Awesome trade for Mark DeRosa. Look, he was a 34-year old utility guy traded for a future closer and a PTBNL. Keep in mind, players to be named later have included David Ortiz, Jason Schmidt, Coco Crisp and how quickly we forget, Michael Brantley.

Here's an interesting take on the mechanics of Chris Perez, who pitched in the Cliff Lee Cardinals game, and is now an Indian.

I think it's safe to say, Shapiro thinks this guy will be the closer, post-Kerry Wood. Barring the inevitable arm injury, it seems.

I think the trade of DeRosa will actually stabilize the lineup. Wedge just has to follow through and pick the best 9 for his everyday lineup:

C Martinez (Sorry, Vic, we promised you first base this year, but not so fast, my friend. Shoppach gets Lee, maybe Pavano, nothing more.)
1B Garko (Garks wins out by default. Martinez is here when Shoppach catches.)
2B Carroll (over Valbuena at this point)
SS Cabrera
3B Peralta
LF LaPorta (Stop the 1B experiment for now. Sorry, Ben Francisco, we've seen enough.)
CF Sizemore
RF Choo
DH Hafner

This prevents Garko from ever seeing the outfield again, although he played there today. Honestly, can you argue against this as an everyday lineup? With DeRosa, Wedgie had way too many pieces/parts and overmanaged for three months. Not saying things will get better, but if I'm Wedge, this is how I fight to keep my job. Not by overthinking and playing Choo in left because there is more territory to cover in larger parks. You wouldn't do that if you had legitimate leftfielders in the lineup.

Oh, it's definitely a white flag on contending this season, but if it gets LaPorta here any faster, I'm all for it.

Meal of Links

Billy Mays died. I first saw him for OxyClean many years ago. But these ESPN 360 ads were gems:



Another look back at Michael Jackson. He predicted his own death. How come I didn't know that?

Roll-your-own cigarette taxes in Ohio went skyhigh. So this guy decided to enter the grow-your-own market.

Exercise Yard

I thought the USA was going to pull a stunning upset against Brazil today in the Confederations Cup Final. The US had a 2-0 lead at half which included probably the best goal I've ever seen by a US player.



Usually it's the other guys who do that to us. But alas, we are the USA and they are Brazil. Brazil wins, 3-2.

Visitor

None, a nice Sunday after a cloudy start.