Trades

[Padres]

I think if he was going to quit, he wouldn't be in the DSL right ow. This past season is about as bad a season as I can recall him having as far as off the field issues.

Just admit it. You're attracted to nut jobs.

At least Bren is consistent ... he jumped on Ronnie Belliard last year.

[Royals]

I think if he was going to quit, he wouldn't be in the DSL right ow. This past season is about as bad a season as I can recall him having as far as off the field issues.

Just admit it. You're attracted to nut jobs.

My ex-girlfriends might agree with you there...

[Yankees]

Cubs trade<br>
Jeff Kent, Dmitri Young, , , , , , <br>to Royals for<br>
Luis Vizcaino, Kelly Johnson, , , , , ,

Thought I was gonna leave myself out, did you? Of course not. This was a great move for Gabe - he picks up one of the best young 2b's in the game, and a historically solid rp in Vizcaino. This was a huge gamble for me - both Young and Kent have histories of injuries, depression, being assholes, etc. They are both coming off of huge years, and both add some serious sock to my lineup - given they begin the year on the field (Kent!), or can stay on the field (Young!).

If I can get most of the year out of these two, my lineup goes from deep to ridiculously deep. Kent has a tremendous career ops for a 2b and slots in nicely right behind Hawpe in the 7-hole. Young ripped righties last year to the tune of a .327/.903, and thus will get the majority of ab's at DH -with Mike Lamb (1.056 ops vs. lhp) hitting against lefties.

Having the flexibility of Lamb and Young is pretty key too - both can play multiple positions and thus can help fill other spots if injuries occur.

Certainly risky, but, in the words of Herman Edwards, "You play to win the game!"

[Yankees]

Tigers trade<br>
Wilson Betemit, , , , , , , <br>to Rangers for<br>
Cliff Lee, , , , , , ,

I think a good move by both here. Betemit is a nice pickup for positional versatility, and will get ab's for the Yanks this year at a variety of positions. Cliff Lee might be done - but he's also a lefty with fantastic stuff and an 18 win season in his career. He could be a solid candidate for the bullpen, a la Jeremy Affeldt.

[Yankees]

Giants trade<br>
Michael 5-Bowden, Josh Beckett, Pat Neshek, , , , , <br>to RedSox for<br>
Elijah Dukes, Jake Peavy, Chad Tracy, , , , ,

The old saying goes, "In the IBC, if you get a chance to get one of the top 2 pitchers in the league, and don't hurt your team otherwise, you do it." Nils adhered to that principle here. Bren spat in its face.

Bowden and Neshek provide nice arms back for Bren, and Tracy and Dukes will be useful additions to Nils' lineup. It's not a bad deal, I just have no idea why you'd ever want to trade Peavy.

[Royals]

I agree 100% about the top 2 pitchers and it really pained me to make the move, especially sicne it took close to two months of negotiating to get Peavy in the first place. But unfortunately, he sims like shit in Fenway. He's not worth much to me going 12-11 with a 5.13 era. Most of the practice seasons I simmed had similar results, usually as one of the worst 2 pitchers in my rotation.

[Yankees]

Pirates trade<br>
Barry Zito, Carlos Beltran, Jose Valverde, Richie Sexson, Raul Ibanez, , , <br>to Padres for<br>
Chris Young, Jason Schmidt, Scott Baker, Milton Bradley, , , ,

And a happy Monday morning to you too Mr. President!

To get it out of the way, I think JP wins this deal - but I totally see where both teams are coming from. Martin had an abundance of good starting pitching, with a thin lineup - this deal gives him one of the best CF's in the sport, power at 1b, and a solid OF return in Ibanez - while upgrading his pen, and getting a more then capable arm for the rotation.

JP deals from strength (OF), and gets three excellent SP's, and a very useful bat to go back in the outfield - when Mr. Bradley is ready, of course.

With all regards to Mr. Beltran, Chris Young is the best player in this trade - and he's a starting pitcher. Edge to JP.

On a totally unrelated note, everyone says "Isn't is weird that a guy of that character is named 'Milton Bradley?'" I'm here to answer - NO IT'S NOT. The entire point of those games were to figure out ways to cheat to win - and I've said my piece.

[Yankees]

Pirates trade<br>
Andre Ethier, Scott Baker, Carlos Marmol, , , , , <br>to Orioles for<br>
Chris B. Young, Kevin Cameron, Brian Lawrence, Ryan Shealy, , , ,

The old adage goes if you get the best player, you win the deal. Once again, JP got the best player. And another Chris Young. Young is an explosive talent in center field, who has legit 40-40 potential if he can get his average up and learn to work the count. Kevin Cameron gives JP a nice pen arm to replace Marmol. I couldn't care less about the other two.

Ethier is a mid-ceiling, low-risk OF who will slot nicely into any lineup. Scott Baker has talent, but is erratic and pitches to contact a smidge to much for his pure stuff. Marmol is an excellent pen arm, and probably the second best player in the deal.

To judge this one, you have to figure out if you prefer #1, or #'s 2-4. I still think JP comes out ahead.

[Yankees]

Athletics trade<br>
Kei Igawa, Ryan Garko, Troy Glaus, Frank Thomas, Santiago Casilla, , , <br>to Indians for<br>
Chad Cordero, Casey Blake, 2007 Draft, Pick 67, Ken Griffey, , , ,

I actually like this deal for both teams - though the Indians get a touch older and more brittle, I think they got the best of it, overall.

