Wilson has $8.4M club option for next season. He qualifies as a type B free agent in the NL but I'm not sure how that translates to the AL (he doesn't qualify for compensation there). I would think Seattle is planning on picking up that option. Safeco is a pitchers park and Snell has great stuff but if he couldn't make it in the NL central I'm not sure how he is going to do in the AL west.

Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi report that the sides have agreed to a deal that sends Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to Philly for Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson.

This opens the door for Doc to the south side!

Good deal for both sides. The Phillies have to be the NL favorites (if they weren't already) after this move. Lee and Hamels is an awesome 1-2 punch.

I hope the Cardinals lose every game the rest of the year...but this trade got me thinking

Cards vs Phillies would be an awesome series especially a 5 gamer.

Phillies 2 Left handed Aces vs. The Cardinals powerful right handed heavy lineup

Cards 2 Right handed Aces vs. The Phillies powerful left handed heavy lineup

Hamels v Carpenter
Lee v Wainwright

Personally, that's the NLCS i'm rooting for!

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Giants Acquire Freddy Sanchez for minor league pitcher Tim Alderson.

Great trade by the Pirates. Keith Law rated Alderson as the 26th best prospect in baseball. The Pirates could be an interesting team in a couple years and they're not done dealing. Grabow probably goes next.

when those players get good in a few years, the pirates will just trade them away... like they always do...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Yeah but if they all get good at the same time they could have a little run. Kinda like what the Brewers are going through now.

Pirates management at least has to make an effort to crack .500. Hard to imagine there was a time this was a proud franchise. And back in the day, Three Rivers Stadium was to the Cubs was the Metrodome is to the Sox (although to a lesser degree).

Sanchez is an ideal fit for the Giants.

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I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. -Susan B. Anthony

I'm not trying to be a smartass, but when was the last time that this franchise was a proud one? mid 90's? I can't remember the last time they were in the playoffs...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Pretty much their entire history: a few dry spells but nothing like recent years. Nine pennants, five World Series wins, and a very impressive list of great players in franchise history (not pitchers so much): Traynor, Wagner, Clemente, Bonds, Waner, Mazeroski, Kiner, Stargell.

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I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. -Susan B. Anthony

Other than Jason Bay, the players drafted and acquired by Dave Littlefield were no great shakes, though, even when they did mature into regulars. Huntington is cleaning house and getting value in return, a basic skill that Littlefield couldn't quite grasp.

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Not that I care about the Pittsburgh Pirates, but when is that idiot for an MLB "Commissioner", Allan H. Selig, going to put a stop to what the Pirates do year after year? I thought Selig had the power to put a stop to what franchises like the Pirates continue to do year after year "in the best interests of the game". I'm old enough to remember back in the mid '70s, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn intervened when the Oakland A's sold their players like car parts and put a stop to that team's constant selling...

I read that Huntington has traded 13 players out that brought in 25 players and he's not done. Yeah I'll say he's cleaning house.

The commissioner was not the bobo for the owners as he is now. MLB wants the big market teams to be better than the others.

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I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. -Susan B. Anthony

Ive been as critical as the pirates yearly fire sale as anyone. But this does feel different. It feels like they have a plan. In past years it seemed like they were just dumping salary and taking any "young talent" they could get back. Not so much anymore.

There's a right way to hold a fire sale for a small market team. Keyser makes an excellent point. If they target guys that they can control contractually for a few years, they can definitely have a nice run.

Part of my problem with what the Pirates continue to do selling off their players like auto parts is that they NOW play in a relatively new ballpark, PNC Park, and yet fans there don't have a reason to go out to a game if they're paying Major League prices for a Minor League product.

the pirates should be contracted. they'll never win again. as soon as a player shows talent hes traded for younger cheaper talent that will be traded 3-4 years later if they show more talent

I don't know what your opinion of the Washington Nationals is. When the Nats were known as the Montreal Expos, they were very similar to the Pirates in developing young talent only to trade them away when they matured like Savings Bonds. While the Expos played in an empty Olympic Stadium before relocating to Washington earlier this decade, the Nats today also play in a relatively new ballpark that many fans aren't even going to either. If there's another team in Bud Selig's Major League Baseball that I could live without, the Nats, Expos or whatever the hell they're called can be downsized as well. Along those lines, I heard somewhere that Adam Dunn, who I thought signed last winter with Washington, was available if the price was right...

The Tigers acquired pitcher Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners, according to Mike Salk of ESPN radio in Seattle. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports agree, saying the Mariners will get Luke French and another prospect.

This gives the Tigers a pretty good starter to slide behind Verlander and Jackson. It also takes some pressure off Rick Porcello. Looks like a pretty good deal for the Tigers (damn it).

i give them a small amount of more credit than the pirates because they actually tried to spend money to get teixera even if it wasnt enough and they went out and got dunn. they signed some players and made an effort, a poor effort, but an effort at least. the pirates make no effort ever. their biggest signings in the last 5 years have been 2 indians that dont know what a baseball is

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, the Twins have acquired Orlando Cabrera from the A's for 21-year-old shorstop Tyler Ladendorf.

OC will help the Twins but they really need a starter or bullpen arm. The loss of Kevin Slowey is a huge blow to this team. This should at least make the M&M boys a little happier.

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, "The Red Sox are about to acquire" catcher-first baseman Victor Martinez from the Indians.

Masterson and Hagadone are part of deal. Buchholz, Bard and Bowden (Waubonsie Valley) are not. If true this is a fantastic move by Theo Epstein. What the hell is Shapiro thinking??

SI.com's Jon Heyman reports Scott Rolen has been traded to the Reds.

This is a long rumored deal but it is too little too late. Not sure why a rebuilding team would take on an aging 3B with only 1 yr left on his contract. Either they were able to dump an unwanted player (too long to list them all) or Jocketty really loves Rolen.

Edit: Edwin Encarnacion and a minor leaguer. Yeah he qualifies as an unwanted player.

Edit II: The minor leaguer is Yonder Alonso. This can't be true. Alonso was selected 1 pick ahead of ROY in last years draft. Why the hell would Jocketty give up the #7 pick for Scott Rolen??

I know that Walt Jocketty generally managed the Cardinals when Scott Rolen patroled third for them a few years ago...So the Blue Jays trade Rolen and still have Roy Halladay. It's the Canadian version of "Mac-Failure".

If they were getting the Rolen from the first half of this decade, this would be a thing...however, the Rolen now isn't much to write home about...

Ricciardi said he wouldn't trade Rolen if Doc was staying so.......

Looks like Alonso is NOT part of the deal. Encarnacion and minor league pitchers Zack Stewart and Josh Roenicke. Better but still looks like a bad trade by the Reds.

The Reds just continue to be idiots. God Bless em!

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Rolen was pretty good, you know, back when they didn't test.
This seems to be an emerging pattern among many formerly good players. Amazing, ain't it?

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

The trade makes no sense. The Reds are a rebuilding team but they traded 3 young players including a pitcher (Roenicke) whose fastball has been clocked at 100 mph for a 35 yr old 3B who will make $11M next season. Rolen is still a great defensive player but as Reason pointed out his power seemed to disappear. The Reds have far too many holes to fill to trade young players for an expensive aging third baseman.