Okay, I've now begun to lose my patience with the "World Wide Leader." 

I have an ESPN membership, mostly because I greatly enjoy Keith Law's work on ESPN and his chats are usually informative and filled with humor.

But the rest of the analysts on ESPN's baseball coverage, notably Peter Gammons and Buster Olney, have begun to draw my ire as of late, mostly because of Gammons' bias toward the Northeast Corridor and Olney's constant Ranger bashing and his constant citing of his "time in New York."  (Note To Buster:  You last covered the Yankees as a beat report in 2000.  It's been almost seven years.  Get over it.)

But Jayson Stark has really pissed me off today, mostly because of this following column.  Starks are in Bold, mine are standard.:

More Rumblings: The Texas two-step

 What team has the biggest names to sell off this month? Everyone agrees it's the Rangers. But the Rangers' asking price for Teixeira, Eric Gagne, Akinori Otsuka and everyone else has been so off the charts, an official of one team predicts: "The way they're going right now, I don't think they'll make a trade -- any trade."

Okay, usually the first thing you do in any negotiation is state your terms.  Once you've stated the terms, you try and negotiate into a happy medium that both sides are happy with. 

In this case, J.D. approached the negotaition like normal, and was lowballed enough that things haven't progressed at all towards the desired happy medium.  Daniels has stated live during Newberg Night at the Ballpark that a lot of the offers he's gotten have absolutely sucked.  If I were him, I'm not going to do a trade, just to do a trade.  I don't want your ####.  I want value.  If you're not willing to give up something of value, then we have nothing to discuss and I'll take the draft pick compensation for Gagne in 2007 and Teixeira in 2008.  It makes no difference to me.

An official of another team that has been talking to Texas says: "Here's how they're thinking: Take a guy like Otsuka. They basically traded Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez for Otsuka, right?

Uhhh, No.  The Rangers traded Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez for Otsuka and half a season of Adam Eaton. 

Well, how does that look now? So you think they could take back, like, one B-level prospect for Otsuka and sell that to their fans when they traded two All-Stars for him?

Depends who the B level prospect is and how he's valued.  Who is this mysterious GM?  I want to know who the prospect is that they're offering.  If it's ####, I'll #### crucify your ####.

We might look at him as a set-up man. But that's how they look at him. So it's going to be tough."

What was the offer?  Come on Stark, you're holding out.  If this mystery GM has disclosed the offer, publish it, let the public decide if it was a #### offer or not?  Is this Doug Melvin?  Is this that #### deal for Tony Gywnn Jr.  that failed to go down?  Tony Gywnn Jr. is a joke.

Then there's Eric Gagne.

A deal that has been hammered by ESPN but has actually worked out rather well.

A team trading for him could owe him close to $6 million for the rest of the year, between his salary and games-finished incentives. The only big-market contenders his contract allows him to get traded to are the Red Sox, Angels and Yankees. And he won't waive his no-trade to go anywhere else unless he becomes the closer, because it could cost him millions of dollars in incentives.

He shouldn't.  It's just business.  And besides, Gagne is a solid closer and is better than several of the following options that Stark is about to name.

So what contenders could even consider making him their closer? Maybe The Phillies or the Cubs.

Gordon, Myers, and Dempster < Gagne

Maybe the Braves.

Wickman and Soriano < Gagne

But that's about it.

Wrong ####!

• Detroit:  Jones < Gagne
• Cleveland:  Borkowski < Gagne
• Arizona:  Whoever The #### Is Closing < Gagne
• Rockies:  Committee < Gagne

And, whether Brewer Fans want to admit it or not.

• Blowco Cordero < Gagne

And those teams have other reasons not to deal for him. So the Rangers are facing a very limited market.

And he's right.  Here's why:

• Philies: Nothing to offer.
• Braves:  Don't want to give up anything of value.
• Cubs:  Also have nothing to offer and don't want to give up anything particularly useful.  No, I don't want Cesar Iztruis types.

"If it were me running their team, I'd already have gone out and made the best deal for that guy I could have made," says an official of one team that inquired and gave up.

Thank god you aren't because god knows what this happy #### would have done.

"And that's just because of the injury factor. Would it surprise you if you woke up tomorrow and found out Eric Gagne's hip was sore, or his back, or his knee, and he was going on the DL? It wouldn't surprise me. So I'd move him while he's healthy if I were them."

As I've said before, you make the best deal necessary and sell while his value his high.  It's not there yet.  Give it another week.

One team to watch if Gagne softens that I-have-to-close stance: Detroit.

And here's where the column about the Rangers ends.  And why should he soften his stance with Detroit.  Do you mean to tell me that Gagne is a lesser closer than Todd Jones? 

I didn't think so.

#### you Jayson Stark.

And your book sucked too.