Trade Winds

Unlike last season when Eli had locked up the league by the second week in April, the 2006 campaign has seen a greater competitive spirit. While the Gun's baseball brilliance has him in first, there have been several swaps made in an attempt to catch him and to thwart off competitiors. Since June 13, 15 trades have occurred and I'm here to shed some light on what the hell is going on.

Jacque Itch
In:
-Grady Sizemore
-Pedro Martinez
-Todd Coffey
-Kevin Youkilis
-Brad Penny

Out:
-Carlos Lee
-Brandon Webb
-Tom Gordon
-Melvin Mora
-Felix Hernandez

The Gun has never shyed away from the big blockbuster deals, and the names coming and going here are no exception. The team needs starting pitching and most importantly wins. With a "1" in the wins column, deals to bring in Pedro and Penny were needed, and the Pedro deal served a double need in keeping a coveted player out of second place ELENI KAMETAS!'s grasp. However, Pedro has been on the DL and Webb certainly would be beneficial at this point in the season. Hernandez has disappointed after a stellar end to '05 that warranted keepership over Jason Bay. Melvin Mora has somehow ended up on Wolf's squad and Brandon Webb on Radcliffe's after other manuevers. Todd Coffey took his turn has Reds closer for a day and now seems to be relegated back to set-up man. Youkilis is the Greek God of Walks, and Sizemore plays for the "who needs pitching and defense" Indians, further helping Eli's offensive numbers. Carlos Lee's numbers tumbled in the second half last year, and as the subject of trade rumors this year, perhaps he's better off separated from Jacque Itch's roster.

ELENI KAMETAS! (and yes it always needs to be in all caps and with the exclamation point)

In:
-Dave Roberts
-Bronson Arroyo
-Joe Borowski
-Johnny Damon
-Akinori Otsuka
-Joe Crede
-Melvin Mora

Out:
-Jason Isringhausen
-6th rounder in 2007
-7th rounder in 2007
-Jorge Cantu

5 points back at time of writing, ELENI KAMETAS! has gambled with it's future in an attempt to catch The Gun. Losing relatively little in the short term, to gain in the standings is a strategy thus far unemployed by VUFSA members who have rarely gambled so strongly in draft picks for the sake of the now. Desparately seeking third base help since the trade of David Wright earlier in the year, Wolf has dumped Cantu and turned to Joe Crede and former Jacque Itch player Melvin Mora to stop the bleeding. Arroyo helps the ERA and WHIP which are middle of the road, and Otsuka and Borowski bring home the saves. Roberts knocks out the stolen bases, and Damon the runs rounding out the outfield.

Sultan of Suds

In:
-Barry Zito
-Dan Haren
-Brandon Webb
-Ervin Santana
-Nick Swisher

Out:
-Juan Pierre
-John Smoltz
-Andruw Jones
-4th rounder in 2007
-Roy Oswalt
-Noah Lowry

4 new starting pitchers highlight The Sultan of Suds' moves gaining 40% of the Athletics starting rotation, and then later their starting outfielder. Webb and Santana will look to add wins for JR whose team has fallen to a 3.5 and additionally needing help in K's (4). The cost was not cheap as two veteran starters left the team in the form of Oswalt and Smoltz. Andruw Jones is the name that really jumps out as the offense coming from Swisher will only partly make up for Braves' outfielder's departure. The concern from the Suds' camp, however, has to be this most recent development in the standings. The team fell to fourth place overnight, a move in the wrong direction when the club was in second as recently as a week ago. 14 points back of first, the team is actually closer to 7th place than 1st.

But as my VRC colleague so aptly put it's "deadline wheeling and dealing, bitches!"