Some good lunchtime readin’ for you today…
- This column is about a week old, but worth a read. Tim Marchman believes the trade deadline should be abolished. What do you think? Obviously we here at MLBTR form a biased sample; you probably love deadline day if you read this site regularly. While I agree that there is no great reason to set a July 31 deadline, it does generate concentrated trade and rumor activity and draw a lot of interest. A lot of baseball’s rules and systems seem kind of arbitrary, so if the fans love the trade deadline I think that’s reason enough to keep it.
- Jamey Newberg gives us the details of the Rick Helling trades in 1996 and 1997; as always, it’s an interesting account.
- The Cardinals called up their sixth outfielder – Rick Ankiel. He was given very little chance to crack the Majors as an outfielder, but here we are. Maybe he can log a few garbage innings if needed, too.
- The Indians flipped Russell Branyan over to the Phillies.
- DRays Bay interviews a young Devil Rays executive.
- Jacob Jackson at The Hardball Times has a plan to fix the Pirates.
- How about Kevin Millar for Wily Mo? Could the Orioles even get Millar through waivers?
- Some players to consider if your fantasy team needs Ks.
- This could be useful.