Olney is good but he just doesn't have the access to the MLB inner circle or the industry credibility that Gammons has. I mean, Gammons in the MLB Hall of Fame for goodness sake. Olney has good access to the Yankees due to his book "Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty", the Red Sox due to working for ESPN and handful of other teams that he has established relationships with. Another 20 years of this and maybe he'll be where Gammons is today.
I'm sure Gammons gets fed some BS now and then but a GM has to be careful with him. Let's face it - a GM can feed a dweeb like Rosenthall shovels full of shit and Rostenthall has no option but to eat it, smile and ask for another. Gammons can say "try to feed me shit again and your team won't see baseball tonight for three months".
Along that line, the Padres are actively denying that they have even discussed Beltre with the M's. The Mariners are actively denying interest in Soriano, saying that there was one exploratory phone call but that the asking price was far too high (i.e. Jones and Clement). Gammons tends to sniff through at least some of the posturing.
Shrug. A Beltre trade would be nice - he really needs to get back to the NL - but it's far more likely that something is done in the off season. To Philly for Abreu, perhaps?