GaborBako

I don't think is the deal that decides the Wild Card. If the Astros get a bat then you can wave goodbye to it.

NESN talked about it during the Red Sox pregame it'd be Mets get Manny and Danys Baez Red Sox get Huff and Cameron D'Rays get prospects including Anibal Sanchez of the Red Sox, Lastings Milledge from the Mets and at least one more from both BOS and NYM Chris Snow of the Boston Herald reported it and said talks were "ongoing" Edited because I had Papelbon in the deal when it was Anibal Sanchez.

Three way proposal Cubs trade: Rich Hill and Corey Patterson to Cincinnati Cincinnati trades: Adam Dunn and Kent Mercker to Boston Boston trades: Manny Ramirez and cash to Cubs, P Jon Papelbon to Cincinnati

Wait, are you telling me you can't take things seriously if you see them on Desipio? You mean Henry Blanco's not really hitting .583? Matt Murton didn't post 27 times DURING today's game? I'm shocked! Shocked!

The Sox don't win because of their offense. They win because they have allowed more than 190 less runs than they did at this point a year ago. They need to upgrade offensively at third or short, but the jump you get from Huff's offense is negated a great deal by the drop off defensively from Crede. You give up too much for not enough in that equation. Even Kenny Williams can figure that out.

Huff makes no sense for the Sox. His best position is DH and they already have two guys there. His next best position is left and they can't play Podsednik anywhere else. Right field? They need Dye's defense. Third base? Huff plays it with the alacrity of Lenny F. Harris. The Sox would be smart to upgrade defensively at short and hope the pitching stays hot through the playoffs.

Tim Krkjl;jklj;lkjl; doesn't see Mora going anywhere, and because he lives in Baltimore and hangs out mainly at Camden Yards, he ought to have some clue. Scott (Del City, OK): Tim, Rumor has it that if Nevin accepts the trade to the O's, that the O's may send Mora to the Cards for Marquis. Your thoughts? And how likely is it that Mora will be moved? Thanks so much. Tim Kurkjian: (3:10 PM ET ) I don't think Mora is going anywhere. He has become a well above-average defensive 3Bman and he can really hit. The Cards would love to have him, of course, but I can't see the Orioles moving Melvin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave (Little Rock): Tim, love the insight you provide. I know that Jocketty has always kept his "cards" close to the vest near the deadline, but who can you realistically see the Redbirds going after to plug some holes in the OF? What are you hearing about Rolen's latest stint on the DL? Is Cardinal Nation destined for another letdown this October? Tim Kurkjian: (3:12 PM ET ) I don't see the Cardinals making a major deal before the 31st. Their injuries are major, but so is their lead. I could see them just waiting until Sept. 1 to get people healthy. There remains, however, a big question about Scott Rolen's shoulder. Whether Rolen will be a really productive hitter at any point this year remains to be seen. That is a big source of concern, of course, but I can't see them acquiring an everyday thirdbaseman as insurance for Rolen

I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals trade for a third baseman (though, I'd be shocked if the O's traded Mora, especially for Marquis). Rolen's shoulder injury is unlikely to be healed this season, though I'm sure he'll come back an try to play through it again. In fact, it's the same injury he suffered in the 2002 playoffs against Arizona, and his rotator cuff is in such bad shape there is a serious concern it'll never heal right this time. It's probably not a career ending injury, but it's likely a career altering one. If he were on any other team, it'd be kind of sad, really. But he's a Cardinal, so screw him.

Here's a thought. If you feel the need to trade away players who would be useful on the bench (Holly and Neifi) because the manager will play them every day if he has them, why not fire the manager instead?

All this would accomplish is to move deck chairs around the Titanic. The time for short-term fixes to this mess has passed. Any trade now has to be with 2006 and beyond in mind.

http://images.nfl.com/photos/img7913198.jpg

Can we give up such valueable monster arms? http://www.widewordofsports.com/images-thomas%20jones2.JPG Man that's crazy That's crazy, and it's also Michael Pittman.

