options quickly would multiply. Make Kemp available, and the team could put together a package for virtually any hitter on the trade market — the Pirates' Jason Bay, maybe the Tigers' Magglio Ordonez, maybe even the Rockies' Matt Holliday.
To this point, the Dodgers have resisted moving Kemp or any of their other top young players, but their stance might be changing. "If we get to the point where we can definitively improve ourselves, we'll do it," general manager Ned Colletti told the Los Angeles Times.
Rival executives are skeptical, considering that the Dodgers frequently have backed out of trades involving their youngsters. Dodgers officials, however, say privately that they are indeed more willing to break up their young core. If that is true, Kemp would bring the greatest return...
Bay is the most attainable of the hitters under contract beyond this season. He is not yet 30, ranks 12th in the NL in on-base/slugging percentage and qualifies as a bargain at $5.75 million this season and $7.5 million in '09. Even so, the Dodgers probably would require the Pirates to expand the deal rather than trade Kemp for Bay straight-up — and the Pirates have pitching to spare.
I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again: Kemp is a terrific young player, and while he isn't a sure thing, his upside is stratospheric. I'd move Bay straight up to get him. "Dodgers officials" and "willing to break up their young core" are two phrases any Pirates fan should love hearing in the same sentence.
There's some praise for John Russell and the Bucs later in this Rosenthal article as well, by the way.