On to the dog days

Well, we have hit the end of July, and that means once the calendar turns to August, we hit the dog days.
We have seen a flurry of late July moves and now players are heading to new teams, new mates, new looks, and some new positions, or dual positions.
Consider the log jam the Red Sox have at DH, catcher 1st and 3rd base.
David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, Casey Kotchman, Victor Martinez, and Jason Varitek. I am sure it's a nice problem for Terry Francona, especially since the Six did not give up Buchholz, or Danny Bard.

It's going to be much easier as the hot humid days and nights, the travel, for teams in contention to have all these options. Surprising to see the Sox deal Laroche for Kotchman, since they just traded for him a few days previous. The rumours were that they were active for Adrian Gonzalez as well ! The best deals still available are a bleacher seat and hot dog and a beer. That kind of dog day is just fine.













The kinds of dog days hard to take are traditionally reserved for team not really in contention for post season, those teams just playing out the string, sadly the Jays are again in that category.
Well looking at those players I thought were going to get dealt, 4 of the 5 did, Nick Johnson to the Marlins, Cabrera to the Twins, Rolen to the Reds, Victor Martinez to the Red Sox ( oooh those poor Indian fans ), only Clay Buchholz stayed put, despite the rumours, the Sox dealt Masterson, Price and Hagadone, all top notch pitchers, but Cleveland fans were hoping that Cliff Lee and Vic Martinez would netted them Kyle Drabek, and Clay Buchholz, just to name 2.

Perhaps both Philly and Boston's ability to keep their best prospects made the job of GM Riccardi easier to keep Halladay and not get blown away.

But for Toronto, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and many on the other side of trading off their stars, these days upcoming are truly laced with water bowls, dog biscuits, hot nights, and longer, tougher days. Especially those automatic outs that Scott Rolen supplied each Blue Jay starter with.

Woof !