With two months of the season to go, and between 13 and 18 teams still having a real shot at the wild card race, teams were willing to go after players. Granted, they weren't the big name players that many people speculated would be traded, but some outstanding players nonetheless.

Carlos Lee was huge for the Texas Rangers, who got him from the Milwaukee Brewers. They have a better chance of winning their division outright then they do of winning the AL wild card. They are only four games out of first in the AL West, so why not go for the win?

The Yankees lead the AL in the wild card race, but they want their ninth straight AL East title. Cory Lidle and Bobby Abreu for four minor leaguers, that's a steal.

Greg Maddux will be a great fit in LA and credit Jim Hendry of the Cubs with having a lot of class; he let Maddux have some meaningful starts down the stretch and he got a Gold Glove infielder in Cesar Izturis in return.

Now for the almost trades, don't believe the hype, Everyone can be had for the right price, but not too many GMs are going to give up the moon and the stars for rental players. Soriano, Zito, Clemens, Oswalt, Tejada (just to name a few) came with hefty price tags and I'm sure their GMs were asking for ridiculous scenarios in return.

With some of the free agents, you may as well keep them and get a compensatory draft pick in return when they sign with someone else during the off-season. Plus they might help you win now without losing your future.

The trade deadline always looks to good to be true, and usually is. That being said, the grade I give this year was an A, because almost every team was helped in almost every trade. Isn't that the way it should be? Help all the teams, not just the powerful ones.

Baseball is very strong right now because everyone involved wants to see it continue to prosper and let all the teams have a chance to win.

Maybe you don't remember the trade between Montreal and Seattle about 18 years ago but I do. I was playing for the Reds and there was a 6-10 fellow named Randy Johnson playing for the Montreal Expos, who was a little erratic but looked like he could have a great career.

Then there was an All Star pitcher named Mark Langston playing for the Seattle Mariners. The Expos wanted to win NOW and rent Langston for the rest of the year knowing they could lose him to free agency at the end of the year. The Mariners knew they probably couldn't re-sign Langston, so they took the chance on Johnson and did the deal.

As it worked out, Langston would help the Expos to 12 wins and then go free agent at the end of the season. The Expos did not bring home a championship. Now for the Mariners, they got an amazing young pitcher that would win 137 games for their club and get them close to a championship more than a few times.

When Randy was almost a free agent, the Astros traded for Randy and he won 10 games for them, and then went free agent at the end of the year. The Astros sent Freddie Garcia and Carlos Guillen to the Mariners.

Randy would go free agent after the season was over. The Astros didn't win and Johnson went to Arizona. The D-Backs would win a World Championship with Johnson. Now what about the two guys in the Seattle deal for Johnson?

Well, the Mariners would trade Freddie Garcia to Chicago and the White Sox would win a title with Garcia pitching against the team that traded him for Randy Johnson. And what happened to Carlos Guillen, he was traded to the Tigers a few years ago and they now have the best record in baseball.

I guess you may think this is six degrees of Randy Johnson, but I just wanted to show how one player can impact so many teams at the trade deadline. Sometimes the best trade you make is not making one at all.

   It's the way of the world these days: over-hype the guys who haven't earned it and expect the older players to pick up the pieces.

   Yes Albert Pujols is amazing, so is David Ortiz..Yes Ballparks are smaller and baseballs are harder and home runs are up 20% this season already. How about we pay tribute to some older but still awesome pitchers who are still kicking #### and taking names. They haven't heard that offense is king in baseball these days

Greg Maddux of the Cubs: He's the King with Roger Clemens on vacation right now. in 4 starts, Greg is 4-0 with a league-leading ERA of 0.99 and in 27innings pitched he's given up only 15 hits while walking only 5 and striking out 18.

Curt Schilling of the Red Sox: The guy with the bad ankle! He's also 4-0 in 4 starts and has just blown away hitters this season. In 28 innings pitched he's allowed only 17 hits. Talk about command, only 4 walks and 23 strikeouts and a tiny 1.61 ERA...

Tom Glavine is off to a great start with The Mets, 2-1 in 4 starts and a 1.38 ERA with only 6 walks to 26 strike outs.

Mike Mussina on the other New York team is 2-1 in 4 starts and has a very nice 2.67 ERA with only 6 walks to 23 strikeouts.

A couple things these guys have in common are age and greatness. Yes they are old, but they still throw nothing but strikes and of the 16 games these 4 men have started all 16 have been quality starts. Some things do get better with age.

First posted on Wednesday, Nov. 16

Today more than 25% of all the MLB Players are Latin American. This year three of the four major awards were won by Latin American players. The AL MVP was won by Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, the AL CY Young Award was won by Bartolo Colon of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the NL MVP Award was won by Albert Pujols of the St Louis Cardinals.

