On the Move

The "stars" of your Pittsburgh Pirates aren't the only ones preoccupied with moving trucks these days. Your humble author has been in the process as well for the last couple weeks, hence the lack of recent activity in this space. As things begin to settle for me, and as the hot stove leading up to the 7/31 trade deadline gets warmer, hopefully there will be some more activity here.

For now, I bring you these:

Dejan says that Jack Wilson has U-Haul on speed dial, further advancing the "no one is safe" refrain that we've heard from Neal Huntington's crew since their arrival. Given that the best option is the as yet unproven Brian Bixler, and that Wilson is reasonably priced for his performance, if he maintains it through the remainder of his contract, I'd imagine the asking price is somewhat high.

Ed Price from The Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Yankees are stepping up their chase of Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. Bay and Johnny Damon could split time in left field seeing who can make the slowest throw to home plate. As weak as Bay's arm is some days, I think Damon has him beat. One of my favorite lines about Johnny Damon when he was with the Red Sox was "Johnny Damon: Looks like Jesus, throws like Mary."

If you asked me (and let's assume you did), here's my "most likely to be traded" list (from most to least likely):

1. Xavier Nady: Neal plays it smart and sells high. He'll be hurt again in three weeks, and this will be the best season of his career. One more year before free agency should bring a decent return.

2. John Grabow: Overused or not, he's only 30 and has another arbitration year in 2009. The heavy hitters are short on proven lefty relief, and he could net a nicer return than Marte.

3. Damaso Marte: We'll see what happens. It's a Harvey Dent coin flip at this point.

4. Jack Wilson: Rivas and Gomez can't play short, Bixler's not there. Jumpin' Jack Flash goes and losing season number 16 is all but guaranteed.

5. Jason Bay: The one real All-Star on this team. Sending Bay off for pitching prospects a year and a half before he hits free agency will alienate a ton of the fan base, even if it's the smart thing to do. This is the official throwing in of the towel for this season, as well as 2009.

Let the games begin.