Precious Roy

Very interesting. From the sound of that Johnson would have accepted a trade to LA just to get out of AZ. Either way, he does not sound like a happy ace

Well, since the Dodgers didn't get CJ, who plays catcher now? Brent Mayne? I still think Florida gets the better of the deal. LA has the better record at this point, but I'd be more afraid of FL. in the postseason, as long as they DON'T throw Koch out there.

No, you really can't blame Kidd here. A year after he resigns for 6 years, in the peak years of his talent, and with the Nets promising to continue to build a championship team around him, they turned around and let the two players who complimented Kidd's style best go elsewhere. Having watched a fair share of Nets games over the last couple years, Martin and Kittles were without a doubt Kidd's two go to guys on the fast break, and without them to run with him his greatest strength is negated. Kidd also isn't getting any younger, and his balls out, play through injury, run run run style means he's only got a couple years left at maximum effectiveness. Nets have already started rebuilding with the hording of draft picks. Jefferson likes Jersey and seems to be willing to stay and help a younger team develop, he's still young enough to be the face of the franchise, the best move for both Kidd and Jersey is to part ways while his value is at it's peak. Personally, I like the Ray Allen-Kidd swap, for both teams.

I know that fantasy baseball isn't exactly the be all end all indicator, but Oliver Perez is a must own guy in leagues. If he's on waivers you grab him. Low ERA, decent WHIP, high K total. Kris Benson is a guy who is completely hit or miss and widely unowned, and even as a spot starter is too inconsistent for my tastes because, like tonight, you never know when he'll get smacked around. Zambrano, I wouldn't have have wanted him on my teams, but at least he went out there and won some games. He's not a bad guy to have in H2H leagues due to the K's and wins, but the extremely high WHIP kills me. If the Mets can somehow fix whatever makes him so wild this deal will pan out, but with "effectively wild" guys sometimes the control kills their effectiveness, so we'll see...

Well, maybe if the A's could actually beat one of those teams in the postseason I'd take them seriously too.... I know, lowblow, sorry

What's so special about Choi anyway? He's got decent power but it's not like he's a future cornerstone of the Marlins or anything. Average hitter.

Is ANYONE surprised that Benson got rocked his first game as a Met? I'm not quite sure where all the love from the talking heads came these last few weeks, but to me he's always seemed like a guy who's potential has far outweighed his performance. I saw highlights of the game and it looked like he was throwing slow pitch out there, or does his delivery always look like that?

Agree. I expect Johnson to move elsewhere in the offseason, much easier to deal then as opposed to during the middle of the season.

Yeah, I always want to see the best teams, but when the best teams also have historic rivalrys it's that much sweeter. Nothing comes close to the intensity of Yankees-Sox. Nothing.

I agree. Sure, they got some D, and sure they got some more speed, but they also gave up a very valuable commodity down the stretch and a top prospect AND money. They gave up far more than they got and it's never good to be the one moving the best player in the deal. Everyone tries to rationalize the horrible numbers Cabrera and Doug M have put up this year, but all excuses aside, neither one has done jack at the plate. Plus isn't Cabrera a free agent after the season also? Guess they figure they can get him cheap because of the shitty year he's had.

Only reason I see for this is Contreras' constant struggles vs. Boston, especially on Sunday where he couldn't throw a friggin' strike at Fenway. Ironically enough the only guy he pitched well against was Nomar. I still think he has better upside than Esteban who had one good year and is the definition of average, and if everyone's healthy Loaiza will probably pitch out of the bullpen in October.....

Murton goes to Chicago.... I will NEVER stop laughing if the Cubbies win the World Series this year, that would just kill the Red Sox Fans. The Curse 2004

I actually think Dave Roberts is a more interesting pickup *shrugs*

What a stupid trade. The Red Sox just got fleeced, they should get more than a couple .250 hitters for Nomar. I'd be shocked if the "FINAL-FINAL" deal doesn't have them picking up at least another reliever.

