Trades

Two trades came through yesterday as we near the deadline. Jon Rauch was traded to the Diamondbacks for Emilio Benifacio. I may be wrong, but I thought the asking price for Rauch was supposedly a lot higher than a young second baseman who is 2 for 12 in limited big league action. Granted, Benifacio's numbers were much better in the minors. And I have no experience with any front office. I just still think the Nats could have gotten more for Rauch.

The other trade from yesterday was Randy Wolf to the Astros for minor league pitcher Chad Reineke. Umm, ok? The only thing I can think of is the Astros's management is insanely believe they are "contenders." Or perhaps they are trying to sell that notion to the good folks of Houston. Either way, this deal really isn't going to do much. Wolf is not going to save Houston's season but he wasn't going to do anything for San Diego's either. Reineke is more or less a non-prospect with very uninspiring numbers in the minors. San Diego seems to have fairly good success with these types of pitchers though, especially in that ball park. All in all, this deal doesn't look like it will have any huge impact either way.

Manny Being Manny

This is being reported on boston.com.

"The thing that most people are forgetting and haven't talked about is the strikeout in Yankee Stadium," Lobel said. "The bat on the shoulder for the three pitches from Mariano Rivera. That was a big [expletive] to the Red Sox after the fine. I'm just telling you ... there are things in the front office that are perceived ... I'm saying that there is a strong feeling that that [three-pitch strikeout] was the message to the Red Sox and it's a strong feeling that that's unacceptable ... there's a feeling that he didn't give it his all, let's put it that way ... I'm just saying the front office has not forgotten that moment. It's akin to Nomar sitting on the bench."

This quote is following discussion of Manny being fined for an altercation with a Red Sox official. If this is true, Manny committed one of the biggest sports sins. You can't quit on your team regardless of the reasons. We all remember what happened to Nomar when the Sox felt he quit on his team. No I don't think Manny will be traded, however, this gives the Red Sox serious ammunition to not pick up his option for next year.

Guess Who's Back

Surprise! It's me! I've returned from the woods of Wisconsin, the heat and drama of leading a high school church camp, and the monotony of jury duty. Yes it's been an eventful couple of weeks since the FOCH was updated. I'm going to spare everyone my perspective on the baseball events that occurred in my absence, since anything I say would be outdated and would have already been said. Hopefully we'll get some posts up later today.