Received Chipper Jones for Jorge Cantu.  My offense if fine, but could use help mostly in AVG and despite his current slump Chipper should help in that area.  Even if he misses a few games here and there (more like when) I still would rather have Chipper over Cantu.  I also have Aramis Ramirez on my DL, so I'll be able to put one of the two at CI or UTIL when he comes back.

I was getting some serious interest in Zack Greinke. Aside from Greinke my starting pitchers consists of Jon Lester, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Cain, Edwin Jackson, John Danks and Max Scherzer.  As you can see, pitching is pretty solid.  Since the offers were coming back fairly aggressive, I decided to see how high I could sell on Greinke as I have already had a half seasons worth of great production.  The deal ended up like this...

My team traded: Zack Greinke, Shane Victorino and Frank Francisco

My team received: Alex Rodriguez, Matt Kemp and Chad Qualls

The way I see it: A-Rod has started to find a little groove.  While I don't think he'll be the A-Rod of old for the rest of the season, he should be a great addition to Chipper/Aramis at 3B/MI/UTIL and makes one of them expendable should I want to try and deal for another position.  To me Matt Kemp>Shane Victorino.  They are the same type of player, but Kemp has more power and more speed.  Frank Francisco for Qualls is basically a wash at this point.  Francisco has not looked sharp since returning from the DL and Qualls is a low end closer.  My other closers include Jose Valverde, Kevin Gregg and Kerry Wood.  Not the best closer group in the world, but it's holding me above water. 

All in all these are the players I gave up and received:

I got:

Chipper Jones

Alex Rodriguez

Matt Kemp

Chad Qualls

I gave up:

Jorge Cantu

Zack Greinke

Shane Victorino

Frank Francisco

How do you think I did in my day of wheeling and dealing?

P.S. have a great 4th of July weekend!!!!

Look, tonight's going to be a circus clusterfark of epic proportions. We know that. Just look around the media - you've got the Los Angeles Times practically needing a change of pants, (and it's not just me who's pointing that out) FOX ready to break into the national games to show his at-bats tomorrow, and most of the mainstream establishment taking the Plaschke line of "well I never!" disgust that most fans won't be burning effigies of Manny. Plus, there's whatever the hell it is that Kurt Streeter is doing.

As I said yesterday, I don't think we're viewing this situation through blue-colored glasses. We know that Manny's a jerk for a variety of reasons, and none of us deny that. I just think the mistake here is viewing the reaction to Manny's return as some sort of referendum on the moral fiber of America, as Mike Schmidt - who's apparently just gotten over the fact that teenagers are "necking" now - hilariously tries to stress.

I love baseball more than just about anything in the universe, but it's important to remember just that - it's baseball. Rooting for a player who broke the rules and paid the price is hardly the same as rooting for anarchy, socialism, and terrorists, no matter how loudly some members of the media like to squawk about it.

Just keep that in mind; no matter how ridiculous this weekend becomes - and have no doubt that it will - it's baseball. On this weekend of all weekends, it's important to keep in mind what's important, and what's entertainment.

Now let's all go off and drink until we can't feel feelings. Happy 4th!

(*Okay, one baseball note: Manny vs. Padres starter Chad Gaudin - a 1.500 OPS with 2 homers in 14 plate appearances.)

They went 21-7 in June. That hot streak gave Colorado a new confidence after Clint Hurdle's May 29 firing. It's a confidence they won't easily let go of. "We showed that we can play with them," said manager Jim Tracy after his team finished 5-4 on the road trip. Jason Hammel also chimed in. "They know we are a different team now, and that it's going to be a dogfight until the end," said Hammel. Those quotes don't sound like they're coming from a team aware of its futility against the team leading their division.

Here's the good news: after a 1-0 victory over Colorado today, the Dodgers just took 2 of 3 from the hottest team in baseball, serving notice that no, they don't really need to worry about the Rockies. The pitching staff, so maligned in the offseason, is statistically the best in baseball, leading MLB in batting average against and ERA, largely on the strength of the most strikeouts of any staff in the game.

The bad news? You need every last bit of that pitching when you're scoring just 3 runs in regulation time against the Rockies. If the pitching had been anything less than superior - even if it was just "pretty good", you're very likely looking at a sub .500 June.

