Baseball around the horn

Trade top-9 list

9 — And this solves what?

The Astros acquired free-agents-to-be Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins. Did GM Ed Wade suffer some kind of head injury during his June scuffle with Shawn Chacon? They are last in the NL Central, stuck well behind the leaders in the wild-card race, and became an even older team.

8 — The Mercenary:

Mark Teixeira said he loved Atlanta and wanted to remain there his entire career but made no attempt to re-initiate contract talks before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels. He might get a World Series ring, but he's definitely earning a reputation as a passionless businessman concerned more about contracts than quality of life.

7 — High price of relief:

Desperately needing bullpen help to have any hope of staying in the AL Central and wild-card races, Detroit acquired Kyle Farnsworth from the Yankees ... for future Hall of Famer Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez.

6 — Pirate plunder:

Though it appears one deal fell apart, Pittsburgh got four solid prospects from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston for Jason Bay. The Pirates also got four lesser prospects from the Yankees. It was the poor man's version of the haul the Rangers made at the last deadline. They were the top seller.

5 — The Junior trade:

There must be a plausible explanation for the White Sox's acquisition of Ken Griffey Jr. The one that seems most logical is GM Kenny Williams simply wanted to make a headline-making trade.

4 — Yankees win! Yankees win!

The Yankees were able to acquire solid outfield (Xavier Nady), relief (Damaso Marte) and catching (Rodriguez) help for a pittance. How'd they do that?

3 — Calling on the Angels:

Los Angeles refused to part with Joe Saunders and Casey Kotchman last year as part of a package for Mark Teixeira. This season, in better shape to win it all, the Angels landed Teixeira for Kotchman and a minor league reliever.

2 — Manny being Manny:

Manny Ramirez's strange behavior was bound to wear out its welcome in Boston sometime. But after all he and the Red Sox have been through, they couldn't patch things together for another two months while locked in a tight playoff race?