Well, this seems to have kind of gotten lost in the excitement of the start of the season, but did anyone else notice that the Phillies traded Wes Helms to the Florida Marlins for one dollar? And not only that, but the Phillies also agreed to pay all of Helms’ $2.15 million salary for this season.

It goes without saying that this is a pretty decent deal for the Marlins, but how ignominious is that for Wes Helms to be so unwanted by your old team that you get traded for a single dollar?

As far as crazy trades go, this one is right up there with the Braves getting reliever Kerry Ligtenberg from a Northern League team for a bucket of balls and some baseball bats.

Actually, I’m sure those balls and bats cost significantly more than $1.

Josh Byrnes of the Diamondbacks is quickly establishing his credentials as the best general manager in the game today. Has this guy made a bad move yet since he took over as D-Backs GM after the 2005 season?

First, he deserves huge credit for putting his faith in his highly talented young prospects last year rather than signing at least a few big-name “experienced veterans” like almost every other GM would have done if handed a similar squad so inexperienced across the board.

This put the D-Backs in a position to win last year, and while it is true that the D-Backs were a “fluke” last year in terms of run differential, it was Byrnes who got them to a place where they could be such a fluke if a few bounces went there way, and this in only his second full season as GM after taking over a team that was one of the worst in baseball only a few years prior.

Now comes the news that Byrnes has just pulled off two stunning trades that markedly and clearly improve his team, acquiring bonified ace Dan Haren from the A’s for six prospects and getting Chris Burke, Chad Qualls, and triple-A starting pitcher Juan Gutierrez from the Astros for closer Jose Valverde.

I am especially shocked by the Dan Haren trade, because it was made with Billy Beane, and normally we are used to seeing Beane be the one fleecing the other team. In Beane’s defense, all six players can be reasonably projected to become major leaguers someday, but all six are grade-B prospects who are projected to be fourth starter or fourth outfielder types.

So while Beane did acquire a significant quantity of talent for his ace, and can be credited with spreading out his risk over 6 prospects rather than getting one mega-prospect who might get hurt or flame out while taking a bunch of flyers on a bunch of grade-C players, I’m just surprised that Beane felt this was the absolute max he could get for Dan Haren.

I mean, this is Dan Haren! The one player I would actually have rather my team traded for more than Johan Santana. Consider that Dan Haren 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA last hear and hurled 222.2 innings. Those are numbers you can put right up there with Santana’s and moving that guy into a much weaker league and a much weaker division is just downright scary.

But most of all, whereas Santana is going to be a free agent, and is due for a ginormous payout, Dan Haren is locked up for the next three full seasons, at the ridiculously reasonable price of just over $5 million per season!

So with Santana attracting big-league names like Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Phil Hughes, and Melky Cabrerra as possible return values, it amazes me that in exchange for Dan Haren Billy Beane didn’t even get one name that anyone has ever heard of, and Josh Byrnes didn’t even have to give up one player that had any chance of appearing on the D-Backs’ major league roster next season.

I am almost as impressed by the trade Byrnes pulled off with the Astros, who continue to get themselves torn to shreds by Ed Wade’s overwhelming incompetence. In this case, Byrnes shrewdly leveraged the overvalued stat of the Save to sell Valverde and his 47 saves to Houston for two very useful major league players and a 24-year old pitching prospect already on the verge of contributing in the big leagues.

Burke had a down year last season, but is just hitting his peak years at age 27 and still has the potential to become the player the Astros thought could replace Craig Biggio at second base, and Gutierrez was ranked by Baseball America as the #4 prospect in the Astros system last season, praised for his plus fastball and promising changeup.

But the key to this deal is Qualls. Byrnes is clearly gambling that Qualls is the equal, or near equal of Valverde, only minus the bling of a 40-save season to his name. Qualls has quietly racked up a fine career ERA of 3.39 in 284 major-league innings while pitching half his games in a hitter’s ballpark, and had outstanding strikeout and groundball rates last season, which bodes well for his future.

But even more importantly, Qualls has three years left before free agency to Valverde’s two, so Qualls could make this trade even out all by himself, even if he only provided 70 percent of the value that Valverde does per season over the next three years.

With the Padres and Dodgers treading water and the Giants and Rockies backsliding, I think these trades have to instantly catapult the D-Backs to the status of favorites in the NL West by a large margin. The D-Backs’ pitching was already pretty strong last season, but now they have a second ace to pair with Brandon Webb, giving them a one-two punch similar to the one they had with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling back when they won it all in 2001.