Looking around the June stats for the club, a few things pop out immediately:

Andre Ethier is trying to be Adam Dunn. 9 homers and a .619 SLG? Yes please. 0 singles in the last 8 games of the month (plus the first one in July) and 23 strikeouts in 26 games? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, Ethier's power output was more than welcome in a month where everyone else acted like the bats were made of poison, but the fact that so much of it came in bunches (7 homers in 3 games) somewhat mitigated his overall impact.

Juan Pierre deserves the benching he's about to receive. No, I haven't forgotten how great Pierre was immediately after Manny was lost - all of the proper respect to Pierre for those first three weeks. But what so many have ignored is that his hot streak came to a screeching halt as May turned into June, because over the month of June he's been even worse than usual. His .628 June OPS is nearly 100 points lower than his career average, and it's not even like we loved his career average that much.

You want a reason that the Dodger offense sputtered in June? There's plenty of fingers to be pointed, but having Pierre leading off every single game is a pretty good place to start.

Any time you want to pitch in, Volume 1: Orlando Hudson and Casey Blake each sputtered out in June - Hudson in particular, getting on base at just a .269 OBP. However, since each of them were so valuable earlier in the season, I'm willing to write this off as a slump, as compared to...

Any time you want to pitch in, Volume 2: Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin... you're killing me. Martin in particular was somehow worse than he's been all year, struggling to just a .190/.326/.241 mark. Joe Torre seems to have recognized this, giving A.J. Ellis and Brad Ausmus starts before tomorrow's off day in hopes of energizing Martin, but geez. At this rate, the only way the return of Manny's going to do anything for Martin is if Manny swaps out the #99 jersey for #55 each time the catcher's spot comes up in the order.

Matt Kemp, keep it up. His .823 OPS is within range of his .838 season mark, and his season OPS has him as the 4th best hitting center fielder in the bigs. Considering that Carlos Beltran is hurt and may not be the same upon his return, there's a pretty solid case to be made that Kemp is the best center fielder in the National League - not even counting his much-improved defense.

All of which brings me back to Manny. How many other struggling teams can say they're picking up a supreme bat for nothing at the trading deadline, right? Look, is Manny a idiot? No question. Is he a jerk? Probably - I didn't really like reading that he didn't buy the spread for his minor league teammates, which is longstanding tradition for rehabbing stars who make approximately eleventy billion times what the kids do. He's hardly my definition of an upstanding citizen, no matter how childlike and goofy he appears. I'd much rather root for a guy like Kemp or Martin, assuming Martin ever does anything worth cheering for ever again.

All that means, yes, you're damn right that I will look upon Manny with some apprehension when he returns on Friday. But you know what else? I'm going to cheer when he injects the offense with some life and knocks the ball out of the park, because the only reason I care at all about these people is because of what they do for the team I've chosen to follow. What Manny did was disappointing - to say the least - but he's served the punishment laid upon him, and will likely serve much worse in the public eye.

So call me a hypocrite if you must, because I sure as hell booed Barry Bonds and ridiculed Giants fans for standing by him - though as Jon Weisman said, we all hated Barry Bonds long before steroids came to public light. Fact of the matter is, this team's offense has been brutal, and it need something. If that something just so happens to be a retarded man-child who can both crush the ball and push Juan Pierre to the bench, that's fine by me.

Sports Illustrated correspondents in every city interviewed 380 players in May for the poll, though many players declined to answer that particular question, even while knowing they would remain anonymous. SI did not break down the exact vote totals, but listed Piniella first with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Guillen at 21 percent. St. Louis' La Russa (10 percent), the Dodgers' Joe Torre (4 percent), and Cleveland's Eric Wedge (4 percent) rounded out the top five. Players could not vote for managers from their own team.

Lou Piniella, .521, one World Series titles and six division titles
Ozzie Guillen, .531, one World Series titles and two division titles
Tony La Russa, .536, two World Series titles, five pennants and 11 division titles
Joe Torre, .540, four World Series titles, six pennants and 12 division titles
Eric Wedge, 502, one division title

Have you ever listened to one of those morning zoo nut-hut talk radio shows? I'm sure you have, and yet you managed to change the dial before slitting your wrists. Often times these extremely boring people will go to excrutiating lengths to have a compelling talk segment. Right about now they're probably talking about how we are now over the hump - the days are getting short again (but they were so long for a while there, ha-ha! Can you beileve how long the days were? Blah blah, I couldn't go to sleep some nights the sky was so bright! Haw!) - and how winter is already on its way.