I wanted to take a little time to talk about the players as people as opposed to them as players since it's so close to Thanksgiving. I guess I can start this by saying, during my first year in the minor leagues up in Eugene, Oregon, I lived above two players from the Dominican Republic.

As the season wore on I really got to know both of them. They ate hot dogs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What money they saved, they sent back to their families in their native land. Now being from a middle class family in Connecticut, I was really impressed.

As I rose to the Major Leagues I played Winter baseball in Puerto Rico a couple of times, and it made me really understand why these players had such devotion to their families ... I saw families living in shacks made of tin with no floors and the sides of the shacks didn't touch the ground.

I saw poverty at it's worst but I also saw many players who would do anything to give back to their families and towns because just being able to play baseball, they knew they had really been given a blessing.

We all know the story of Roberto Clemente; he died trying to help total strangers in Nicaragua who had been devastated by an earthquake ... His plane carrying much needed medical, food and clothing supplies crashed and his body was never found. So let's talk about this year's MVPs.

Alex Rodriguez, a 2-time Award winner, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to many charities. Let's just tell you about a couple of them. He gave $750,000.00 to the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Dominican Republic Relief Effort.

He also spends much of his time helping the youth of this country to improve their mental health ...His wife Cynthia, who has a Masters degree in Psychology, also helps Alex in many charities and says, "It's a lifelong effort to help children improve their mental health".

Your NL MVP Albert Pujols is just as giving. He has the Pujols Family Foundation that donates money to three or four charities including one very close to his heart, the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St Louis.

It's very close to him because Albert and his wife Deidre have a 7-year-old daughter named Isabella who has Down Syndrome. And what has Albert said besides being so giving, "I hope in 5 years we are helping 15 or 20 charities like this".

These are just two Latin American players. How about this year's AL MVP runner-up David Ortiz and last year's AL MVP winner Vladimir Guerrero. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they both donated $ 50,000 dollars to the relief effort.

When asked why, David responded, "When we were younger, Vlad and I remember when we were hit with a hurricane and America was so generous. It was just the right thing to do".

The world not just America needs role models like these. I hear all the time how greedy baseball players are. I just wanted you to know, that there are many players who give back, not because they have to, but because they want to.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

First posted on Monday, Oct. 10

Maybe the grass isn't always greener.

Have you ever heard that old saying? Well, maybe the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees should write it down somewhere to remind themselves in the off-season, that you should be happy with who's on your team, not whoever's on the free-agent market.

Just look at the case of the defending world champions: The Red Sox let Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Orlando Cabrera go in favor of David Wells, Matt Clement and Edgar Renteria. Pedro won 15 for the Mets, Derek won 12 for the Dodgers and Orlando made only seven errors in Los Angeles with the Angels and he's still playing in the playoffs.

Now Wells won 15 and Clement won 13, but Renteria committed 30 errors in his first season with the Sox. I think it's safe to say that the Red Sox didn't get past the division series this year because of Wells and Clement and had they had Martinez and Lowe, I think they would still be playing.

Now as for the Yankees, remember when you had Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte? I do. How about Jon Lieber? Clemens the past two years has been, well, Cy Young. Meanwhile, a now healthy Andy Pettitte won 17 games this year and was 11-2 after the All-Star break with a 1.69 ERA. As for that old guy Jon Lieber, you waited a year to get healthy, then you let him go as a free agent to the Phillies. He also won 17 games and was 4-1 in September and was the ace of the Phillies all year.

What I'm saying now, I said before the season started. You didn't know when Curt Schilling would be ready, but you would have known about Lowe and Pedro and how they pitch in the playoffs. As for the Yankees, just think of the headaches you would've stopped had you held onto your players and not wasted money on Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, and Randy Johnson.

Now the Yanks may still pull it out, but it will be because Brian Cashman bailed the Yanks out with Aaron Small, Chien-Ming Wang and Shawn Chacon.

The Yankees and Red Sox should stop trying to top each other and be happy with the players who brought you championships, not the ones who didn't.

First posted on Tuesday, July 19

While other teams in the AL East sit and watch the transaction wire, the New York Yankees make moves and release dead weight in a New York minute.

Al Leiter is just the latest example. Whether it be getting rid of Steve Karsay, Mike Stanton or Paul Quantrill, or making a trade for Leiter, GM Brian Cashman will waste no time in changing the face of this $200 million team. Time is money, and wasting time is losing ground to the competition.

