Don't know if this will copy well, but here's a graph from Sully's article on the Gray trade yesterday:
In short, there's a 'super seven' at the top of baseball--and we aren't one of them. What seems to group them is the ability to draft and develop.
Granted, this has hardly been a strong point for us, But in my mind, getting rid of Lewis and Neidert and Bishop (or similar pieces) for a couple years of Sonny Gray doesn't get us into that group---this year or ever.
I am not at all sure McKay's Werner Erhard act is the right way to go to develop the kids...I continue to be very sour on Stottlemyre's abilities...and frankly, I don't know how in the world Candaele keeps his job as baserunning coach. (We are 29th out of 30 teams in baserunning WAR--only the Mets are worse).
So I'm not in favor of stealing from our nearly barren farm system for a slim chance to make it into a one game playoff this year. Even if we did, I'm sure we'd lose by having someone fall asleep in the ninth and get picked off.