Happy Birthday G-Money!!

Happy Birthday to my boy from WAY back, G-Money! I spoke with him earlier tonight, he truly is one of the best people I know. For all the things I could ever wish for myself, I hope he gets them first-he's a great guy, awesome sense of humor (he's one of the few people that can make me laugh) and a heart of gold. We talked about all sorts of things, but the one thing I love talking to him about is sports. As promised in my previous blog (go read it, now!!) here is my winners and losers, based on their division standings as of July 31st, the trade deadline:

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL East:
Philadelphia-winners, they got RF Hunter Pence and gave up no stud prospects. Amazing.
Atlanta-winners, they got a healthy CF and leadoff hitter in Michael Bourn. Just worry about what they gave up, Jordan Schafer could be very good down the road.
NY Mets-winners, got one of the top 5 pitching prospects in the minors for a guy who was leaving at the end of this season and not getting them any draft picks as compensation.
Florida-losers, in oh so many ways.
Washington-winners, as they got Arizona to take on all of P Jason Marquis' contract. That alone would make them winners, but they got a few other players in different deals, as well as some decent prospects. Next year with Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg will be when they try.
NL Central:
Milwaukee-.500. I didn't love the K-Rod deal, and the trade for a 35 yr old utility inf was due out of injuries. Not loving any of them.
St. Louis-losers. Furcal won't help that much and they traded the best player (OF Colby Rasmus) in that 3 team deal with Toronto and the White Sox.
Pittsburgh-winners. However, their season was ruined by an awful call. I think they are 1-8 since it happened, took the wind right out of the teams sales, but I love the trades for OF Ludwick and 1B Lee. Could be too late, though.
Cincinnati-losers. Looks like last year's playoff run was a fluke, which is wrong with the talent on that roster. Still, they should have called Toronto to rent a 3B, Scott Rolen won't be healthy for a long time.
Chi Cubs-HUGE losers. All they got rid of was 1 OF that can't hit. What about the 1B that had value? Or the C? Any of the pitching?
Houston-if the Cubs are huge losers, the Astros are catastrophic losers. They got no real stud prospects for 2/3 of their Opening Day OF.
NL West:
San Francisco-Winning! They got the lucky playoff mascot in the OC and revamped their middle infield. It'll work, just you watch. Oh, and they got that Beltran guy, too.
Arizona-slightly winners, for trying to shore up a pitching staff and not giving up too much.
Colorado-winners. I know, not a popular move here in Denver to trade such an 'ace' in Ubaldo Jimenez (btw-awful handling of him as the trade went down, and an even worse explanation the next day by the GM). The Rockies need to learn how to draft, that's why they made this deal. 2 of the pitchers they got back will be on the Opening Day roster next year. I'm not a huge fan of the deal, because it shows they gave up and turned off a bunch of fans in the process.
LA Dodgers-winners, got rid of an injury-prone guy who looked like he didn't want to be there. Now if they could've only dealt their crappy-in-legal-limbo ownership.
San Diego-.500, but I am they are probably going to try and keep closer Heath Bell.

American League
AL East:
Boston-.500. Will Bedard stay healthy? Aviles is a good filler until Lowrie gets healthy. Kind of want to know what happened to that Harden deal.
NY Yankees-losers, they got nothing and have Colon, Garcia, Hughes, Burnett and Nova after all-world CC Sabathia. You scared? Me, neither.
Tampa Bay-losers, because they didn't get anything for BJ Upton or any of their relievers.
Toronto-winners. Colby Rasmus and what did they give up? Exactly, a lot of dead weight.
Baltimore-losers. Perennial losers. Gave up a very good middle reliever and got a AAAA hitter in Chris Davis (and if you think that's a good thing, you're dead wrong). And didn't get a whole lot more in the dealing of Derrek Lee.
AL Central:
Detroit-winners, they upgraded at 3B and pitching, adding depth to the bullpen.
Cleveland-.500, leaning towards losing, because at least they're trying. But I think they're delusional. Calling up 2B Jason Kipnis and trading the OC...but getting Fukudome doesn't help anything. I think they made moves for the sake of making moves.
Chi White Sox-losers, they never declared if they were in or out. A disappointment all around.
Minnesota-.500, they did nothing, and that's alright
Kansas City-.500, both of their deals were meh at best.
AL West:
Texas-winning, they're going for it. Shored up the bullpen big time.
LA Angels-losers, they didn't do anything, and they were 2 games back.
Oakland-losers, they had more pieces to deal and got nothing done other dealing a reliever.
Seattle-.500, none of their deals really did anything, at least not yet.

So there it is. I know, I still owe 2 more blogs, they're coming. For my boy G-Money, I play this track, because he burned it up all the time when it came out:
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Now playing: Warren G - Regulate (Feat. Nate Dogg)
via FoxyTunes