We're Still Here

Unlike Neil O'Donnel in the brilliant spoof Jobbers over at The Pens Blog, I do not have omnipotent powers. Men's genitalia do not fall off at the sound of my name, usually the opposite happens as they feel more manly than ever when in my presence. I can not be everywhere at once and because of that the blog has suffered.

Please excuse me for my lack of posts over the past 2-3 weeks. Anyone who has coached a baseball team in the summer knows how demanding it can be come tournament time. Factor in games forced into the schedule because they were canceled due to rain earlier in the season, and I have not had a free night in a while. All excuses aside, the madness should end in about a week or two and I fully intend on hitting the blog hard then.

We are embarking on my second favorite time of the year, MLB trade deadline. I'm usually all over the net looking for the juicy tips that might show what will happen come July 31. ESPN.com's INsider Rumor Central is no longer worth visiting. You can get all of the information contained there from two free sites: MLB Trade Rumors and Pro Sports Daily. While the links I have provided take you straight to Pirates only news, its best to read what each team is considering. This gives you the best of idea of who fits with whom. Trust me, you won't be as surprised by the deals that happen "under the radar" by taking this approach.

A good rule of thumb is to read only what the team is willing to give up and what they are looking for, but not the players involved. In the past I have read where teams were looking to unload player X and the Pirates were a good match as they wanted to get Bay or Duke (before he sucked) in return. The guy reading this in Seattle might have believed it, but anyone around here knew it wasn't going to happen.

At this point I hit the team's minor league websites to see where potential trading partners have depth. Dejan reported last year at the deadline about the Rockies AAA 1B Ryan Shealy, who was eventually traded to the Royals. What goes overlooked in that discussion is who the Rockies had at AA playing 1B (Joe Koshansky) and his numbers. Also overlooked were the numbers the AAA 1B was putting up away from his extremely hitter friendly home field, which was once described as "Coors Field on steroids". Shealy's numbers very impressive, but he was a rather old "prospect" at 27 and playing at a home park that's extreme elevation allowed infield pop-ups to clear the fence. Shealy's hitting .221 with 3 HRs for the Royals this year. Koshansky is 3 years younger than Shealy and last year had better numbers than Shealy, while playing in a normal elevation ball park. Koshansky was the player the Pirates should have been targetting, not Shealy.

Do your homework, get to know the teams' needs and strengths. Not only does it make the trade deadline a lot more interesting, you'll be amazed at how much better you will be at fantasy baseball when these players make it to the show.

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