Intra or Inter? Not sure....

The postmortem pieces on the Diamondbacks are already trickling in, which almost makes up for having to think about the NL Champion Colorado Rockies. Ick. Oscar-winning screenwriter, Ben Affleck. Grammy-winning song, "My Humps." Nobel Peace Prize winner, Henry Kissinger. National League Champions, the Colorado Rockies.

Back to the article, which mentions that the Diamondbacks might look for a starting. MLB Trade Rumors suggests Noah Lowry, but pulls him off the hypothetical table because a) the Diamondbacks know about things like K/BB ratios and b) the Giants would be reluctant to trade within in the division.

I agree with the first point; the Diamondbacks have a GM who isn't too worried about veteran savvy, raw ERA, or W/L totals. The second point, though, makes me wonder how big of an obstacle the whole intra-division thing is. The last trades with each team:

• Arizona - Feliz Rodriguez for Trow Browhan and Chris Van Rossum
  
• Colorado - Ellis Burks for Daryl Hamilton, Jason Brester, and Jim Stoops
  
• Los Angeles - Travis Denker for Mark Sweeney
  
• San Diego - Matt Herges for Clay Hensley

That's two heists for the Giants, one trade they probably regret (though Hensley was awful this season), and one trade that isn't likely to be a factor. If Denker does become a good major leaguer, it might be the greatest trade in the history of anything just because of the neener-neener factor. The neener-neener factor seems to be why trades within the division are rare, especially with an unbalanced schedule.

So now the comment starters: Do you care about intra-division trades? Should Sabean?