As much as I detest those jabrones, I can't help but think about the same sort of thing -- the year is flying by. We're coming upon the All Star Break -- aka the most boring week in sports every year -- and before you know it we'll be headed toward October, and long winters, and the hot-stove again. The speed of summer just makes me feel old, and this year in particular there has been little to keep me interested in the baseball season on account of how the Cubs have been a total, unbelievable, typically Cub bust. Man, those guys suck. Still, there are on-going story-lines and we will take a look at those now.

Rising
Mariano Rivera's Save Total
I am getting old. I still remember Rivera as the set-up man on the '96 Yankees. A decade and a half later and he's still there, shutting down opponents, racking up saves. I would guess that the average life expectancy of a closer in baseball is perhaps three seasons, and it's incredible to see Rivera nearing his 1,000th inning pitched in relief, reaching his 500th career save, posting an ERA of 2.31 in an era known for offensive theatrics and booming homeruns. He's done it in years in which he struck out nearly 11 per 9 nnings, and in years in which he's only managed about 6 per 9. Not to mention that in October -- when he is facing the creme of the crop -- his career ERA is 0.77 in 117.1 innings of work. Surely the Yankees will lament the loss of their team's captain, Derek Jeter, when he finally hangs them up. But if we're being fair, I think the loss of Rivera - which will come sooner - will hurt even more. He's been nothing short of amazing his entire career.

The Cardinals' Cances of NL Central Dominance
The NL Central has been a cluster-bomb of crappy teams looking to cough up the division. For a while now it has seemed that the team with the best chance of winning would be whichever one made the first big trade. Then the Cardinals swooped in and stole Mark DeRosa from the Indians for a song. DeRo brings 13 homeruns and a .270 AVG to St. Louis, along with his amazing defensive versatility. I am surely not the only Cub fan to be left cursing in anger over this trade, and it bodes badly for the rest of the NL Central in 2009.

Holding
The health status of Josh Hamilton
When he went down earlier this year, I wondered how the doctors would treat Hamilton. The issue is that he's an addict. No matter how long he stays clean, no matter how successful he is in life, he will always enjoy mood-altering drugs just a little too much. He had a hernia, how do they treat it? Does he get pain killers? Must he go without them? Regardless, Hamilton is progressing and may be back relatively soon. Maybe it's unfair to always see him with that skewed light, I'm sure that more than one Rangers fan bristles at the idea that he might pop one too many Oxy's but I know I would be worried about it if he were on my team. Nevertheless, if the Rangers have any hopes of surprising the league, Hamilton's return will play an instrumental part.

A Baseball Bat, Unswung, On Manny's Shoulder
The return of Manny Ramirez has hit a snag -- he hasn't exactly hit well since he embarked upon his comeback from suspension. That said, he's still due back by the end of the week (just in time for the All Star Game! Wee!) Here's the thing. It's probably safe to say that PED's remain in heavy use in Major League Baseball. It's safe to say that there are players out there right now rolling the dice on staying ahead of the testing curve. Therefore I have to wonder -- when Manny returns, will he stay clean? So if he returns and sets the league on fire -- a very real possibility, despite his present druthers -- does that mean he never needed to cheat, or does it mean that he's just gotten slyer in his cheating ways?

Falling
The Phillies
Philly is a pretty good team, especially offensively. Their problem is that behind Cole Hamels their rotation is shaky at best, and Hamels hasn't been himself of late either. Still, while the Phillies are 3-7 in their last 10, the Mets aren't exactly charging to the front in the NL East. Hopefully the return of Jimmy Rollins will make a difference for the Phillies, but what they need more than that is a pitching staff they can count on -- probably a far reach when the only starter with a Sub-4.00 ERA is 26-year-old lefty J.A. Happ - a guy whose name sounds like an anagram.

The Hapless Chicago Cubs
So much for one of the largest NL payrolls and one of the most well-rounded teams put together this year. The Cubs are a .500 team (at best!). When their pitching is there, their hitting is missing. When their hitters are on fire, their pitching has evaporated. The year is far from lost but not even the biggest haters saw the Cubs playing so badly so late into the season. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as if they are capable of fixing these problems, either.

