AL East

The other day, the Yankees got bad bullpen news when Alfredo Aceves suffered a setback. Today they get some more, as Nick Johnson felt pain in his wrist while taking batting practice. He is being sent back to New York for further tests; this could mean the end of his season.

Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues came up with a crazy idea for a trade that I don’t think is so crazy: Javier Vazquez to the Phillies for Jayson Werth . Furthermore, the trade would open up a spot in the rotation for the Yankees to land Cliff Lee .

The Yankees have targeted the bench as their area of weakness, but they continue to monitor the Cliff Lee trade talks just in case he falls to within their asking range.

So far, according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated , the Mariners have asked for minor league catcher Jesus Montero plus two other prospects for Lee.

Did you see Price finish the sweep against Boston? Seriously? Even with all of Boston's injuries, they are still no offensive slouch.

David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Adrian Beltre were no match for Price. The trio was a combined 2-for-13 with five strikeouts.

The crazy thing is, Price beat them with just one pitch: his fastball. Of his 111 pitches, 99 of them were fastballs.

But one start does not an All-Star starter make. However, this does:

Twelve wins—most in the AL.

2.42 ERA—second to Cliff Lee by .08.

Tampa Bay Rays’ LHP David Price came into Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher who threw his fastball 70.8 percent of the time. I guess when you average 93 mph on your fastball, you can get away with throwing that pitch a lot.

However on Wednesday night, Price took that 70 percent and threw it out the window. He wasn’t satisfied with throwing it 70 percent of the time. On Wednesday night he wanted to throw his fastball all the time—well, almost.

So, you are struggling and cannot seem to get out of your own way. The fantasy offense you put together is slumping and your pitching staff continues to be lackluster at best.

What can you do?

The best players are gone off of waivers and the only players left are scraps. Nothing that can fix your team, right? Wrong. Take a look at these comparisons of players over the last 30 days. Even when there is nothing seemingly available, something can help you out if you know where and how to look.

All stats are over the last 30 days.

Last Night Rewind

After we analyzed the National League earlier in the week, now it’s time to take a look at the American League. We will start with the powerhouses in the American League East.

When it comes to the July 31st trade deadline, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are usually “in” on all the top trade candidates. This year should be no different. The Tampa Bay Rays will be active this trade season as well.

Here are the trade deadline needs of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays…

Most people make way too big a deal about the drop-off players experience after participating in the Home Run Derby. It’s more likely statistical regression than anything else.

Nevertheless, Yankee coaches did not want Robinson Cano participating in this year’s Home Run Derby, and it looks like they are getting their way.

Where would the Yankees bullpen have been last season without Alfredo Aceves? Probably right about where they are right now without him. And LHP Manny Banuelos is one of the top pitching prospects in the organization.

What do these two players have in common? The Yankees signed both of them out of Mexico.

They actually have a third player they signed out of Mexico, and he could do for the bench what Aceves did to the bullpen.