This off-season, a combination of trades completely changed the Red Sox, for better or for worse. The first trade took place in November, sending four prospects to Florida for hard throwing Josh Beckett and extra-salary Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota. As part of the deal, they were forced to give up a future starting shortstop in Hanley Ramirez, someone the Marlins wanted for his great talent and cheap price. Needing a center fielder, Boston later sent Edgar Renteria to Atlanta, along with $11 million, nabbing top prospect Any Marte. This got rid of Renteria, a player who seems better suited to the National League and who committed a career high 30 errors for Boston. It also netted Andy Marte, enabling them to then turn and flip the hot prospect to the Indians for Coco Crisp. While I think that Renteria would have improved in his second year, Coco Crisp is talented and young; predictions on him vary, while some predict him to really grow into his position, others refer to him as Johnny Damon Lite. These two trades have debatable value; while Josh Beckett started the season throwing hard and controlling opposing batters, he has since lost his last three starts and given up a combined 17 runs over 15 innings. While Coco Crisp might have a lot of talent, he has been on the DL and hasn't been able to play since April 9th. Both of these players have the ability and might make Boston look brilliant for trading for them, but lets take a look at what could have been. Hanley Ramirez is a starter for the Marlins, batting .307 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 7 stolen bases. Edgar Renteria is batting .363 with 6 doubles and 12 RBI, while Alex Gonzalez, the shortstop replacing both of them in Boston, is hitting .207 with 5 doubles and 8 RBI, no home runs or stolen bases. Defensively, Gonzalez has made only 1 error, as opposed to Renteria's 4 and Hanley's 6, so taken as a whole, Gonzalez is not a mediocre player; he just isn't getting it done offensively. Mike Lowell, on the other hand, is getting it done; while he hasn't put up power numbers, he has a .343 batting average and 16 doubles and 16 RBI's. Of all of the trades, the trade that may end up being the worst was the Bronson Arroyo trade. They traded Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena, giving up a starting pitcher for a backup outfielder. They felt that they had enough depth in the rotation, that they needed a good outfielder to help out, but I think might have made a mistake. Going by last years numbers, they did fine; Arroyo went 14-10 with a 4.51 ERA last season, whereas Pena has a considerable amount of upside. At the time of the trade, Boston's rotation included Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, Matt Clement, David Wells and Jonathan Papelbon. Since then, Papelbon has become the full time closer and David Wells has spent a month on the DL-not a huge loss to the rotation, considering in his 4 innings of pitching this season, he gave up 7 runs. But it does leave a gap in the rotation, and unless Papelbon becomes a starter at some point, which I think would be a bad decision, it won't be adequately filled until Wells returns. Arroyo, on the other hand, could have adequately filled it. He is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.36, one of the major reasons the Reds are surprisingly competitive. The trade isn't all that bad, as Wily Mo Pena is no slouch either; he has done well this year, hitting .328 while filling in for Coco Crisp in Center. It will be interesting to see what happens when Crisp is healthy; Pena has proven that he deserves to play with the numbers that he is putting up. If he doesn't, however, I don't like this trade at all; I would rather have Arroyo in the rotation then Pena on the bench.

One thing that I don't get is how NFL teams operate the draft in regard to trades. As everyone who follows the draft knows, there is a trade value chart that all teams go by in determining what is fair. Every team this year went by it, as far as I could tell, both when they made their trades and when deciding not to accept a trade. This is the part that I don't understand, however; if a decent offer comes along, one that benefits your team, why not take it, regardless of what the chart says? This comes into play with the Texans and the Saints drafting out of the #1 and #2 spot. I understand the Texans drafting Mario Williams to shore up their defense, but any pretext of signing him because he was asking for less does not seem like the truth. From every report that I heard, Bush was taken out of the negotiations before there was any real chance to make a deal, and they actually signed Mario for more than they had offered Bush originally. As for the actual selection, I am under the belief that regardless of who you would like, Reggie Bush should have been taken first overall. Therefore, the Texans would have been better off trading down to the #2 spot at least, if not lower, and probably would have still managed to get their DE. The only problem with that, however, is the tricky trade value chart. If you look at it, had the Texans attempted to trade down one selection to the #2 spot, New Orleans would have had to cough up 400 points, or the equivalent of a 50th overall selection. That is doable; I don't know whether New Orleans would have, but that small gap is easily overcome. If they tried to trade down to #4, however, the gap grows to a very large 1200 points. 