I've always laughed at people who get worked up over tweets that say "Team X has jumped into the lead to acquire Player Y" like it's the Kentucky Derby or something.
Thoughts about DFAing Stanek? Just like Yankees just DFA'd Willie Calhoun ( reminds me of getting Cameron Maybin) Put him out there and take calls for him. He's a pending FA lowest K rate and highest BA against (20+ IP) in his career and walks 5 per 9 IP. He won't pitch important innings in the playoffs and can be replaced from AAA.
"And so it's been written. Thy Astros shall acquire Bellinger and Stroman for mere stones upon to be triumphant" - Moses
If we gave up Tony Kemp just to get Maldy back in less than a year... I am willing to sacrifice David Hensley.
Our current 6 man rotation of Valdez, Javier, Brown, France, Urquidy, & Bielak is good enough to say that anyone we trade for will need to be at least a #3 maybe a #2 in order to improve our rotation at all. If all we want is inning eaters I would be fine with rotating up minor league depth.
This makes perfect sense. The rotation is bad enough that it needs improvement but good enough that the options are limited and expensive.