I would give up bowden, looking down the road, we might not have a need for him, or at least not such a pressing need that we can see at this point to justify keeping him instead of acquiring a guy who would very possibly put us over the top. Bucholz is our absolutely untradable guy. Ellsbury is close, because great leadoff hitters are rare, but I don't cry over losing him. Bowden might make sense for us to deal. I don't know off-hand anyone can offer a package that tops a Bowden, Murphy, and Gabbard deal.
Bowden is the youngest player in AA, and has all the ceiling in the world. Thing is, Beckett, Dice-K, Lester and Bucholz are the guys ahead of him in the "pitchers of the future" department. Thats stiff competition and gives us a little bit of a surplus here of young pitching talent (jesus christ did I just say that?). Dealing Bowden away for just anyone would be a mistake, but if you're talking about bringing in a pitcher like Buehrle, I think its due dilligence to at least kick the tires. Buehrle gives us big time schilling insurance and a scary front 3 in the playoffs that might even be better than the Schilling, Pedro and Lowe 1-2-3 punch we had that year we when we did pretty good. When was that again? Eh, minor detail.
Point is, Buehrle is worth parting with prospects. Looking ahead to the future is important, but when we're looking at guys like Buch, Lester, Dice-K, Papelbon etc. I think we might be ok there. Buehrle is a rock. I'm in favor of this one big time.