Countdown to the Trade Deadline

Baseball Tonight just wrapped up its Saturday trade deadline special and as I don't have inSider with ESPN, I just jotted notes as Buster Olney gave away the top bullet points.

I'm cheap like that.

Bobby Abreu to the Yankees? Looks kinda sketchy. Would you want to be Philly's GM explaining this the year after letting Jim Thome go and watching him find new life in Chicago?

Yeah, me neither.

Brad Lidge to Rangers? I have no idea why this made the end of the show graphic. They shot this one down as they were talking about it. Get your shit together, ESPN. First Soriano to Chicago, now this?

Just for the sake of arguement, can you imagine his trade value at this time last year? Or if last year's post-season never happened?

Miguel Tejada to Houston? Whoever gets Tejada should be a happy, happy team. After watching him play quite a bit in Baltimore, I'm a believer.

Alfonso Soriano still waiting to be dealt? The Twins are the fashionable team as frontrunners today. They were playing last week's frontrunners, the Tigers. As much as Minnesota makes me nervous (and skeptical) as contenders, add Soriano and they immediately become serious players in the AL Wild Card race.

Immediately.

Phillies looking to move Jon Lieber? Eh. So? I have nothing to say here. Instead, did you see Manny Ramirez make that throw home today? Wow, it's amazing what happens when he gives a damn.

Also, the Neifi Perez out on So Taguchi when Taguchi missed tagging back on second base in the Cubs/Cards game today? Pretty crazy, too.

How sick do you feel if you're a Phillies fan watching Cole Hamels get drilled? Hungover sick or bad clams sick?

Red Sox large 3 or 4 team deal? Mike Lowell and San Diego's favorite stable pony Scott Linebrink are rumored to be pieces of this trade. As always, the more teams and crazy double- and triple-loopbacks between teams for salary reasons and other concerns, the less likely the teams will make the trade.

The so-so Coco Crisp was reportedly offered straight up for the struggling Mark Buehrle and that deal was shot down. The chances of pulling off all the necessary twists and turns in time makes things dicey at best.

And finally, while not technically part of the final rundown, check the power rankings. Anyone who needs more fuel for the "NL teams are slipping aginst the AL" fire needs only to count to 10.

Top four are AL teams and seven of the top 10. Subjective rankings? Sure, but give me a strong arguement of which NL teams should be there that aren't. Exactly.

(Image from the New Number Two - flickr.com)