Well, first off: happy 1/2 bday to me. And next, here's this week's CYM.

Oakland A's to Pittsburgh Pirates
Joe Kennedy/Antonio Perez (OAK) to PIT for Kip Wells/Ian Snell

OAK: Kennedy was picked up from Colorado at the deadline, but he'll be used in the pen for Oakland. In Pittsburgh, he'll be used as starter. Zach Duke, Oliver Perez, Victor Santos, Paul Maholm and Joe Kennedy. Sure, 4 lefties, but some serious pitchers. That's a very good rotation. Then by adding Perez to the infield mix, the Pirates will have another veteren player to help make this team better.
PIT: Wells isn't made for being a starting pitcher, and Oakland can turn young arms around, even though at the age of 29, Wells is running out of time to turn his career around. Oakland's pitching coach turned Hudson, Zito, Haren, Mulder, Blanton, Zito and Harden into top notch starters, and if Zito would happen to leave, Wells might be a nice #5 starter. Snell is a good, young reliever and cheap, just what Oakland likes. Obviously, a good pitcher to have in the pen.

That's it for this week, see ya all later.

Today (Jan. 15) on SS, we look at the Boston Red Sox. The team that won the 2004 World Series Championship, sweeping my favorite team (the St. Louis Cardinals). How can a World Championship team falloff the face of the earth? Is it possible? Yes, it is (look at the 1998-2002 Florida Marlins). However, this is a special case: the Marlins traded off their talent, basically doing it on purpose. The Red Sox did on accident. Lets look how it all started.

  Curt Schilling: Schilling rushed himself to get healthy. He was targeted for middle May to return from his infamous bloody ankle, instead, he rushed himself. He damaged himself even further and thus, ending his season. He couldn't lead the Red Sox rotation for a second year in a row, making the rotation go down hill.

  Keith Foulke: Horrible knees, ending his season early and putting huge amounts of pressure on the Red Sox to find a new closer. Maybe Curt Schilling? Yeah, like that worked. Foulke never got healthy, depleting the bullpen and the closer's role.

  Kevin Millar: Denying to give him a new contract. This ends the idiot's tenure in Boston, and damaging the team's chemistry. Plus, they now have to use someone who isn't an offenseive threat (or defensive), Kevin Youkillis.

  Wade Miller: Taking a huge chance on this guy can be a good or bad result. In Boston's case: BAD. Did nothing for Boston, just costed them money. Now he's gone. They rushed him back (like what Schilling did), and he could never get going.

  Edgar Renteria: Adding a shortstop that came from Florida and St. Louis is not good. Playing in towns that expect results from you, but not to the point of making you fold under pressure. In Boston, they expected way too much from Renteria, making him want to leave. So they traded him away and got a good 3B prospect. Wait, problem! NO SS NOW!! They traded away their top SS prospect. Good job there Boston! They're going to sign Edgar's replacement from Florida, Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez isn't as good defensively OR offensively like Renteria.

  Johnny Damon: Boston didn't want to pay him too much, and that's what the problem was. The Dodgers and Yankees wanted to pay him more than what Boston wanted to do, thereby ending his tenure in Boston. They lost their only centerfielder and leadoff man, and will never find anyone as good.

Those are just a few of the mistakes Boston has made. The biggest mistake would have to be letting   Theo Epstein walking. In my eyes, Boston has offically placed 3rd in this year's AL East behind the Blue Jays and Yankees. Their stupid and idiotic if they thought all would work out by replacing great players with crap. Then by replacing a great GM with Co-GMs (which is a joke! You can't have Co-GMs, it comprimises someone's idea, thus crushing an idea before they can say it). They did get theo back, but it won't make a difference if he's not the GM.

See ya next week on SS.

This is a reminder for everyone! The 22nd of Jan, there will be NO SS. However, after that, there will be SSs. Starting on Feb. 12, there will be NEW Sunday Shakedowns. There will be 4 blogs each week. Here are the schedules:

FEB 12: Wild West Shakedown - My predictions of the AL West

FEB 14: Crazy Central Shakedown - My predictions of the AL Central

FEB 16: Ever Changing East Shakedown - My predictions of the AL East

FEB 18: Wild Wild Wild Card Shakedown - My predictions of the AL Wild Card

FEB 19: Wild West Shakedown - My predictions of the NL West

FEB 21: Crazy Central Shakedown - My predictions of the NL Central

FEB 23: Ever Changing East Shakedown - My predictions of the NL East

FEB 25: Wild Wild Wild Card Shakedown - My predictions of the NL Wild Card

That's your schedule of the 2 Week Special "Pre-Season Predictions" of Sunday Shakedown. Following Feb. 25, Sunday Shakedown will be no more. Also, if you are a fan of Check, Your Move, there are changes with that as well. Instead of the usual Tuesdays, CYM will be moved from Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 (Tuesdays) to Feb. 15 (Wednesday) and Feb. 25 (Saturday). Also, each CYM will now only feature 2 teams in each trade. Also, each installment of CYM will feature only one trade. On Feb. 15, however, CYM will feature 2 trades.

The 25th of Feb is a huge day people. That day will feature the end of two blogs: Sunday Shakedown and Check, Your Move. On the 25th, SS will have it's last installment with NL Wild Card Predictions. CYM's last installment, also on the 25th, will look at the top 10 trades of the offseason and what they meant on both sides (or maybe on all 3 sides, if there's a 3 way deal) of the trades.

I hope you all enjoy these two great blogs, and I really hope you enjoy the two weeks of excitement from Feb. 12 through Feb. 25. Have great weekend, and I will talk to you again Tuesday.

