Yes, I’m well aware of the fact that we are past the half-way point in the season.  Regardless, that’s usually what the All-Star break represents…a time for teams to see where they are, check off the things they need (or don’t need any longer) and then decide what role they’ll be playing come the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline.

You can look up and down the standings and see that there really aren’t too many teams out of contention.  So who’s buying and who’s selling?  Great question (I love patting myself on the back) and in this limited space I’m going to give you my take on the teams that may be on the bubble…a sort of push to #$%& or get off the pot.  Here’s a look at a couple of suggestions: 

Seattle– My man Don Wakamatsu has done an awesome job in the Emerald City…but don’t be fooled into believing the time is right.  You gotta sell…Erik Bedard & Jarrod Washburn are your two biggest chips…and with the move of Yuniesky Betancourt to the Royals, the makeover continues.  That, coupled with Adrian Beltre and Miguel Batista contracts coming off the books at the end of the year, should position the M’s to be players in the off-season…

Toronto – Sell and keep selling.  I’ll keep this brief with this team…bad contracts handed out/worse performance has hampered these guys.  There’s not much you can do about injuries but sometimes it’s more than that.  Cito Gaston is a great manager…but he’s the 4th during the J.P. Ricciardi era (Buck Martinez, Carlos Tosca, John Gibbons).

Houston – Sell…I know you’re only 5 back in the Wild Card race and you tradionally make your second half run, but who you kidding?  This is a franchise that had a deal in place for Randy Wolf but had to pull it off the table due to financial concerns.  If that was case then, then how can you afford to be buyers at the deadline?  Teams could use LaTroy Hawkins or Jose Valverde…heck Russ Ortiz has reinvented himself.  I guess it’s good to know that El Caballo Carlos Lee still has 3 years left ($18 mil/per) on his deal after this one (welcome to my sarcasm).

Atlanta – Tough call on these guys cause it looks like they’ve got some pitching and Rafael Soriano is coming on in the bullpen.  But the offensive problems persist (Nate McLouth/Ryan Church not withstanding).  So they’ve got a couple of weeks to decide whether these two guys are going to be “it”…otherwise they’ll need to go out and get pieces.  The biggest obstacle is the fact that they emptied the cupboard in the Mark Teixeira deal and how did that work out for them?  Gotta pick your spots and I don’t think they have the pieces that other teams need (unless you consider Soriano, Mike Gonzalez and maybe Yunel Escobar those guys).

I haven’t decided if I’m going to be providing additional breakdowns on other teams…probably cause we’re still too far out.  But the closer to the deadline we get, the more certain I will be of the other teams.

Random Thoughts:

* Jim Riggleman taking over for Manny Acta in Washington may have been reported as truth several weeks ago, but it only became the truth on Monday.  What I don’t understand is the fact that the rumor was floated way back then and the organization squashed it.  Had they not seen enough of Manny Acta to make a decision back then?  Or did they feel that the team was improving under Acta?  Either way, you could bring back Walter Alston or John McGraw and neither one of those two greats could do anything with this team.  You’ve got a terrific baseball man in Mike Rizzo who’s the “interim” general manager making trades and moves and his latest move is to name an “interim” manager…enter Riggleman.  Until the front office is fixed or gets its proverbial legs underneath them, moves like these will continue to be chastised (Riggleman’s a fine baseball man…but he spoke at the press conference yesterday as if he’d been with Manny Acta since birth.  Instead it was his first year as bench coach…on the heels of being an “interim” manager after John McLaren was fired last year in Seattle – they were 36-54 under him there).  For me, you’ve got to bring in “the cleaner”…the Kansas City Royals may have missed when they had a chance to do the same a couple of years ago and now D.C. has a chance to give the reigns to Buck Showalter (as manager)…give him a blank canvas up and down the organization to mold that franchise into a winner.  It’s the role that Showalter is made for & I believe he and Rizzo were together in Arizona…synergy baby.

* I look back at the All Star break and one thing continues to get lost…the Futures Game.  In this day and age where all we do is look for the next gem in the minor leagues, the Futures Game is an after-thought with baseball fans.  Why?  Because it’s played on the last Sunday before the break…competing with Major League Baseball.  How about this…the All Star break should be 4 full days:  Monday – Futures Game; Tuesday – HR Derby; Wednesday – All Star Game; Thursday – Off/Travel; Friday – Full Slate of games to start the “second half”.  This way no one loses gates and the entire event gets the attention it deserves.

Just livin’ the dream…
VR