And with a team full of still developing young players with big upside up and down the lineup, Byrnes appears to be building the Diamondbacks into a perennial powerhouse that will put together strong playoff runs for years to come.

I did not see this one coming. Not by a long shot.

It’s currently being reported that the New York Mets have dealt OF prospect and legendary rapper Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals in exchange for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Milledge has been dealt. His name had been bandied about in many trade rumors, often involving the Oakland A’s (either for Joe Blanton or as part of a package for Danny Haren). Now I have no inside knowledge of the Mets brass’ collective thought process, but to me this signals that Billy Beane had either soured on Milledge or was never as interested as reporters thought. If the Mets had a shot to upgrade their starting pitching via Oakland by trading Milledge, one would have to assume that Omar Minaya would have saved this bullet for the right time. Instead, Milledge is going to Washington where he should see a lot of playing time. Most scouts seem to still view him as an above-average outfielder in the future, if not future All-Star.

So why did the Mets do it?

First off, there’s something else here. In the last week or so, the Mets acquired three catchers - they resigned Ramon Castro to a two-year deal, traded for Johnny Estrada, and have now also acquired Schneider. Unless they’re planning on employing the first ever catching (righty-switch-lefty) trio, they most likely will be looking to deal one of the three.

But the bigger piece here is Ryan Church. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I actually like Church. Despite playing in a massive pitcher’s park, he still managed to attain a .813 OPS in 2007. In fact, he slugged over .500 away from RFK. I don’t expect his numbers to get that much better since Shea is just as much a pitcher’s park. But what he does offer the Mets lineup is the lefty hitter they’ve been lacking since letting Shawn Green hit the market. Church should slot in as the #2, 7 or 8 hitter in the Mets lineup (I’m not much of a fan of the idea of Luis Castillo in the second spot). While he had a .349 OBP in 2007, he performed better in that department in ‘05 and ‘06, so I expect him to bounce back into the .360 OBP level, which should be good enough to hit near the top of the order. Plus, he has much more pop than Castillo (who doesn’t?). Church should improve the Mets offense in the short term. Defensively, he’s nothing special, but he isn’t bad either. While he played mostly in left in Washington, he’ll most likely be a RFer for the Mets.

Overall, I think it’s pretty ballsy of Omar Minaya to trade Milledge to a team within his own division. Mets fans will get to see L-Millz 18 times in the 2008 regular season wearing that Nationals uniform and they’ll judge for themselves if he ever was going to be a star. I’m pretty confident that this (assuming that trading Milledge for good pitching was simply not an available option) improves the Mets chances in 2008. But we’ll all have to wait and see to know if this trade is a big mistake.

P.S: I expect the fans of Flushing to immediately want to burn Minaya for this deal. The press and blogs have talked SO MANY times about dealing Milledge for pitching that I think lots of people will look at this trade and think that Minaya took Church/Schneider over someone like Haren or Johan Santana. Me? I’m pretty sure that had such a possibility existed, Omar would have never looked in Washington’s direction.

UPDATE: Well, not really an “update”, but a clarification - I was just re-reading this and I think it comes off sounding a bit too positive from the Mets’ perspective. So instead of writing this over again, I’m just going to add that I’m not exactly thrilled with this trade. It’s not as bad as it seems on the surface, but it’s definitely not good. Just wanted to point this out.

Last week, Alejandro put his Spanish-speaking skills to use and translated an interview that Edgar Renteria did with a Colombian newspaper, where he suggested the Braves trade him. His wish has been granted.

The Braves today traded Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for a couple of prospects.

But what does it all mean?

We have answers to all of your Edgar Renteria trade questions.

Q: Who are these prospects?
A: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Rookie right-hander Jair Jurrjens went 3-1 with a 4.70 ERA in seven starts for Detroit after being promoted from Class AA Erie, where he gained notice by going 3-0 with an 0.78 ERA in his final three starts, with 24 strikeouts and only one walk in 23 innings.”

Baseball Prospectus says Jurrjens had a 7.51 K/9 ratio, 1.27 WHIP and a 3/1 K/BB ratio in 19 starts at AA. Not bad.

Then there’s Center fielder Gorkys Hernandez, who the AJC says “just turned 20 in September and was named the MVP of the Class A Midwest League after batting .293 with 25 doubles, four homers and 54 stolen bases in 124 games. He was voted the league’s most exciting player and fastest baserunner by league managers.”

