In an ideal world, when a contending team makes a trade for a big-name player before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, they would soon sign the newcomer to a long-term deal.If that doesnt happen, the trade can feel lopsided. A few days before the 2012 trade deadline, for example, the Alex Bregman Jersey Angels made a bold move for free-agent-to-be Zack Greinke. They sent three prospects to the Brewers, including Jean Segura, who has since established himself as Milwaukees shortstop of the present and future.TRADE RUMORS: | | Greinke made 13 starts for the Angels and was very good (a 3.53 ERA), but the Angels mi sed the playoffs and Greinke left as a free agent that offseason despite the teams best efforts to re-sign him. Because he was a midseason acquisition, the Angels didnt even get a draft pick as compensation when he jumped to the Dodgers.That was pretty much the worst-case scenario for the Angels.But dont confuse that debacle with the pursuit of David Price at 2014s trade deadline.Any contending team that meets Tampa Bays prospect priceshould the Rays actually decide to trade him, obviouslyis getting a former Cy Young winner who is under club control through the end of the 2015 season.And, sure, that acquiring team would love to sign him to a long-term deal before he hits the free-agent market (who wouldnt want this lefty at the top of their rotation for the next six or seven years?). But a suming he stays healthy through 2015, and his track record there is pretty solid, the worst-case scenario for the acquiring team involves very little worst.That team will get two full playoff runs with Pricewho turns 29 in August and has a 3.06 ERA this year with a crazy-good 8.24 K/BB ratioand then, even if he refuses to engage in long-term talks, that team will get a compensation first-round pick in the 2016 draft that will likely be around No. 27 to 30 overall (depending on other free-agent signings).So lets look at a bottom-line scenario as it plays out for the Cardinals, a team that has been consistently tied to Price discu sions, for good reason. Because of injuries to key members of the rotation (Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia), they have the need for another top-level starter who they trust Ryan Pressly Jersey in a postseason situation. And they have the prospects/young major-leaguers who would be enough to get the deal done.Heres another factor: Theres every reason to believe St. Louis will be one of the handful of legitimate World Series contenders both this year and next year, that Price will have a chance to make an impact in Octoberthe reason teams want himboth years. The Cardinals won the World Series in 2011, went to the NLCS in 2012 and lost the World Series in 2013, and have largely the same core of players Dallas Keuchel Jersey from those teams.Should St. Louis add Price to Adam Wainwright at the top of the rotation for the next two Octobers, no team, save the Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke) could match that combo. And, true, Prices postseason numbers (5.06 ERA) dont match his regular-season numbers (career 3.17 ERA), but he did earn the complete-game win for the Rays last September in the Game 163 tiebreaker against Texas to claim the final wild-card berth.He could be a disaster in the playoffs in a Cardinals uniform. Anythings po sible. But his shoddy postseason numbers represent a very tiny sample size (32 innings), and its reasonable to believe his larger body of work (3.03 ERA in 986 1/3 innings in his past five seasons) is good enough to roll the October dice going forward.The po sibility of having four games of every seven-game playoff series in 2014-15 started by either Wainwright or Price has to be intoxicating for the St. Louis front office.Of course, the price to acquire Price will be significant. Itll likely involve two players from this group: outfielder Oscar Taveras (Baseball Americas preseason No. 1 St. Louis prospect and No. 3 overall prospect), outfielder Stephen Piscotty (No. 4 organizational), starter Marco Gonzalez (No. 5), outfielder James Ramsey (No. 8), outfielder Randal Grichuk (a 2009 first-rounder with 17 Triple-A homers this year) and current young big-league pitchers Carlos Martinez and Shelby Miller.The Cardinals would prefer to hold onto Taveras, who is the type of player who could win an MVP and be a perennial All-Star. But thats why Tampa Bay will almost certainly insist hes included, so hypothetically, lets say the Rays demand Taveras and Miller, plus a lower-level prospect or two. Thats in line with previous returns for traded starters James Shields (Wil Myers, plus others) and Matt Garza (Chris Archer, plus others).Yes, that cost is high, and yes, the Cardinals would hate the idea of giving up so many cost-controlled years for young players. But St. Louis has developed the type of farm system that has depth, and theyd be dealing from positions of strength. They have a plethora of outfielders, in the minors (the four players mentioned above) and the majors (Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, John Jay and Peter Bourjos are all signed or under club control through 2016).And though you can never have too many young arms, they J.R. Richard Jersey do have a bit of depth there, too, including the two first-round right-handers they took in the 2014 draft. The point of developing this type of productive farm system is to increase the quality of the parent club, either by having prospects contribute at the big-league level (as has been the case often during the Cardinals current run of sustained succe s) or by using them in trades to acquire proven talent to fill an important need (like the 2009 trade-deadline move for Holliday).For many organizations, trading the type of talent nece sary to Nolan Ryan Jersey land Price might crush their overall farm system quality. Thats just not the case for St. Louis.The Cardinals front office could decide that dealing that kind of talent for any pitcher is just too risky, and thats a reasonable thought, with the startling number of Tommy John surgeries the past few years. But if thats the case, theres zero chance of adding any October-impact arm.And the Cardinals would love some type of rea surance before making any deal that Price would consider a long-term extension with the club. They cant actually ask him, of course, but there are reasons to believe he would. As many have pointed out, hes from Tenne see and played college ball at Vanderbilt in Nashville, which is only a six-hour drive from Busch Stadium. He has expre sed a desire to play with a perennial contender, and the Cardinals certainly fit that qualification.But lets say, for arguments sake, that Price decides after the 2015 season that he doesnt want to stay with the Cardinals, that he wants to sign his mega-deal elsewhere. So, worst-case (again, a suming he stays healthy), St. Louis would get two playoff runs with Price in the rotation and then get to sel