The Pirates Trade For Matt Morris

Put this one in the “Huh?” category as the Giants traded P Matt Morris to the Bucs for a minor leaguer. Umm, why would the Pirates add a player when the Cubs, Yankees, and Angels did not?

4pm Update

The big news that came from the last hour of the trade deadline is….

Nothing.

Nobody did anything. Again. (Is Jim Bowden actually alive?)

The Yankees weakened their bullpen significantly and they will now have to rely on Kyle Farnsworth even more now, which is ironic considering they were practically begging teams to take him off their hands. Not a good situation.

The Mets, Cubs, and Tigers must be fairly confident that the pitchers they have coming back from injury will help them enough that they can afford to wait.

Bill Stoneman and the Angels STILL haven’t added a power bat behind a visibly weary Vlad Guerrero. The Angels I truly believe are one more bat away from running away from that division and becoming the best team in baseball. The amazing thing this has been the case for about 2 and half years and Stoneman STILL hasn’t pulled the trigger on any deal. Meanwhile, many of his prized prospects like Dallas McPherson and Ervin Santana have not lived up to the hype. The window for the Angels to contend with Vlad, who is in his prime, is closing, and Arte Moreno needs to let Stoneman know that he needs to do something, soon.

I am very impressed with John Schuerholz, he made some very shrewd moves and that Atlanta lineup may be the best they have had since the Fred McGriff-David Justice days, possibly even better. Now they just need Kelly Johnson to be Mark Lemke in October. I am done for the day, will probably watch the Celts press conference at 5;30. No blog tomorrow, but will certainly be back on Thursday.

By the way, watching Chris Russo on yes right now is just hilarious. The New York fan base is on the verge of jumping off a cliff, and Mike Fransesca is on vacation! Poor Mad Dog…

Astros Trade Ensberg

Morgan Ensberg, whom Peter Gammons likes to note finished 4th in the NL MVP voting two years ago, was traded to the Padres this afternoon. No word yet on who for.

Garnett to Boston-Officially Official, players the Rangers got for Gagne’

UPDATE:3:35 PM EST
The Celtics have announced a 5:30 PM EST News Conference to introduce Kevin Garnett as member of the Boston Celtics. Go get banner 17 boys!
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The Boston Herald is reporting that Kevin Garnett has agreed to a three year contract extension that would start at the end of the 08-09 season, carrying him through the 2011-2012 season and that Garnett was due in Boston Tuesday night for a physical. Probably be a news conference Wednesday, that way the MLB trade dealine will have passed and the Celtics will have the Boston media’s full attention tomorrow afternoon.

The Red Sox traded David Murphy, Kason Gabbard and another minor leaguer for Gagne.

3pm Update

Lacking in new rumors, but it is now confirmed that the Braves have traded Kyle Davies for Octavio Dotel. Still waiting on word on whether or not Gagne is going to wave his no-trade clause to come to Boston, but Buster Olney is reporting he is leaning towards heading to Beantown.

Oh and the White Sox made a deal, too, but it was sending Rob Mackowiak to the Padres for an as yet unnamed minor-leaguer.

See you at 4.

Red Sox snag Gagne’

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Red Sox have gotten Gagne. No word yet on the prospects Texas got.

2pm Update

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com is reporting the Red Sox and Brewers are the two finalists for Eric Gagne. The Brewers are NOT on Gagne’s no-trade list, the Red Sox are.

Not really that much going on publicly, other than the Mets going after Chad Cordero, the Braves trying to pry Bronson Arroyo from the Reds, and the Tigers and Pirates are working on a deal that would send Damaso Marte and Jack Wilson to D-Town. See you at 3.

NHL Back on ESPN?

According to John Ourand and Tripp Mickle at sportsbusinessjournal.com (http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.main&articleId=55770&requestTimeout=900)
ESPN is in talks to bring back the NHL. Apparently there isn’t enough competitive eating, spelling bee’s, satellite poker tournaments to fill their slots. This would be a great move for the NHL and huge step in recovering from the lockout. I have always wondered why on Saturday Night’s ESPN or ESPN2 they didn’t just simulcast TSN’s “Hockey Night in Canada”(of course only when there are no college sports on).

1pm Est Trade Update

The Dodgers and Yankees have completed a deal that will send Joe Torre’s favorite rented mule, Scott Proctor to Chavez Ravine in exchange for supersub Wilson Betemit. The Dodgers pen outside of Saito and Broxton has been awful lately, and Betemit could play first and hopefully send Miguel Cairo to to the Scranton First Base coaches box.

The Yankees pen is not what you would call loaded, so I wonder if this signals a possible Gagne acquisition?

Trade Update 1-Noon EST

I neglected to hit on the Mets trade for Luis Castillo yesterday earlier. Nice trade by Minaya to FINALLY get the Mets a decent all around second baseman (minus the power of course). I think it will do Castillo some good to get off that Metrodome turf and back into the NL East. The two minor leaguers the Twins got are supposed to be possible role players for an ML club, so this may have worked out well for them.

The Red Sox finally cut ties on the Joel Piniero experiment, shipping him to the Cardinals for the popular “player to be named”. Given the Cards track record in these types of deals, Piniero should become the NL Centrals best 7th inning set-up guy within the next two weeks. (Hey, it worked for Ryan Franklin).