Obviously this is totally hypothetical, but if LA is able to turn around and move Penny + prospects to Arizona and add Unit and Steve Finley, do they become an instant World Series contender? I say no. I don't like the Lo Duca-Johnson switch. Johnson has more power, but Lo Duca has handled that staff for years, is better defensively, and has been a more consistent hitter. I think a fair share of the credit for the Dodgers pitching success goes to Lo Duca, and who knows how the staff will mesh with Johnson...... I also dislike the trade of Mota, who was an underrated part of their success. Much like Quantrill-Gordon-Rivera with the Yankees Dreifort-Mota-Gagne was good for 4 innings any given night, and I think LA has significantly weakened their bullpen here. Wilson Alvarez would move into the bullpen in the postseason, where he's pitched well, but they still lack a lights out setup man. Longshot scenario is that Nomo comes back healthy and takes over that role, but this has been a lost year for him so I'm not counting on it. Starting pitching would be good with Johnson, Perez, Ishii, Weaver and Lima, but I tend to think that Ishii and Lima get it done with smoke and mirrors. I'm not a fan of Ishii's high WHIP, he does battle back from it well, but I think he'll get the Dodgers in trouble in the playoffs against a team like St Louis or Chicago. Johnson-Perez is a great 1-2 combo, Perez is vastly underrated, and Weaver who's pitched very well at times could be the wildcard, plus he does have postseason experience even if he didn't pitch particularly well. The lineup will still be capable of putting up runs w/ Roberts, Izturus, Bradley, Finley, Beltre, Green and Johnson. No real bigtime hitter outside of Beltre (who's past underachievement leaves me not completely sold) but like the Angels of 02 they should score enough to keep them in games and the speed at the top of the lineup is a big plus. Choi has some power and could play a role pinch hitting or at first w/ Green moving back to the OF. Defensively they're solid around the diamond, but again I wouldn't trust Johnson. This move would definitely give them the edge over NYM or ATL, but would they be better than St. Louis or Chicago? Or San Diego? or Philly? Can they even hope to contend with St. Louis?

The only visibility problem in Yankee Stadium is that from some of the outfield bleacher seats you can't see the warning track in front of you, as the stadium is very steep as it goes upwards. There are no obstructed views however (like in the old Boston Garden which was brutal at times), and the "mile high" cheap seats are part of the charm.

Ben Gordon and Deng should help in the '"hitting open shots" department, they were both very consistent in college, Gordon on the perimiter and Deng in the mid range 10-18 feet game. If Crawford decides to not be such a gunner and Curry and Chandler can put a complete season together they could be a dangerous team in the Central. I don't think it's out of the question for them to compete favorably with Milwaukee. And apparently RJ is "happy" in Jersey, take it as you will....

I'm just glad Zambo is out of the AL East, he gave the Bombers a lot of trouble...... I don't think this is as bad a deal for the NYM as everyone else, but it's by no means something they needed to do, especially 7 games out. Glavine-Leiter-Trachsel-Benson-Zambrano is a nice 5, but should they by some miracle pass ATL, Philly and Florida they don't even NEED that many starters for the playoffs. Wigginton isn't such a big loss in my book, I don't think they wanted him playing every day anyway, but because of the Piazza-Phillips-Wright situation in some weird way it's a downgrade on both sides of the plate for the short term. I do think Zambo can become a very good pitcher in the NL, not Carlos good, but close. The key here is keeping Benson in the off season, and they shouldn't have to give him more than 6-7 mil to do it, or at least I wouldn't go any higher than that.

From the heel side, definitely Kurt Angle could do a lot to elevate the perception of London, much in the way that guys like Dibiase put over Hart and Michaels in singles matches when they were still tag workers. Put London in a 15 minute SD main-event with Angle where London plays the underdog and almost pulls off an upset and that could go a long way to putting him over as a real threat, much like what was done with Rey shortly after he debuted. Booker T seems like another heel who could do a lot to make London look credible in a well booked match, maybe even JBL if they're willing to have him show some ass against a smaller guy. for now though, I think the Dudley Boyz have done a comendable job putting London and also Kidman over as wrestlers who should be taken seriously. And in the same respect, I've found the Dudley Boyz more interesting these last few weeks than I have in years now that they have a decent team to play against in a program that puts both teams over, and the tie in of Rey and Spike has been excellent booking from the SD guys.

According to London's website he's 5-11, 205 That's about the same size Michaels was in his early Rocker days. Paul London is 24. London puts on 10-20 more pounds of muscle and he's basically the EXACT size Michaels was when he went solo in late 92, and Michaels didn't get his singles push until he was in his late 20's. Give London time, he's got a very bright future ahead of him.....

This story has several holes in it....

Vazquez, Contreras, Moose, Brown, Lieber and El Duque will all be ready for the postseason. 1 or 2 of them will move to the bullpen anyway (probably Lieber and El Duque). Adding another pitcher who ISN'T Unit will just cause more problems than it solves.

Who the hell do the Nets suit up next season? C- Collins PF - Aaron Williams SF - Jefferson SG - Lucious Harris PG - Kidd Bench - Scalabrine, Jacque Vaughn Say hello to the lottery.....

I refuse to believe this

Shocking.