In this edition of SS (which, yes I know, is a day late), we look at the teams that made the biggest makeover.

New York Mets
Additions: The Florida Marlins, Billy Wagner, Chad Bradford, Xavier Nady
The Mets are tring once agin to be the best offseason team, but will this year be different? Last year, they signed Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran. Now they've added Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner, etc. They have their stopper in Wagner, a power hitting, middle of the order first baseman in Delgado, a great backstop in Lo Duca, and added a power potential right fielder in Xavier Nady. They are also in the famous Manny/Tejade sweepstakes. If you ask me, I think this year's huge offseason moves will amount to something.
PREDICITON: 1st Place - NL East

Los Angeles Dodgers
Additions: The Boston Red Sox of the late 90s, Rafeal Furcal, Kenny Lofton, Jae Seo, Brett Tomko
The Dodgers are rebounding from the worst season in LA Dodgers franchise history. Bill Mueller, Nomar Garciaparra and Grady Little (3B, 1B/OF, manager) are the headline moves made, along with the addition of Rafeal Furcal. The Dodgers are signing more players than they have room, with Ceasar Izturis and Jeff Kent already up the middle, the Dodgers have created a potential breakdown. Now, having more great players on the team is a plus, not having enough room is a minus. They added Brett Tomko (who has never been a clutch pitcher, just good down the stretch) to the rotation is good, it won't spark anything huge.
PREDICTION: 2nd Place in NL Wesrt (to Padres), 3rd Place in NL Wild Card (to Houston and Atlanta)

Texas Rangers
Additions: Kevin Milwood, Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, Brad Wilkerson, Vicente Padilla
The Rangers filled out their rotation with the additions of Kevin Milwood, Adam Eaton and Vicente Padilla. That's a potential 50+ wins in your 1-2-3 starters. Then by adding Akinori Otsuka to set-up for Fransico Cordero, you get a perfect 8-9 combination. So thinking theroratically, the Rangers' starters only have to go 6-7 innings, because the Rangers' pen will do the rest. Adding Brad Wilkerson to the leadoff spot, getting rid of Alphonso Soriano's defense, the entire team will be better.
PREDICTION: 2nd Place in AL West (to Oakland, no competing for wild card)

Toronto Blue Jays
Additions: Lyle Overbay, Troy Glaus, AJ Burnett, BJ Ryan
Lyle Overbay will be a huge defensive upgrade at 1B over Eric Hinske and Shea Hillenbrand. Troy Glaus (3B), Overbay and Hillenbrand (DH) will combine hugely in the middle of the order with Vernon Wells to create one of the best offenses in the game. Then Roy Halladay, AJ Burnett, Ted Lilly, Gustavo Chacin and Josh Towers will be a masterful rotation with BJ Ryan closing out the games. This team just might put the pressure on the Yankees for the first time since 1993. The key is: staying injury free. Glaus and Burnett are injury kind of people, and could get injuried quickly, but shouldn't be a problem. Both look very healthy.
PREDICTION: 2nd in AL East (to Yankees), 1st Place - AL Wild Card

That's it for SS. I'll talk to ya again next week.

Welcome to the first CYM of the new year! This week, we feature 2 two team trades. Oh, just FYI, I have gotten so lost on which teams I have used and haven't used, I made an Excel file to keep it straight. So here it is:

LA Angels to Chicago White Sox
Brandon Wood (SS, from LAA) for Jose Contreras (SP, from CWS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The White Sox are overloaded in starting pitchers, which isn't a bad thing. Contreras is the odd ball out. The four other starters from last year's World Championship team are under control through 2007. Contreras is a free agent after 2006. He's a very good pitcher, and with an infield like the Angels', he'd be a great fit in Anaheim. The Angels' are in dire need of a 5th starter, as Hector Carassco isn't starting pitcher quality. Contreras brings to a team a very good veteran pitcher, who has played in the postseason in 2 of the 3 past years. He'd be a number 3.
Wood tore it up at Advanced Single-A for the Angels and get bumped to Triple-A, completely skipping Double-A. Now, not many people can do that. Wood was a huge force at Single-A for the 5 months he was there, and then the 4 games (the final 4 games of the season) he played at Triple-A, he had very good numbers. Then he went off to the Arizona Fall League, and tore it up there. This kid is the real deal, but looks to be just a shortstop. Orlando Cabrera and Maciar Izturis are blocking Wood from making it big with the Angels, and moving to the White Sox could be the best choice. They could play him at Triple-A for a full year (also inviting him to Spring Training), let him progress, and then if he still looks great, trade off Jaun Uribe.

Minnesota Twins to Florida Marlins
Luis Rodriguez (IF, from MIN) for Pokey Reese (IF, from FLA)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luis Rodriguez looks like a very good young player, that finally got a chance in the bigs in 2005. He played in 79 games, batted .269, started at 2B, 3B, SS and came off the bench. He looks like the kind of player that Florida is now interested in. Moving to Florida would be a great, as he would be the starting second baseman, with Uggla competeing with him.
Pokey Reese is a verteran, who would be a better backup than a starter in Minnesota. Florida made a mistake signing him, and by trading him for Rodriguez would make up for that mistake.

Thats all for this week. Also, there will ONLY be two team trades from here on out. Also, from now on, CYM will feature 1 trade a week, last for 5 more weeks (2 teams a week, 10 teams left...do the math). However, next week (the 10th), there will not be a CYM, nor will there be a CYM on Feb. 7th. The last two weeks of CYM will be featured on Saturdays (right after the Wild Card race is posted for Sunday Shakedown). I hope I haven't confused you. Later.