The Detroit Free Press describes Jurrjens and Hernandez as “two of the Tigers’ top four prospects”. That’s a steep price to pay for what might be a one year rental.

Q: Renteria sucked as a Red Sox. Will he suck again in the AL?
A: Renteria’s 2005 struggles had more to do with playing in Boston than they did with playing in the AL. After all, it wasn’t just his offense that dipped. Renteria made a career high 30 errors in 2005. The consensus is that he simply didn’t respond well to playing in the high pressure Boston market. Detroit is an AL team, but Tigers Stadium is not Fenway. Renteria should be fine.

Q: Renteria is pretty old. How much longer can he keep it up?
A: A legit question. But Renteria doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. And he’s only got one more year left on his contract. It’s a chance worth taking, I think.

Q: Who will replace Renteria at shortstop in Atlanta?
A: For the Braves, sending Renteria to Detroit means Yunel Escobar will finally get a shot to play everyday. The Braves are way high on Escobar. Of course, they were way high on Andy Marte, too. And he hasn’t exactly lit up the big leagues. But Escobar looked like the real thing playing in place of an injured Chipper Jones this summer. He’s earned his shot.

Q: Who got the best of this deal?
A: There’s little doubt that the Tigers got the best of this trade in the short term. It seems likely that Renteria will out perform both Jurrjens and Hernandez in 2008. We are, after all, talking about an above average defensive shortstop who very nearly won the batting title this season. Besides, it’s unlikely Hernandez will even play in the bigs next year.

Beyond 2008? That’s where it gets interesting.

Q: When will the Tigers run out of prospects to trade?
A: Last season, they traded not one, not two, but three pitching prospects to the Yankees for Gary Sheffield. The Yankees got right-handers Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about Sanchez, Whelan and Claggett:

The 23-year-old Sanchez was a combined 10-6 with a 2.53 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 123 innings with Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie this year. He is a hard thrower and was mentioned in trade speculation last summer before hurting an elbow.

…

Whelan, 22, was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 27 saves for Class A Lakeland. Claggett, 22, was 7-2 with an 0.91 ERA and 14 saves for Class A West Michigan.

Now the Tigers are giving up one more young arm for what may be a one year rental. When will the Tigers run out of young pitchers to trade?

Q: Does this mean the Red Sox are off the hook for Renteria’s salary?
A: According to ESPN, when Boston traded Renteria to Atlanta after the 2005 season, they agreed to “pay $8 million of the $26 million Renteria is owed for the next three seasons. In addition, the Red Sox must pay the $3 million buyout if his $11 million option for 2009 is declined.”

Sarah tells me the Sox paid $3 million to the Braves in 2007 to help with Renteria’s contract. And Boston was scheduled to pitch in some more money in 2008. But I don’t know if the Sox will now be sending money to Detroit, or if they’re done paying for Renteria. Anybody out there know something about this?

Dear Mr. Littlefield,

Before I begin, please allow me to state that I am not a Pirates fan. But I love baseball in all its forms and I greatly admire many of the players who have come through your organization. I, like many others, think of Honus Wagner as the greatest shortstop who ever lived. I recently had the pleasure of attending Ralph Kiner Night at Shea Stadium, and will always remember the man for his charm and unintelligible stories on Mets broadcasts. Roberto Clemente is on my list of five players I wish I would have been able to see play in person. Finally, I have been a fan of Sid Bream’s mustache for as long as I can remember. So please do know that I have the utmost respect for the Pirates organization and its history.

But please stop. Now. You are ruining the competitiveness of the National League. It because of executives like yourself that we NL-team fans have to constantly hear about the superiority of the American League and the designated hitter. How in the name of Andy Van Slyke can you possibly think that Matt Morris makes your team better? Please tell me. Sure, at one point, Morris was a fine pitcher. But please explain to me your rationale in bringing in a soon-to-be 33 year-old pitcher who has had a 4.73 ERA the past two seasons onto a team with zero-playoff aspirations? Isn’t there some sort of red flag when San Francisco, another NL team who has no hopes for a post-season, was basically giving him away? THEY WOULD HAVE TRADED HIM FOR NOTHING. THEY PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PICKED UP SOME OF THE TAB. Somehow, you were the only one who did not hear this. Not only did you actually give up a fairly young outfielder with a minimum contract in Rajai Davis, but you actually agreed to not only pay the remainder of Morris’ $9.5 million salary in 2007, but you’re paying for his $9.5 million salary NEXT YEAR as well. From what I understand, your team’s current payroll is under $40 million. Matt Morris is going to take up almost 25% of that. Congratulations.