1200 points is the equivalent of a 12th overall pick, a giant gap that I don't believe should exist. Think of the trade that the Jets were willing to do with the Saints-they would give up their #4 slot, add a #29 and either a second or a third rounder. They had 49 overall in the 2nd, or 76 or 97 overall in the third. The #29 pick itself fills about 640 of the 1200 gap, so it still leaves a hole. Adding in the 49th pick would have added 410, leaving only 150 shy of being equal. If they were given this offer, I would say they should have definitely taken it, but I doubt the Jets would have given up their 2nd as well. Here is where I differ from the rest, however. If the Jets had packaged a deal giving up their 4th, 29th and 76th picks for the 1st or 2nd pick, that package only amounts to 2650 points. That is enough to "equal" the 2nd pick, but still 350 shy of the first, yet I would have taken it. It is hard to correctly predict a draft, so bear with me as I try, but I would speculate that had the Jets jumped into the 1st overall selection, they would have taken Reggie Bush. The Saints would have faced the dilemma of picking either Mario Williams or Ferguson, but I would hope that they would take the offensive lineman and help protect their new acquisition in Drew Brees. They already have good DE's; while they did rank near last in the league in sacks, I think that there are other ways to combat that without adding a third DE to platoon with two very good ones. I will admit that this is the biggest question mark, had the Texans traded down, but if the Saints had selected Ferguson, the Titans would have grabbed Vince Young and the Texans could have grabbed Mario Williams with the 4th pick. If they were able to do this, they would have been able to pay him much less, while also adding to their draft the 29th and 76th selections to grab more playmakers to help out a pathetic defense. If they weren't able to grab Mario, assuming the Saints took him, they would have still been in position to grab A.J. Hawk or Ferguson, giving help to two other positions of need. For the Saints, I can understand why they wouldn't accept the offer; they had Reggie Bush fall into their laps. Regardless of the fairness of the trade, they could use the upside of Reggie Bush and utilize him alongside Deuce McAllister to create a powerful running game. For the Texans, however, I definitely feel that they would have been able to upgrade more of their team and maybe even landed the exact same player that they drafted first overall had they traded down. The reason they didn't, it seems, is the trade value chart. What is the Trade Value Chart? It is a noble idea, a chart that assigns numeric values to every draft pick to create some kind of standard for assessing fair value in trades. Yet what makes it definitive and the hallmark of the NFL? This I don't know-it was formally created in the early 90's, attributed to Jeep Chryst, an assistant coach with the Carolina Panthers, but its essence existed long before he wrote it down. Jimmy Johnson was the one that articulated the idea for a formal chart, Jeep was the creator of this chart, and the rest is history. How he created it makes some sense; it was based on the leagues history of draft day trades, assigning points based on where the lines are drawn in available talent. A top 5 pick is worth more than a 25th pick, as typically there is a difference in talent that far apart. But how helpful is the chart in reality? It gives a good guideline; it is a starting point, akin to determining the price of a house on the market. Unfortunately, it hasn't been used quite like a starting point; instead it is used as a concrete number, with teams not veering far from what is expected. The reason for this, according to some, is that the charts have actually handcuffed teams looking to make deals. Any general manager that strays too far from the chart is open for criticism, regardless of how much is benefited by doing so. I would argue that teams ditch the chart, explain to their fans what they intend to do, and use whatever system that they would like in order to make a trade. Consider this-the Jets drafted Santana Moss and Lamont Jordan at 16th and 49th in the 2001 draft. If any team above pick #8 traded for those two picks, they wouldn't have been adequately compensated according to the trade value chart. That means that Leonard Davis, Gerard Warren, and Justin Smith were worth a large amount more (at the time) than a receiver that came in 2nd last year in receiving yards and a running back who "only" managed to come in 15th in rushing yards. It all depends on who you take; I had a hard time finding any teams from 1998-2004 that hit on both their 1st and 2nd round draft picks. Whenever I found a real good player, the next pick was off the mark; showing, at least to me, that the more picks you have the better. I think more teams need to realize this; more teams need to look at their drafting history and see that sometimes, as long as you remain in the same tier of talent level, moving up or down doesn't really make much of a difference. Be open to it, and whatever you can get makes it worth it. I mean think about it, part of the reason the #1 pick is worth so much is because it is a chance to get a true game-changing playmaker, someone like Reggie Bush. If you don't plan on drafting Reggie Bush, you aren't getting value for the pick anyways, so trade away.