I'm sure Jim said all that to you and your pal. "I wouldn't trade Rich Hill for Adam Dunn, and I like Austin Kearns better!" Sounds just like him.

http://www.hankwhitefanclub.com

I agree with Jim. Corey's turned the corner. He's lighting up AAA to the tune of .261 in six games. Bring him back! Or something.

Hairston 2b Lee 1b Dunn lf Blanco cf Barrett c Kearns rf Ramirez 3b Nomar ss Works for me. Viva Hank White!

Sweetemotion's rumor could be complete crap, but I don't see the harm in kicking the rumors around anyway. But it's obvious that the Reds are ready to do something. They added Freel and Kearns and opened two spots on their 40 man roster today. Could be a trade to anybody, but something's going on. Especially given the weird man-love Dan O'Brien has for Machado, he would not have risked losing him just to tell Kearns he's not grounded anymore. What you need to fear is that one of the outfielders is headed someplace worse than Houston. St. Louis. Edited because spelling is phun.

That, right there, just proved to me that Dunn is being traded as we speak. Gammons' trade speculation is always bizarro. If he says something's happening it isn't, if he says something isn't, it is.

On the Cincinnati radio pregame last night Jerry Narron said he was going to start Valentin at catcher tonight and tomorrow and get Cruz a start in right field tonight. Isn't XM Radio a great thing?

Weathers claims his back wasn't seriously hurt and expects to be available to pitch tonight. Something's going down in Cincinnati though, they wouldn't have brought Kearns up and dumped GM-fave Anderson Machado unless they were ready to open a full-time spot for Kearns. Somebody (Dunn or Wily Mo) is getting traded. With the Cubs' luck it'll be Dunn...to Houston.

They didn't really love him. They ragged about his defense and he had one of his poorest seasons playing for them (his OBA was a full-season career low of .333). He was, of course, phenomenal in the postseason, but they didn't even try to re-sign him. I'm glad they didn't. I'd like to see Hendry lock Todd up for a couple more years past this one.

Even his July .305 OBP, as bad as that is, is better than what the Cubs were getting out of Corey.

It's true he makes $3.6 million this year but he's arbitration eligible after the season so you'll be paying at least twice that (probably more) next year. And if you trade a top prospect for him you're doing it with the idea you're going to keep him, so that has to be factored in. That said, you only have one player in the system now who has the potential to be as good as Juan and that's Felix Pie. Say what you want about Jerry Hairston, but he's not a real center fielder defensively and his injury history is extensive. Right now, if Hairston got hurt the Cubs would have Jose Macias playing center. The other options are Adam Greenberg (DL), Felix Pie (minor league DL) and Corey Patterson (cluelessly still flailing away in Des Moines). Another benefit to trading for Pierre (if he's really available) is that it buys Pie even more development time. If Felix is as good as he's alleged to be then you can trade Pierre or depending on your outfield situation play them together. You can't expect to win if you don't pursue a player at a position where you have a prospect who "might" be ready to contribute next year.

But Sisco has not pitched well the last couple months. He had a great, almost unbelievable April with a 1.06 ERA and 20 K's to only 6 walks in 17 innings where hitters only batted .138 against him. But he had a 4.85 ERA in May and his combined June and July numbers are 12 innings, 13 hits, eight walks and only seven strikeouts. Batters are hitting better than .340 against him since June 1. He's certainly pitched well enough that the Royals aren't going to give him up, but you would think they'd like to be able to send him to AAA to get more innings. They're basically "hiding" him in the bullpen now as his 12 innings pitched in the last six plus weeks would show.

For what it's worth, after waiving Enrique and Joe, the Cubs have open spots on the 40-man roster (three actually), and while Williamson and Nomar will hopefully come off the 60 day DL this season, they can call up at least one prospect without having to "clear" a spot on the 40 man. Unless Chad Fox miraculously grows back an elbow ligament.