Opinion

This is the second installment of my starting pitching capsules from my trip down to the Florida State League to watch the High A Tampa Yankees play.

I saw quite a few games which included four of the five starting pitchers. The one starter I did not see pitch was Dellin Betances.

The Phillies are last team standing on top at the trade deadline. Again.

This time last year, the Phillies added hot pitcher Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians, a grizzled lefty coming off a 2008 Cy Young Award. In the process, the Phillies dumped future prospects while bolstering an already decent rotation with 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels.

The Tigers made a trade Wednesday evening to acquire a Jhonny when they should have been trying to sell a Johnny. 

David Dombrowski may yet earn the other spelling of his name. 

The Tigers floundered yet again Wednesday night, falling yet again to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The loss puts the Tigers at 51-49, in third place in the American League Central, five games back of the Chicago White Sox. 

For those that haven't been paying much attention, your once favorite player Nate McLouth was sent down to the minors by the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.  Can we please now quit complaining about the trade?

After being dealt away from Pittsburgh, McLouth just wasn't very good for Atlanta, especially this year where he was hitting .168 on the season.  I've said it before and I will say it again.  Being the best player on a bad team makes you nothing more than that. 

Jerry Manuel's one game suspension is over and done with, and the Mets won the game in which he was not on the bench. Yet, I still have a major problem with the fact that Manuel was suspended and fined by the MLB in the first place. 

Manuel was ejected from a game versus the Dodgers in Los Angeles on July 20, and was handed the suspension a week later from the MLB. Apparently, the brim of his cap brushed the cap of the umpire Doug Eddings. 

A week ago today, about this time of night, rumors started flying that the Astros and Phillies were in negotiations that would send right-hander Roy Oswalt to the City of Brotherly Love.

The talks ended up fizzling as Oswalt demanded that his $16 million option for the 2012 season be picked up by whoever acquires him.

That turned the Phillies off and the talks ended up going cold.

For Houston Astros fans, and management alike, the only question on their minds is this: Will Roy Oswalt still be with the team come the trade deadline on July 31?

And if you ask Oswalt, he’ll tell you the blunt truth: he has no idea.

The San Francisco Giants have been playing some great baseball over the month of July. And while they still may seek an offensive addition at the trade deadline, they clearly have a more pressing issue.

San Francisco must fix the bridge to closer Brian Wilson.

It's not just a maybe, it is a must fix problem or this current happy go-ride Giants fans are hoping ends in the postseason will completely fall apart.

Adam Dunn or as his teammates call him, "The Big Donkey," is on the trade market and four teams are very interested in acquiring his services: White Sox, Yankees, Rays, and Tigers.

These four teams are in the playoff chase and need someone like Dunn to help them in the second half to either get into the playoffs or get home-field advantage for the fall classic.

It's not often that the Indians make a trade that the fans can be happy about.

Think back to last year, when the Tribe dealt Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez away, or to 2008, when CC Sabathia was shipped out of town after his refusal to negotiate a contract extension at a reasonable price.

Even the Bartolo Colon deal of 2002—a phenomenal deal in retrospect—was heart-wrenching at the time, as it signaled the end of the team's streak of success.