Man, something has to give. I'm all for putting a package together for an upgrade, but where and for who?
I won't get into the idea of a Ramirez trade. We've already discussed that to death. Let's go with your idea that they keep him. Hell, I hope they lock him up again. The list of those that won't return looks pretty accurate to me, although I think they'll pick up Hernandez's option and trade him because MC and CA are good at extracting value. Eddie won't be back unless Naylor fails, and that isn't likely.
The one avenue that we haven't given much thought to is the idea of trading for a young, controlled SP. I don't know who or if it's even possible, but what if they could acquire a talented SP to plug into the 2 or 3 hole? Would it be feasible? It's just a thought brought about by the realization that something has to give and I don't see CA and MC watching that much talent going via the rule V. Will be interesting to see how things play out because I honestly don't have a clue.
The obvious area of need right now is 1B. Acquiring a big bat there would probably make us the odds on favorite for the division. There again.....who?
Whatever happens this organization is sitting pretty going forward. Any success this season is icing on the cake for me so I don't think I could be disappointed in the results regardless.
The who will depend upon where some teams stand at the deadline...but there will be available bats on teams interested in what we have.