When announcing the trade, you said the following:

“He’s been very productive and played for winners, and I think he will be effective in a rotation with a lot of young guys — a veteran, experienced guy who will help us out a great deal”

You know who else had a rotation with a lot of young guys? San Francisco. You know, the team on which he had compiled an 8.48 ERA over five starts in the month of July? Matt Cain is 22-years old. Tim Lincecum is 23. Noah Lowry is 26. They didn’t seem to think that Morris was necessary to develop these young arms. Why did you? Your future actually had some promise with Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell. You couldn’t spend the money that’s now going to Matt Morris on scouting and signing draft picks over slot so they could have some players to surround them in a few years? Matt Morris is not going to make you a contender this year or next. Matt Morris is not going to put people in the seats. Matt Morris is not going to convince anyone that you and your organization are “commited to winning”. All you have done is ensured that the Pirates will continue their streak of losing seasons for the foreseeable future. What is it now, 15 years and counting? The last time the Pirates were over .500, your division, the NL Central, didn’t even exist. I didn’t even know back then that the city of Atlanta was on the east coast because the Braves were in the NL West.

So, for this reason and more, I am pleading that you quit your job. The only reason that I can think as to why you did this is because you were afraid that you would be fired unless you can show improvement in the team’s record. That in and of itself proves that you are incapable of turning this team around. Especially if you’re counting on Matt Morris to do it. Stop. Now.

Sincerely,

Baseball Fan.

PS: Did you know that your your Wikipedia entry mocks your entire existence? It’s really quite funny.

I will analyze trades and rumored trades going down today, updating as news breaks. Latest news will be on top.

Red Sox acquire Eric Gagne from the Rangers for Kason Gabbard and minor leaguers David Murphy and Engel Beltre
I’m a big Kason Gabbard fan, so I think that the Rangers come out the winners in this one, especially given their desperate need for major-league-ready starting pitching. The Sox did avoid giving up any of their A-list prospects and moving Gabbard is helpful in the short term to clear room in the rotation for Schilling’s impending return, but they had to renegotiate Gagne’s contract to get him to waive his no trade clause, bumping up the price tag by several million, and they have consistently under-estimated Gabbard’s potential. If Gabbard ends up being a decent major league starter, the Sox may well regret giving him up for just two months and ~20 innings of Gagne.

Astros dump Morgan Ensberg on the Padres for a player to be named
The Padres continue their endless quest for a third baseman, which has been going on for more than two years now. No word yet on which minor leaguer the Astros are getting but it was probably nobody special since the Astros had designated Ensberg for assignment and had to trade him.

Padres get Rob Mackowiak from the White Sox for a player to be named
The Padres continue their search for answers in the outfield. Mackowiak is an even better option that yesterday’s acquisition, Scott Hairston, for the 4th outfielder role, so Hairston is probably headed to the minors. The White Sox are clearly sellers this year, so anything they can get for their impending free agents is a plus.

Braves get Octavio Dotel from the Royals Kyle Davies
This deal has been agreed to by both sides, but the Braves have to wait until the Teixera deal is finalized because Davies could potentially become the alternate player if the Rangers reject Matt Harrison for health reasons. This deal makes sense for both teams - the Braves have soured on Davies but the Royals would get a live arm to upgrade their ever-beleaguered rotation. There is speculation that Moore could have gotten a bit more for Dotel than Davies, but that his familiarity with Davies from his days in the Braves organization and his gut-feeling that Davies can be a star swung things in favor of the Braves.

Dodgers deal Wilson Betemit to the Yankees for Scott Proctor
At first glance this seems like a good deal for the Dodgers. Betemit had lost his starting job and had nowhere to play, and the Dodgers bullpen has been devastated by injuries and having to move Chad Billingsley, Mark Hendrickson, and Brett Tomko into the rotation to replace injured starters. However, Betemit’s low batting average of .231 conceals the fact that he has an extremely respectable OPS of .834, and by all rights should be starting at 3B over Nomar Garciaparra, who has a pathetic OPS of .690. Betemit’s OBP is .359; Nomar’s is .330. Betemit’s SLG is .474; Nomar’s is .360. Betemit has 10 home runs in 156 at-bats; Nomar has 4 home runs in 358 at bats. Meanwhile Scott Proctor has been one of the most abused pitchers in baseball since the beginning of 2006, and his peripherals are way down across the board since last year. So basically, this is a great deal for the Yankees. Betemit is a huge upgrade over Miguel Cairo as a utility infielder, and offers insurance at 3B should A-Rod opt out of his contract. Given a full year as a starter, Betemit should be able to hit 30 homers with a decent OBP.

