Seattle, welcome a great defensive SS.

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• Seattle and Pittsburgh make a deal: Read a bunch of
  different takes on this.  And a few have the Mariners winning, because
  they ridded of a prospect (Jeff Clement) that really couldn’t catch,
  and was on the outs with the organization it seems.  The Mariners also
  surrendered some arms in the low Minors.  Arms that none of the
  analysts seem to know much about.  The Pirates already have a catcher,
  so what they are doing with Clement I’m a little curious.  Someone
  suggested that maybe they will move Clement for another piece.  So
  basically the Mariners win now, the Pirates could win later.  One
  aspect of the deal that everyone agrees on is that Jack Wilson is
  expensive.  $8 million for a great fielding shortstop, who cannot hit,
  is still kind of expensive.  I tend to let these deals play out before
  passing judgement.  But it definitely doesn’t seem bad for
  either side.  Although I admit, I know nothing about the young arms the
  Pirates acquired (other than that they were probably expendable based
  on quality).   And Ian Snell of course could use a change of scenery.

• ARod since his rest: .300/.418/.600.  I love bringing this up for some reason…Even though I obviously root for this guy to fail.

• Cliff Lee a Phillie: This makes the Phillies better now,
  obviously.  But that is the thing about prospects, they may or may not
  swing this deal in the Indians favor.  But for now, the Phillies are
  even better, and the team to beat in the NL, it seems.  Although those
  Dodgers are still pretty good…

• Victor Martinez a solution?: I wrote a post about this at Fire Brand. 
  And my basic premise was that Martinez may not be much different than
  Laroche down the stretch, if Laroche is in fact a second half player. 
  And if of course Martinez mostly plays 1B.  V-Mart has really calmed
  down with the stick, and if he plays first, the numbers don’t exactly
  jump at you.  If he catches–mainly–then the numbers do jump at you. 
  But how will that effect the pitching staff adjusting to a new
  catcher?  It may matter, but it may not.  It is a touchy subject, those
  catchers.  I do like the guy though, but surrendering quality for him,
  well, it may just be better to try out Laroche…

• As for Halladay: I could definitely talk myself into Roy. 
  Definitely.  Especially for a year + the last few months of the
  season.  But the cost will be hefty.  Is it worth it?  Would it be
  worth Buchholz, Bowden and Westmoreland?  Maybe.  Buchholz doesn’t seem
  to be very confident on the mound, in my opinion.  But maybe that
  confidence will be gained.  Bowden is the one player I really don’t
  mind trading right now to make this team better.  But Bowden alone will
  not be enough for anything of significance.  And Westmoreland is far
  away, but has a lot of talent.