By the time you read this, yesterday's game may be over. Or maybe it won't.
I'm going to try to stay light on actual trade rumors. I'll post a few, but some of them may be outdated by the time you read them. It may seem like a lot, but believe me, I could have posted a lot more.
- The biggest rumors are swirling around Jon Lester, and the Red Sox have already announced that Lester will not make his scheduled start tonight.
- Jon Heyman says that the Dodgers, Pirates, Brewers and Orioles are in on Lester.
- Jeff Sullivan says it makes sense for the Pirates to trade for Lester.
- Although not mentioned by Heyman, the Marlins may make an offer for Lester.
- Although some say that the Rays are back in the postseason race, Heyman says that Rays GM Andrew Friedman has the "guts" to trade David Price anyway.
- David Schoenfield says the Rays need to keep Price.
- Drew Creasman explains the pros and cons for the Rockies trading Troy Tulowitzki. (He doesn't think it will happen.)
- The Rockies aren't planning to trade LaTroy Hawkins.
- Heyman also says that the Phillies should trade Cole Hamels, although he believes that they won't.
- The Phillies asked for three top prospects from the Dodgers for Hamels, according to Bob Nightengale. That might be less if a team would take Ryan Howard and Jonathan Papelbon off their hands. Nightengale also looks at the market for Price and Lester in that story.
- There was one actual trade. The Blue Jays picked up Danny Valencia from the Royals.
- Jonathan Bernhardt says the Royals and Indians still haven't figured out if they're buyers or sellers.
- Eno Sarris says the Dodgers made a good deal getting Darwin Barney.
- Richard Justice says the Dodgers have to make a tough decision on whether or not to trade Matt Kemp.
- Michael Baumann uses economic theory to try to explain the calculus that goes into making a trade. Lots of equations here, but if you were an economics major in college, you'll probably like it.
- Grant Brisbee lists four teams that need to make some big trades this season.
- When a players gets traded, what happens? He and his family have to move. It's not as simple as you might think.
- Now off the trade market. Vin Scully is coming back for his 66th season. Of course, Scully got his start broadcasting games via a relay system of horse messengers.
- The chairman of the FCC sent Time-Warner Cable a nasty letter.
- John Perrotto says that it's Clayton Kershaw's consistency that makes him so great.
- Jim Caple takes a look at the Giants/Dodgers rivalry, which he calls "the best rivalry in baseball."Even better than the Yankees/Red Sox.
- Matt Cain is off to see Dr. James Andrews (DUM DUM DUMMMMM!) He's getting a second opinion, although Cain's first diagnosis revealed no ligament damage.
- The Marlins lost their ace when Jose Fernandez went down to Tommy John surgery. Luckily, Henderson Alvarez stepped up and became an ace.
- The Rays have confirmed that Joel Peralta contracted the chikungunya virus when he went home to the Dominican Republic over the All-Star Break. Again, fun to say. Not fun to get.
- Aroldis Chapman hit 104 mph on the radar gun. That's 167 kph. Things always sound better in metric.
- Melky Cabrera broke a car windshield when he hit a home run over the Green Monster.
- How lousy is Ryan Howard these days?
- Evan Longoria is still pretty good, but where did all the power go?
- The Pirates think Pedro Alvarez's throwing problems are a mental problem.
- Neil deMause says the Yankees may be looking at a hard times ahead. But he notes that since they're the Yankees, they're not likely to be down long.
- Nate Silver looks at which players will be hurt most by the changes in Hall of Fame voting. Hint: Mike Mussina is probably not happy right now.
- Paul White looks at the cutter and calls it "the great tiebreaker pitch."
- MLB has made a big deal of Andrew Valezquez's 74 game on-base streak in the minors, which they claim is a minor league record. J.J. Cooper explains why it isn't a record. As he notes, modern record-keeping in the minors only goes back around 20 years. It's extremely likely someone had a longer streak than that sometime in minor league history.
- Here are some wonderful scouting reports on Greg Maddux. You'll note they get more and more glowing as time goes on. The first one, however, says he's "not strong enough to be a starter." It's also neat because included are scouting reports of guys like Frank DiPino and Guy Hoffman.
- Some Canadian First Nations people are striking back against Chief Wahoo with satire.
- It seems a lot of former minor leaguer are hitting the big time on "The Bachelorette."
- A lot has been made out of the lenient suspension the NFL handed down to Ray Rice. Mike Bates points out that MLB's record on domestic violence is even worse.
- You may not want to read this one. I don't want to link it. But it needs to be seen. Dirk Hayhurst recounts the horrific way his teammates treated women when he was in the minors. Up to and including rape. I should warn you, the language and descriptions are pretty graphic.
- Finally, if you're a fan of Jimmy Kimmel, you'll want to see this. If you hate Jimmy Kimmel, you'll want to see this. It's Jimmy Kimmel getting hit in the face with a Clayton Kershaw fastball. (OK, it's not with an actual baseball. Kimmel's not really hurt.)
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. It's the trade deadline. It's the one day of the season that major league ballplayers can hug each other in public without shame.