(dedicated thread for this article <a href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=209797">here</a>) [rquoter]Anatomy of a Baseball Trade As this year’s trade deadline approached, the fire sale was on in Houston. An inside look at how the Astros and the Atlanta Braves got a big deal done. Imagine telling a lawyer she’s been traded for two promising law students. Or a salesman that he’s moving from a software company in Seattle to a tire company in Cleveland. In sports, it happens all the time. To find out how it’s done, we asked Ed Wade, general manager of the Houston Astros, and Frank Wren, his counterpart with the Atlanta Braves—as well as some of their scouts and players—to reconstruct a swap they made just before baseball’s July 31 trading deadline. The process begins with Wade realizing that his slumping Astros need to unload players such as star outfielder Hunter Pence and speedy center fielder Michael Bourn to build for the future.[/rquoter] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/anatomy-of-a-baseball-trade-10202011.html