Don't look away...
It's really remarkable that if you sit on your team page and keep hitting Refresh, nothing really updates. But the second you go do...you know, work, Tom Glavine leaves with a ribcage injury or it turns out that you put Jim Edmonds in the lineup when he's still out nursing whatever is his Injury DuJour. You really need to monitor your team, they need you.
Trading deadline day...as usual, the only rumors I can focus on are those involving my players. And it rarely seems like players are being discussed being traded between two National League teams. J.D. Drew is on the block? Really - with who? The A's, the Blue Jays, etc. (Maybe the Marlins, though.) Odalis Perez?* Blue Jays, perhaps. (But the Cardinals need pitching, send him THERE. Maybe he'll get some more wins.)
I know there has always been a "Don't Trade within your own division" rule -- though when the Braves basically gave Kevin Millwood to the Phils for a ham sandwich and free parking, you have to question that - but what about not trading within the same league? That's so restrictive, it's crazy. Still, it's happening. Jose Guillen went to the A's yesterday, and Aaron Boone just got shipped to the Yankees - both are on Otto's league leading team, so this is great news. Jeff Suppan went back to the Red Sox - he's on Barmak's second place team, again a good thing for us cellar-dwellers.
Speaking of which, my team still fluctuates from anywhere from fifth to seventh place on a daily basis. Very close still in some categories. Fourth or even third place are very realistic targets. Second place is tougher and right now, Otto is absolutely running away with it - he's 15 points above Barmak who is in 2nd. That's a lot of ground to make up. But, with these trades, Griffey's injury and potentially Larry Walker finishing things, Otto should fall back...the problem is that Barmak's team is running into problems as well (Oswalt, Suppan going to the AL) so it might be up to the rest of us to help close that gap. We shall see. Oh, we shall see.
* Have I mentioned I own Odalis Perez now? Traded him for Phil Nevin and Jose Reyes, neither of who I was necessarily going to play. Of course, if Drew gets traded or Edmonds is hurt for a long time, I might be screwed here.
