Giants refused to discuss Brandon Belt with Astros, according to purportedly hacked database

This feels gross, but it's impossible to ignore. The Houston Astros keep a detailed log of trade discussions, and someone claimed they hacked it. Deadspin wrote about it, with links to the raw data from last trade deadline and this offseason. Here are all the times the Giants were mentioned before last year's deadline:

• The Giants asked about Bud Norris on June 17
• They offered Clayton Blackburn and "another piece"
• They refused to include Adalberto Mejia or Kyle Crick
• They refused Blackburn, Mejia, and Keury Mella for Norris

Yes, because the 2013 Giants were a Bud Norris away from three championships in four years. To be fair, Norris is pitching well this year and is under contract for next year, as well. That's probably more value than the Giants will ever get from Blackburn -- not because I don't like Blackburn as a prospect, but because them's the odds -- but I'm still glad they didn't go through with that trade. It's not like Norris is much better than Ryan Vogelsong, for example.

From this offseason:

• The Giants were interested in Lucas Harrell, one of the worst pitchers in baseball last year, if the Astros were going to jettison him
• The Astros were poking around Brandon Belt, and the Giants told them to get lost

Just the mention of Belt makes me realize how crazy this story could have been. Just think if there were something like ...

SF keeps calling about Brandon Belt

SF offering Brandon Belt for Lucas Harrell, JL felt really, really bad for SF, so he said no

SF called asking if Brandon Belt had accidentally reported to Houston because they couldn't find him and they think someone told him about the trade as being a done deal

Instead, there was a are-you-gonna-eat-that? inquiry about Harrell, and the Astros looking to see if the Giants were really as disgruntled with Belt as they're often made out to be (they are not).

The bigger story is what the Giants were willing to give up for two-and-a-half years of Bud Norris, who is the Bud Norriest of pitchers. It was reasonable to ask for a lot, I guess, and the Astros ended up getting a pretty solid prospect and a jersey-selling machine.

The biggest story might be, holy crap, Astros. Maybe keep this database offline in the future. But please let me peek at it every so often. Assuming this is true, of course. Now I wish I had the idea to make a fake one of these and leak it anonymously.