Transaction Time V 6.0

In honor of the Souzek-Slick-Welty franchise's first original team name ever, I present to you the first leggy blonde that came to mind, Stacy Keibler. I could have gone with a bloody image of Chris Young in honor of the franchise's most recent team name, but I think we all win with this picture of Stacy than one of a downed Padres pitcher.

1. Adam Welty

The VUFSA cut Slick in favor of its first non-Valpo educated (ie smarter than the rest of us) member. Dave Tomke tried his best to reject this non-Crusader, but his passed deadline pouting was overcome by a big group hug from the rest of the league.

2. Welty hurls

In mere moments, Welty made the move that half of us in the league were dying to make for Slick: cut Dontrelle Willis. I realize this is a minimal comment coming from a guy with Brad Penny on his roster, but in replacing Willis with Jon Lester, Leggy Blonde quickly added a no-hitter to the win, ERA, and WHIP categories. As expected, Mike Mussina wasn't on the waiver wire very long, but he was drilled in his first start for Adam thereby wiping out Lester's gains.

3. Chone Figgins for Evan Longoria, Rickie Weeks, and a 7th rounder in 2009

Eli picks up a versatile speedster in dealing away his second starting third baseman in a month. Figgins on the DL since May 3rd, just returned to the Angels line up and should provide a boost to whatever basketball related thing Eli is calling his team these days. Did you know that despite a stint on the DL, Figgins is on pace to walk 40% more than any of his previous years in the majors? Nice of Chone to pick up Moneyball for his winter reading.

As for Baron, perhaps this is already the beginning of the end for Harangutans. With a prospect in Longoria and a package draft pick, this deal smells like the burning of a white flag. If so, Longoria will be a nice keeper heading into 2009, and while a draft pick is always a nice addition to a team building for next season, I wonder if a 7th rounder will be all that impactful. But, hey, at least it's something. Apparently Rickie Weeks is also a part of this trade. Meh.

4. Baron's bombs

Edwin Encarnacion and Ivan Rodriguez just haven't panned out for Baron and are perhaps part of the reason why the above trade took place. Encarnacion has shown flashes of strong offensive play (when not being asked to bunt), but recently was given a day off in favor of Ryan Freel. That's never good. Rodriguez is part of the entire baffling Detroit ordeal. Batting just .268 with 1 homer run, he was expendable for any number of waiver wire catchers, though Harangutans will go with Russel Martin behind the plate.

5. Frank Thomas

Back in the bigs and back in the VUFSA, Champ decided to give the Big Hurt another shot after a short stint on The M.B.A.s. 10 years ago, did you think we'd be typing about how Gary Sheffield was dropped in an uncontested waiver pick up of Frank Thomas? I feel old.

6. Lance Berkman and Jeremey Guthrie for Jayson Werth, John Maine, and Greg Smith

JR is the first to wheel and deal with the league's newest owner, grabbing Yahoo's #1 rated player from Welty. Have you taken the time to actually look at Berkman's numbers this year? .463 OBP, 16 HRs, 50 runs, 44 RBIs, and hell 9 stolen bases to boot. Between Berkman and Chipper Jones, JR now owns the top rated offensive weapons in all Yahoo. Jeremy Guthrie has been ok. He has a modest 2 wins, but a sub 4 ERA and a sub 1.30 WHIP. With the fact that he was originally drafted by Cleveland on his side, Guthrie hopes to boost the now pillaged starting rotation that was traded away in this deal.

Adam wasted no time in overhauling this bleeding franchise with a slew of waiver wire moves and this his first blockbuster. This was a major leap for the franchise as rarely does a last place team find themselves with the league's best player on their roster. The question then becomes how much value did Welty get for Berkman? Well, Jayson Werth was a free agent 24 hours before this trade occurred, so instantly I hate the deal for Nick Dettman reasons. That brings us to John Maine and Greg Smith. Maine is a nice pitcher. I had him last year, and he's steady but unspectacular. Greg Smith is a big question mark as he has thrown for under 60 innings in his entire career. He might pan out, and he might not.

Overall, this trade was made with the intent to compete now, which I applaud the Souzek-Slick-Welty franchise for as I don't think that's been the case in the 4 year history of the league. But, I wonder with a bargaining chip like Berkman, if it might not have been prudent to ask a little more or at the very least a something in the way of a 2009 draft pick to help the bigger picture beyond 2008.