Red Sox ship Joel Piniero to the Cardinals for a player to be named
This deal makes sense for both teams. The let’s-convert-piniero-to-a-bullpen-ace plan had been a complete bust for the Red Sox this season, so much so that they had busted Piniero down to the minors July 25. But for the Cardinals, Piniero immediately becomes something like their third best starting pitcher, so giving up a player-to-be-named seems like a pretty cheap price for a team with no starting pitching to speak of to gamble on Dave Duncan’s ability to help a player that is only 28 years old and has already started 148 big league games.

ESPN.com is reporting that the rumored trade between the Dodgers and Yankees has been finalized. Los Angeles will be shipping off IFer Wilson Betemit to New York for reliever Scott Proctor.

Proctor is generally known for two things: 1) being a victim of an evil plot by Joe “Jaws” Torre to slowly and elaborately blow up the shoulders of any decent reliever and 2) setting his equipment on fire in Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers were desperate for bullpen help and with the high price tags on arms such as Eric Gagne, Solomon Torres, Al Reyes, and Chad Cordero, the Dodgers went a step lower. One has to worry about Proctor’s arm, as only Jon Rauch and Matt Capps have entered more games since the start of 2006, and neither of them logged more innings over that same span.

The switch-hitting Betemit, on the other hand, should be a nice pick-up for the Yanks. Despite the fact that he’s batting .231 on the year, he makes up for it with a .359 OBP with good pop when he bats from the left side, which should be a plus with the short RF porch in Yankee Stadium. I always thought that on the right team Betemit would be a useful piece. We’ll see if the Yankees, who had been searching for a utility-infielder, can be that team.

My initial reactions to yesterday’s deals:

The Atlanta-Texas trade is a classic short-term vs. long-term compromise. The NL East is ultimately winnable in the here and now, and Atlanta knew it. While adding Teixeira by no means makes them a complete club (they still lack starting pitching behind Smoltz and Hudson), Teix is a huge upgrade over Scott Thorman. However, the Braves must know that their window to win with Teixeira will only remain open for only the next season and a half. As a Scott Boras client who will be eligible for free-agency after 2009, I have a hard time seeing Atlanta ponying up the necessary money to keep him beyond that.

The Rangers, I think, did extremely well. Even in the mediocre AL West, they were nowhere near contention. Although this deal may not fill their biggest organizational hole (that would be a #1 Starter, a #2 Starter, a #3 Starter, and a #4 Starter), they have a building block in place with Saltalamacchia, especially if they can find a way to keep him behind the plate. While Elvis Andrus is far too young to project any meaningful on-field accomplishments, barring injury, he becomes at worst a guy the Rangers can dangle in front of a GM who overvalues “tools” in a future trade. If Matt Harrison can become a big-league starter, we may be talking about this deal as a slam-dunk in a few years’ time.

The Mets also made a deal, for better or worse, to acquire Minnesota second-baseman Luis Castillo. After Jose Valentin broke his shin recently, New York had been playing 24-year old Ruben Gotay in his place. Despite the fact that Gotay isn’t projected to be a star, he has filled in admirably, providing good speed, decent defense, a line-drive swing and a nice (albeit fluky) .350 AVG. At this point in his career, however, Gotay should probably be counted on to only hit .270 or so, and with his plate discipline not yet developed, he probably won’t have an OBP above .310. Moreover, big league teams are generally reluctant to play young guys down the stretch in a pennant race due to the perceived pressure such an environment would create. So in comes Castillo, who along with Juan Pierre is still remembered as 1/2 of the dynamic duo of table-setters for the winners of the 2003 World Series, Florida Marlins.  The 31-year old is certainly past his prime, but can still put the ball in play with the rest of them and should provide a higher AVG and OBP than what I suspect Gotay could be able to conjure.

But I do disagree with the perception that the Mets upgraded defensively. Castillo is sure-handed but his range is very limited. With Castillo at second, Carlos Delgado at first and Shawn Green in right, the defense on the right side of the field at Shea may be worth keeping tabs on from here on out.  I would also argue that we need to stop thinking of Castillo as a good basestealer. Although he did swipe 25 last year, he was also caught 11 times. Since 2005, he has a success rate of 67% when attempting to steal, and at that point he’s doing more harm than good.

