Top News:
Aaron Gleeman / Hardball Times:
Bowden 1, Krivsky 0 — Lopsided trades happen all the time. In fact, it's the very nature of trading that a large percentage of swaps involve one team getting significantly more in return than the other team. Even completely one-sided deals—the ones that cause guys like me to express amazement …
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Jim Molony / MLB.com:
Reds reinforce bullpen, infield — Eight-player trade with Nationals bolsters Reds' weak spots — If you think Cincinnati general manager Wayne Krivsky overpaid for pitching in the eight-player swap the Reds made with the Washington Nationals on Thursday, save your pity or anger for the GMs out there still looking for pitching.
Christina Kahrl / Baseball Prospectus:
TA: Breakout — The Nats Go Red, and the Reds Go Nuts — IN THIS ISSUE — National League — Acquired RHP Gary Majewski, LHP Bill Bray, SS-R Royce Clayton, INF-R Brendan Harris, and RHP Daryl Thompson from the Nationals for OF-R Austin Kearns, SS-B Felipe Lopez, and RHP Ryan Wagner …
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Sox-y offer to Mets — As Pedro ails, Javy available — CHICAGO - The Mets may have found a partner willing to deal a starting pitcher after all, which could be even more pressing as Pedro Martinez is about to miss his third straight start. — The White Sox have been calling around to clubs …
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NY Daily News:
Jose not ready to play — CHICAGO - Jose Reyes, who got seven stitches to his left pinkie when he was spiked on a headfirst slide into first base last Friday, isn't ready to return to the lineup. "I can't put my hand in the glove yet," said Reyes, who still has the stitches in his hand and some swelling in the area.
Baseball Prospectus:
MILWAUKEE BREWERS — A quick glance at Clay Davenport's Adjusted Standings Report suggests there's something seriously wrong in Beertown. At 411 runs scored, the Brewers are in the middle of the pack. However, they're at the wrong end of the runs allowed rankings with 485, worst in the National League.
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T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com:
Rangers blast past Orioles — Teixeira hits three homers; DeRosa, Wilkerson, Barajas go yard — BALTIMORE — Mark Teixeira and Brad Wilkerson did not quite have the kind of first half that the Rangers were hoping for from them. — The second half, after just one game, bodes much better.
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Jordan Robertson / Associated Press:
Bonds' rift with former friend could play into grand jury probe — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds and Steve Hoskins were boyhood friends who went into business together and made a lot of money selling the San Francisco slugger's autographs. But the relationship collapsed when Bonds accused Hoskins …
Discussion:
The Good Phight
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Murray Chass / New York Times:As Bonds Faces Possible Day in Court, Selig Faces a Quandary
Discussion:
Only Baseball Matters
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Dodgers fall in 14 innings in St. Louis — Perez allows game-winning homer to Pujols — ST. LOUIS — It truly was a series of unfortunate events that led the Dodgers to start the second half on a sour note. — And we're not only talking about the walk-off home run Albert Pujols slugged off Odalis Perez …
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MLB.com:
Angels place pitcher Kelvim Escobar on 15-day disabled list; Club recalls infielder Howie Kendrick from Triple-A Salt Lake — ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels Friday placed RHP Kelvim Escobar on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to July 7) with irritation of the right elbow.
Discussion:
6-4-2
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Charles Odum / Associated Press:
Malone's Liberty bid for Braves opposed by pro-family campaign — ATLANTA (AP) — Liberty Media's bid to buy the Atlanta Braves is facing new opposition from pro-family advocates because Liberty owns On Command, which sells adult movies in hotel rooms across the nation.
Associated Press:
Botched bobbleheads — O's return 20,000 dark-skinned Roberts replicas — BALTIMORE (AP) — Orioles players have joked in the past that they didn't look like their bobblehead dolls. But when a recent shipment of Brian Roberts bobbleheads arrived, team officials knew something was wrong.
Discussion:
The Griddle
Joe Sheehan / Baseball Prospectus:
Prospectus Today — State of the Game — Hey, no wonder the AL teed off on Trevor Hoffman's splitter Tuesday night: he doesn't actually throw one. My error; Hoffman is a fastball/change-up guy, something a number of readers pointed out to me, and I'm pretty sure the extra-base hits he allowed were on change-ups.
Discussion:
The Joy of Sox
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com:
D-Backs mindful of future at deadline — GM Byrnes not apt to strip system of talented prospects — How active the Diamondbacks are as this year's July 31 trading deadline approaches remains to be seen, but there is something you can count on. — "The one thing that we are least apt …
Discussion:
AZ Snakepit
Ira Berkow / New York Times:
Mets' Bannister: Forgotten, but Not Gone — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., July 12 — It looked lonely on the ball field. Under an overcast morning sky, with a wind picking up that swayed the nearby palm trees and portended rain, a man alone — a man who had seemingly and suddenly fallen off the baseball map — threw from the mound.
Discussion:
Mike's Mets
New York Post:
YANKEES AND METS BOTH INQUIRE ABOUT ABREU — July 14, 2006 — BOBBY Abreu is both appealing and repelling, an enigma within an All-Star. He could prove a difference-maker in a playoff race or a reminder that the New York teams should never acquire expensive players with makeup issues.