My question is more of the comedic variety - I'm going to recreate the last minute before this deal was agreed to:

Indians: "Listen, I like this deal, but Kei Igawa HAS to remain in the deal."
A's: "There's no chance I'm giving up Kei Igawa. His tremendous upside potential - it's a deal breaker if I have to include him."
Indians: "Then it's a deal breaker, because I NEED Igawa if my team is going to have a chance to compete next year."
A's: "Then we appear to be at an Igawa-induced stalemate."
Indians: "Yes we do."

(dramatic pause)

A's: "Uh, we're just f'ing with each other, right?"
Indians: "Uh, I sure was."
A's: "Good, deal?"
Indians: "Deal, I'll send it in."

[Yankees]

The trade thread will return to "Active" as of today...

[Dodgers]

Sweet!

[Marlins]

A little bored in West Bumfuck, Pennsylvania?

[Yankees]

Nope - I absolutely love Erie, but I'm just not working 20 hours a day anymore...Erie's like Stamford but with a TON more bars...

[Yankees]

Braves trade
Garrett Atkins, Jeff Manship, , , , , ,
to Cubs for
Collin Balester, Josh Fields, , , , , ,

Nice deal for both sides here - though the Cubs certainly do get my favorite last name in it. Manship sounds like the name of Bren's favorite bar.

As for the deal itself, Balester and Fields are certainly two nice young players, but Atkins is a hell of a 3b - and those are tough to come by. Good deal all around - addressing a need with fair talent going back the othe way.

[Yankees]

DBacks trade
Chris Marrero, Daniel 0-Cortes, , , , , ,
to Brewers for
Wade Davis, Adam Lind, , , , , ,

I'm not one to give up the best pitcher in a deal unless you are getting fair arm talent back - and I'm not sure that's the case here. While Lind has been a disappointment for the Jays, he's still a year off one of the best minor league seasons in recent memory so I'm not sure I would have totally jumped off the bandwagon.

Marrero and Cortes are both certainly 'good prospects,' but the prospect train is one easily derailed. In the words of Van Wilder, "Write that down."

[Yankees]

Pirates trade
Joe Koshansky, Ryan Church, , , , , ,
to Brewers for
Jensen Lewis, Eric Byrnes, , , , , ,

I will give this to Jake, he's willing to take a risk. Koshansky looks more and more like AAAA player, and while Church is off to a great start for the Mets, his career numbers are that of a slightly above average MLBer, and I suspect he'll return to earth.

On the other hand, Jensen Lewis is a 23 year old who has proven to be a rather effective reliever, and Byrnes is another slightly above average MLBer who's being hampered by injuries. I see Church/Byrnes as a wash, and would not have traded Lewis for Koshansky - 1b's are a dime a dozen, good young rp's are not.

[Yankees]

Reds trade
Derrek 6-Holland, Adam Dunn, , , , , ,
to Royals for
Travis Hafner, , , , , , ,

Interesting deal for both of us. I was deathly afraid of the post-steroid Hafner, while both Hafner and Dunn are mired in some pretty vicious slumps. For this year, I felt my lineup could use a little more pop as Hafner was more of a high 20's-low 30's homer guy for me, and Dunn is a mid-30's-mid-40's. The chance to pick up an intriguing young talent like Holland put me over the top.

[Yankees]

Pirates trade
Jose Reyes, Lars Anderson, Bartolo Colon, , , , ,
to Brewers for
Ryan Howard, J.J. Hardy, Jonathan 6-Jay, , , , ,

Now this is an interesting deal for sure. It hinges on who you think is struggling worse - Reyes or Howard. As I see it, JP picked up two starters and a nice prospect and Jake only picked up one starter, a prospect, and a monumental question mark. Looking at it through those lenses, it would appear that JP came out on top - but, again, totally hinges on Reyes and Howard.

[Yankees]

DBacks trade
Adam Lind, Hank 6-Conger, , , , , ,
to Angels for
Henry Alberto 0-Rodriguez, Andrew Brown, , , , , ,

Well I like Adam Lind, as previously discussed, and I like Hank Conger.

I like Andrew Brown, who's been lights out this year, and I have no goddamn clue who HA-Rod is.

I may like Lind more then most, but because of that I still give the Angels the slight edge in this one - but I've always been a big fan of stocking up on pitching.

Can someone tell me who HA-Rod is though?

[Athletics]

21 year old starter in AA whos throws about 100 in the A's system.

.270 ERA
.188 BAA
33 K's in 30 IP
9.90 SO/9

Stats through 2 levels this year. HiA and AA.

[Rangers]

He's a fireballer (100+ mph) in the A's system who started on fire in the Cal League and was recently promoted to AA. He was one of the guys that Taylor got from me for Wieters.

[Yankees]

Thanks guys - he's still definitely HA-Rod though...

[Yankees]

Orioles trade
Kasey 6-Kiker, Jonathan Broxton, Lastings Milledge, , , , ,
to Braves for
Kosuke Fukudome, Michael Wuertz, Sergio Romo, , , , ,

So this trade is talented young OF and great RP for talented young RP and a good OF. I'm a little troubled by Fukudome's lack of power, and I love Broxton, but I can certainly see both sides of this trade. The hope here is that Wuertz turns around a rough start - but his lack of strikeouts concerns me. Overall I'd give the Braves a slight win in this trade.

Also, do you guys remember that "You know Sergio? Come, join us" commercial? That commercial was hilarious...I bet that guys' last name was Romo too.

[Giants]

It's worth noting that Brandon gave up Tabata and LaPorta so he could get Fukudome, and Fukudome is gone after a month.

[Cardinals]

Tabata and LaPorta for Broxton, Kiker and Milledge sounds pretty good to me