...the medical staff believes that they're beyond the recurrence stage. Bursitis is a painful condition, but once corrected it tends not to recur. It's just the "getting ahead of it" that often takes something like a DL stint or even minor surgery to help.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9075

Aaron Hill keeps on mashing.  19 homeruns now on the year. 

Brad Lidge allowed 1 hit (bunt single) and one walk, but did not allow a run to score in his action since landing on the DL.  He got the save, but his stuff and control, slider in particular, did not look so sharp. 

Tommy Hanson ran the NL East two headed monster this week and came out 2-0.  The strikeouts are not there yet, but his stuff looks very good.  I don't think he's going to make quite the impact the pre-season hype built up, but he should be a solid option the rest of the way.

Brad Penny matched up fairly well against Hanson, but was struck by the long ball twice (Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson).  I'm not a believer in Penny, but maybe Mark from Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove can convince me otherwise. 

Zack Greinke gets it done again, though he is clearly not as dominant as when the season started.  I would actually be fine with selling high on Greinke for a top-notch hitter right now.  After all Greinke did rank number 11 on Razzball's 20 Risky Pitchers for 2009.  Also, strikeouts trending down.

Since I said buy low on Wieters he has gone just about o'fer everything.  Killing me Matt, killing me. 

B.J. Upton had a 5 star day.  A homer, stolen base, 2 runs and an RBI.  Can you say HUGE second half?

Alexei Ramirez added his 10th homerun of the season yesterday.  He now has 10 homeruns and 11 steals.  More importantly "The Cuban Missle" has raised his AVG to .267.  Ramirez started out very slow last season as well.  Does his game rise with the summer heat?  I'd buy low to find out.

Brandon Inge hit a game winning homerun off of Jose Valverde.  It was Inge's 18th of the season.  I have to admit, I sort of liked the guy after his hot start to the season, but I never would have thought he'd be approaching the all-star break with close to 20 bombs.  His K/BB rate is pretty much the same as it was last season, but his HR/FB rate is through the roof. 

Matt Gamel batted leadoff yesterday.  That's interesting if it sticks.

Was this the turning point for Francisco Liriano?  Throwing 92-95 with a slider in the high 80's yesterday.  I'm still not convinced, though he kept the ball down nicely yesterday.  His last two starts have come against National League foes.  His next start against the Tigers will be a big one.

Aaron Cook continues to pull a 2008 on us.  Despite allowing 9.1 hits per 9 IP and a 1.61 K/BB rate, Cook continues to put the ball on the ground and get outs.  Look, at this point you ride em till he bucks ya. 

Jaun Rivera: 44.7% owned in ESPN leagues and 43% owned in Yahoo! Leagues.  That's up from 5.3% in ESPN and 4% in Yahoo! On June 9th, but still,  .305, 12 HR, 41 RBI...Those numbers are scary close to Carlos Lee right now. 

I am going to mention Clay Zavada for 2 reasons.  1) He's awesome. 2) Shout out to Dave from Goose Joak for this sweet 1971 Topps retro card upon request. 

Jose Lopez is now 8 for 12 in his last 3 games.  He should be in for a nice second half.

As I passed along the other day, it looks more and more like Adrian Beltre will not play through the pain much longer. 

Matt Kemp was actually able to fight off Juan Castro for the 7th spot in the Dodgers lineup yesterday.  He hit his 10th homer of the year.  I bet Mitch Kemp would bat higher than Matt Kemp if it were up to Joe Torre. 

Francisco Rodriguez had an embarrassing outing last night.  He walked three and allowed one hit, but the bases loaded walk to Mariano Rivera was the kicker.  Come on Mets fans!  I've watched Frankie pull this kind of stuff for years in Anaheim!  Consider yourself lucky he hasn't done it more often in 2009. 

Luis Castillo has reached base in all but one game since June 22nd.  So why not move him (.279 AVG, .375 OBP) to the 8th spot and hand leadoff duties to Daniel Murphy (.248 AVG, .316 OBP)?  Can a Mets fan please help me understand the wacky mind of Jerry Manuel?  

How about that Chad Gaudin fella?  One hit, 9 K in 8 1/3 innings against the slugging, albeit slumping, Rangers offense.  His strikeout numbers are huge over his last 3 starts.  His next few starts come against NL West foes.  Go ahead and ride him out.