Reading through the grapevine I found that Peter Gammons was told what the Rangers/Rays deal consisted of and this is it:

Rangers get:
Matt Garza

Rays get:
Derek Holland
Engle Beltre
Frank Francisco
cash considerations

Any thoughts on this?

I would have been ok giving this up for Garza. Holland better bring his game up because he has been mentioned in some big trades over the last few years. We need him to harness some of that potential.

Horrid!
Either
a) Holland or
b) EB & FF,

...but goodness, not both a AND b! Thanks be to God it didn't go through! Garza is not Greinke. He's currently more valuable than Holland, but will eventually be less, I suspect. So a 1-for-1 would be a trade like Smoak for Lee-- long future for shorter present.

Interesting, but I'm glad we didn't do it. I give it a 40% chance Holland could be better than Garza this year, and 60% that he's better in 2012. And the cost contolled factor of our young players is even more important when we are giving out huge contracts (maybe overpaying) for people like Adrian Beltre. And after we give big money to Hammy and/or Nellie, we will need Engel and his cost effective early years to offset everything.

Seems fair but I wouldn't have done it. I would have done something with Hunter at the front. Say, Hunter, Beltre, Erlin, Francisco, cash.

I'm kinda hoping they hang onto Beltre & he makes it to Arlington - he could be a fun player to watch.

That's a pretty competitive package if it was in fact offered. I'm almost surprised they didn't take it. They need a closer and Frank would have fit the bill nicely. The Rays got a lot of value for Garza from the Cubs, but it won't help their big league club this year.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Holland could have probably been gone in half a dozen trades over the last couple of years. And yet he's still here. Same could be said for Perez and Beltre most likely. It would be nice to see Holland break out this year.

It should be an interesting year down on the farm as well. Despite their best efforts, the Rangers have hung on to their minor league talent. I would expect 2-3 to really break out this year.

That is a very attractive package. I'm real surprised we included Holland. Just one more low level prospect probably would have gotten in done, I really wanted Garza, but I am glad that we didn't have to give those guys up for him