While the Orioles try to get A.J. Burnett, and the Red Sox trade for light-hitting Alex Cora and miss out on Bret Boone, Cashman picked up Leiter for a player to be named later and some cash. This may not sound like much now, but it's little moves you make like Theo Epstein did last year that can win you a championship. No one knows that better then the Yankees. It was the Dave Roberts stolen base in Game 4 of The ALCS that broke the Yanks' back last year. And it was Leiter who beat the Sox this past weekend to help the Bombers take three out of four in Boston.

You may ask, why Al Leiter? He's old and wasn't pitching worth a damn in Florida. But I say it's a great move.

Leiter started his career in New York when he was 21 back in 1987 and made 22 starts over two-plus seasons before going to Toronto. Then he pitched in New York with the Mets from 1998-2004, so he is well aware of the pressure and circumstance of being in a New York uniform. Plus, he's won world championships with Toronto and Florida and tried to get one with the Mets, so he's postseason ready for sure.

What I also like about the 39-year-old (we played together in Florida in 1996 when I was hurt all year, my last in the big leagues) is that this is a shot in the arm, a chance at one last shot at glory, and there are few players I respect more then Al. He's always prepared, always attacking the hitter with every pitch, and one of the proudest players I've been around, so if he doesn't have his stuff some nights, you can bet he'll try and beat you with his heart. He's a tough son of a b---- and there's no better player to have around when you need someone to lead.

One last thing, along with Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, and when Carl Pavano comes back, Leiter's addition will give the Yankees four pitchers in their rotation who have won championships. And I like those odds when the postseason starts.

First posted on Thursday, July 14

Gary Sheffield is the first but he won't be the last to say that he won't risk his livelihood on early spring games.

The 16 team, 18 day World Baseball Classic is great in theory but will have many problems as MLB tries to make it work. Cuba has come out and said, that if this competition is a capitalization of baseball it will not participate. The Japanese Major Leagues has accepted, but their players association has not. Alex Rodriguez said he would love to play for the Dominican Republic, but minutes later was told by Commissioner Bud Selig, it's not his decision to make. These are just a few of the early problems getting these games off the ground.

The Major League Baseball Players association has said, they will require pitch counts. Here's my take.

Yes, I love the fact that baseball wants to go global, but no, the timing is terrible. Having a tournament in the middle of spring training is going to cause many players to decline and many teams to hold their breath while their players, which they pay millions of dollars to, participate in an event that holds NO rewards for them.

Just like winter baseball in many countries, once players have achieved some success in our Major Leagues, their teams ask them to stop playing, 1) because they don't want the player to risk injury and 2) teams want their players to have enough off-season as possible, and to save their best baseball for the MLB Championship Season.

These will be some of the major problems facing MLB as they ask players, 1) who are not in tip-top shape and 2) could be coming off season-ending surgery or some injury that hurt their production the year before. Listen, if I'm an owner, and I pay you to work and play for me, do I want you risking any type of injury that will hurt my teams chances that year? Also, do I want you wasting your pitches, or your energy on a tournament that gets me nothing in return?

And this might be the biggest reason — we are trying to get ready for a long, 185 day, 162 game season and possible playoff games. Some of our team is playing in this tournament, and some of us are playing spring training games, and all of us are not together for 18 days, and possibly longer depending on if you go to the final rounds?

Any activities, whether it be flag football or water skiing are written into players' contracts to protect them from harm. Why is it when it helps MLB it's OK for the same players to risk harm when they and the teams get nothing in return...

If I'm a player and or an owner, I say no thanks, if you won't stop the season for the Olympics, then don't stop spring training for The World Baseball Classic.

First posted on Thursday, July 7

Baseball wants the All-Star game to have meaning? I don't get it.

If the game means so much, why are some of baseball's best players not in the game?

Derek Jeter just lost out on the internet vote to Scott Podsednik. That never should have happened. And Michael Young is more deserving than Jeter??? Don't make me laugh.

If I were starting a team right now, the first player I'd take would be Jeter. No one is more clutch in big games than him, no other shortstop in baseball has more championships, and no other shortstop has to play in a tougher media town.

You'll never find a better person to represent baseball than Derek Jeter. His numbers easily warrant him being in Detroit, and the fact that he had to be on the list of five players that had to beg for votes is a disgrace to the game.

First, the fact that home-field advantage is decided by this game is a joke.

Second, can you imagine an NBA All-Star game without Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson? Neither can I, and Jeter is the Jordan of baseball.

Third, if this game means so much to the outcome of the World Series, then put the best players out there on the field and forget the "player from every team" concept. Some teams don't have All-Stars, and fans don't want to see those players anyway, especially if they don't deserve it.

If you want to do that stupid internet vote, let the fans of those non-deserving players vote their player onto the team, that way, when some team doesn't have a player, only the fans are to blame. The All-Star game is a joke, especially when the best players are not going to be there.

Derek Jeter is better than the All-Star game. It makes me sick that he won't be there.