Is Conner Greene going to be traded between now and the Blue Jays’ Winter Fest?

The event, which was announced today, takes place on January 20th, and features a significant number of Blue Jays prospects. Lourdes Gurriel is excited to be coming, and said as much on his Instagram. And Greene, whose name is not on the list of invited prospects?

Well…

Maybe that doesn’t mean what it looks like it means, but whatever! Let’s just pretend it does. And yes, that sure seems to be Greene’s Insta.

Now, I’m a firm proponent of the idea that it’s utterly ridiculous and dumb to think that baseball operations departments are out there squaring with the marketing team who will or won’t be traded. The guys on the above list are no more safe than it is assured Greene won’t move — it just doesn’t work that way. Everybody is in play, and deals can come together quickly, so it’s really just preposterous to think we can divine meaning out of promotional announcements like this.

On the other hand…

Jon Morosi reported this week at MLB.com that the Giants and Pirates have been talking about Andrew McCutchen, noting that the Giants have been reluctant to make a move given that their system is a bit thin, and the Pirates have apparently asked for one of their three top prospects: Heliot Ramos, Chris Shaw, or Young Beedah.

The Jays can do better than that! Or, at least, using guys you maybe don’t mind trading they can probably better than one of them, I think. Beede, as BA’s Giants top 10 for 2018 points out “scuffled through 19 starts at Triple-A Sacramento before a groin injury ended his season in late July” in 2017. They tell us that his velocity dipped in 2017 “as the plus fastball he previously pitched with became an average to above-average pitch,” and that he “doesn’t miss many bats and now profiles as a possible No. 4 starter.”

Now, just because there’s some uncertainty over Beede now doesn’t mean he’s behind Greene. Young Beedah is close to the big leagues, and a possible number four sounds pretty good compared to a hard thrower who might be a reliever, is farther away, and might always struggle to get the ball over the plate. But for the purposes of this entirely half-assed post, fucking eh! Greene for McCutchen! Let’s do this, Atkins!

Or at the very least, give ol’ Conner a ring and get him to the big winter shindig.

Or… this is all entirely benign — who’s to say???