Every spring, baseball season starts. And every spring, forgotten teams everywhere rejoice and have high expectations. Sadly, almost every year these expectations go unrealized; fast starts taper-off and the status quo continues, leaving underachieving teams trying to figure out what went wrong. This year though, this year it could be different. Expectations are being realized by an exciting mix of teams that have flashed promises of talent. The teams that have led a startling turnaround from last season all have one thing in common, one thing that make me want to believe that their victories can last: they win on the road. Look at the standings. If you quickly scan through the division leaders, the usual suspects quickly catch your eye. Scrolling down from the top it doesn't look that different; first you notice Boston and New York are tied for first, then you see that the White Sox have a healthy lead, then... nothing. All of the other teams you would expect are gone, replaced by this year's version of the Baltimore Orioles or Washington Nationals. That's not exactly a good comparison, as both teams faded down the stretch and were never seriously in contention, but I would caution you to withhold judgment on this bunch for a few more weeks; these teams are getting it done. Look at the new blood on top-Texas is fighting for the lead, the Mets have a nice cushion in the NL East, Colorado (COLORADO!) is doing its job in the West, and that's not even the biggest surprise of them all: Where are the Cardinals? They aren't that far back, but just the fact that they aren't in first is considered unusual. Seeing them behind Houston is a bit of a surprise, but understandable, but seeing the Cincinnati Reds in first place-I doubt anyone expected that a month ago. The key to these teams hot start is their road record; these five clubs are playing a lot better than last year due mostly to their combined 50-25 on the road so far. (The four I already mentioned are joined by the Detroit Tigers, who have an amazing 12-5 road record; being second to the defending world champions shouldn't depreciate what they have managed to do). We will see whether it continues, whether they faced a soft schedule to begin the season or are overachieving for their talent level. But I am impressed with all of them, especially the Reds for winning in a tough division. There are five teams in their division with a .500 record or better; the other two divisions in the NL have a combined four. The hardest aspect of winning in Baseball is playing consistently-- the combined effect of an entire season wears down every player on the team, so depth is a necessary part of winning. Whether these teams have depth, I do not know, but at this point in time, they are the leaders of the pack.

Javon Walker received his exit finally; his draft day trade for a 2nd round pick was considered a steal by Denver, instantly giving them the playmaking #1 receiver (provided that he is healthy) that they have needed. This has several underlying storylines, such as Ashley Lelie's unhappiness with Denver and Brett Favre's return to football, but I think the biggest story is the one that hasn't been written about. Heading into last season, Javon Walker talked a great deal about wanting a new contract, even threatening to hold out and not show up to training camp. He had a phenomenal year the year before, putting up numbers to the tune of 89 receptions for 1382 yards and 12 TD's. His stats weren't a fluke, either; he had steadily improved; his first year he caught 23 receptions for 319 yards, in his second year he managed 41 receptions for 716 yards, then finally in his third year he broke out and put up the big numbers. In his mind, he was outplaying his contract and wanted to redo it to guarantee more money and lock him up for a couple years. Several other well known receivers were doing the same thing Javon was; Terrell Owens was in the midst of a very public feud and even Hines Ward was trying to get a better contract. When Javon Walker threatened to hold out, however, things became instantly different because Brett Favre sounded off to the national media about his opinion of the situation. Not only was he critical of Walker for what he was doing, he did so without talking to Javon directly or calling him up to explain why he said it. Instead, he let his words speak volumes as they were quoted through every national media outlet, instantly putting public pressure on Walker to end any thoughts of a holdout. Some people supported him, others criticized what he said, but to a teammate his words broke the unwritten rule that players stick together. It also seemed hypocritical, to some, that a quarterback who was given free reign of his team and given a nice contract would have anything to say about someone who wasn't valued quite so highly being disgruntled about it. As we all know, this public pressure undermined any leverage that Javon Walker had, so he reported to training camp on time while still hoping for negotiations to take place. The twist, as of last season, was how things ended up in the worst case situation-not only did Javon Walker get hurt, one of his major fears and why he had intended to hold out in the first place, but he was hurt in the very first game and forced to miss the entire season. Now he was out of luck and out of pay, not having any leverage to deal with management and forced to spend the entire season tying to rehab so that he could make a difference in some future season. Another twist was what happened to Brett Favre-after announcing to the world (and the media) that he didn't care if Javon held out, that they would win games without him, he went on to throw 29 interceptions and lead his team to victory exactly 4 games without his star receiver. To some, that is the extent of the story, but I followed that storyline through to this year, adding all the bitterness caused by what Favre did in the offseason. He took his time deciding, over the course of 4 months, whether he wanted to play again. This in and of itself is not a big deal, but how he did it is: He held the team hostage, not giving any sort of indication of whether he wanted to play again, not giving them any time to come up with a backup plan or sign a veteran quarterback in case he didn't come back. But that was considered okay, it was Brett Favre after all. Not only was he allowed all the time in the world to make his decision, they continually pushed back his roster bonus, giving him more time to commit before the team would be financially obligated to pay him for his service. While this was going on, he spoke his mind to the media again, telling everyone that he would only come back if the Packers made themselves better. Some sportswriters speculated that he was trying his best to be cut without retiring, thereby allowing him to resign with a winning team. In the end he came back to Green Bay and informed them that he would play; he had finally decided that he wouldn't retire for another year. Whether this helps a rebuilding franchise win is another question; whether they actually improved at all between the time he told them to and the time he signed is debatable as well. The reality is that it didn't matter-he decided what he was going to do and did it, and the team backed him through it all. Now if they had given that support to Javon Walker, he would still be playing in green and gold.

I have been busy keeping up with my finals and everything coming to a close this semester, so for this past week it has been too hectic to write. I am going to make up for that this weekend; I have several things on my mind.