"Kevin Towers and Josh Byrnes, general managers who have essentially swapped teams between Arizona and San Diego in the past couple of years, arrived in town on the same flight earlier this week.

"I happened to be in first class and he wasn't," Towers recalled. "He said, 'Let's make the first trade between our clubs. I'll take your seat and you take mine.' I said, 'No, I've got a no-trade provision on this one.' "

Although a frostiness still exists between the teams that stems from the highest reaches of each organization, there's no such animosity between Towers and Byrnes, who respect each other as peers and have worked together on past trades."