What I do like most about this deal, however, is actually what may happen after the season. Castillo’s contract is up following the World Series and if (hopefully) the Mets decide not to resign him, he will most likely be a Class-B free agent, which should net the team a sandwich pick in the next amateur draft, which will give the team a better prospect than the two the Mets gave up to acquire Castillo (Drew Butera and Dustin Martin).  

Rounding out the NL East, in a microcosm of how badly we overvalue preseason perceptions, the  Philadelphia Phillies acquired Kyle Lohse from Cincinnati to help fill out the back-end of their rotation. Prior to April, the word most associated with the Phillies’ pitching was “surplus”. Having traded for Freddy Garcia in the off-season, the Phillies were thought to have six pitchers who were more than capable of holding down a rotation spot - Garcia, Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jon Lieber, Adam Eaton, and Jamie Moyer.

Yet, after some injuries and disappointing performances, the Phils felt the need to acquire Lohse, a 28-year old righty with a career 4.83 ERA, to improve their staff. Thus far in 2007, they rank 25th in team ERA, much due to the fact that only the Tampa Bay Devil Rays give up more homeruns than Philly. So what do they do? They trade for another pitcher who is prone to giving up the long ball. In all fairness, while I don’t think that Lohse is the answer, neither is J.D. Durbin, so I do not foresee this trade having much of an impact in the NL East. I was impressed, however, at the team’s aggressiveness in bringing in Tadahito Iguchi despite the fact that Chase Utley is expected to return within a few weeks.

Mark Teixeira, one of the hottest names bandied about before tomorrow’s trade deadline, has just been traded. The Rangers are sending the first baseman and a lefty reliever, Rob Mahay, to the Braves. The Braves are giving up their top two prospects (and with them, any chance of reclaiming the awesome-nickname-days of yore).

Some suspected that Texas wanted to dump Teixeira because he was a chronic complainer. Nevertheless, it seems they got a lot in return. According to early reports, Atlanta sent them top-rated catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop-of-the-future Elvis Andrus, pitching prospect Matt Harrison and 19-year-old righthander Nestali Feliz. Salty (as he is known) and Elvis (Elvis!!) are the top two prospects in the Braves’ organization. Harrison is their third-ranked youngster.

Teixeira is eligible for salary arbitration after this season. He becomes a free agent at the end of next season.

I can’t decide whether the Rangers have made out like bandits, or whether the Braves got Teixeira cheap. One the one hand, all the Braves had to give up was prospects. On the other, they reportedly gave up the best three prospects they had.

Here’s the short version on Teixeira:

Teixeira, a 27-year-old switch-hitting slugger, has won two Gold Gloves at first base. He is batting .297 this season with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs. Since breaking into the majors with Texas in 2003, Teixeira has had seasons of 26, 38, 43 and 33 home runs.

Only Ralph Kiner, Albert Pujols and Eddie Mathews hit more than the 140 homers that Teixeira had in his first four major league seasons. He had at least 33 homers and 110 RBIs in each of the past three.

The former Georgia Tech star will be a huge upgrade for the Braves, who’ve slid to third in the NL East and have been using stand-ins at first this year. But was it worth ditching their top three prospects, plus this guy Feliz? Well, Saltalamacchia had nowhere to go after the Braves re-upped last year’s breakout catcher, Brian McCann, to a six-year deal. Here’s what Baseball Prospectus has to say about Salty, Elvis, and Harrison.

Elvis Andrus: Only 18, he’s “as toolsy as he is young” and “even if he’s only a speedy line-drive hitter with good glove-work, that’s still a potential All-Star, and there’s a chance he’ll be more than that.”

Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Twenty-two and six-foot-four, Salty battled a hand injury last season in Double A, but once he kicked it, hit “.338/.474/.649 in the last two months…the other good news is that he improved behind the plate, throwing out 36 percent of opposing runners.”

Matt Harrison: The 21-year old is built in the classic mode: a hulking lefty who likes to throw heat. Like Nuke LaLoosh he can hit 95, but generally works in the low 90s. Unlike Ebbie Calvin, however, he can also control where the ball is going. He “throws a ton of strikes and supplements his heat with a plus curve and change.”

I suppose it makes sense to move Saltalamacchia, if you’re confident you want to go with McCann. I mean, that’s what extraneous prospects are for, right? To use as chips. But to blow all your chips on one dude? I dunno. If the Braves miss the playoffs again this year, they may end up with buyers’ remorse.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have ended up with a young shortstop and a lefthanded starting pitcher for the future, and a catcher they could stick behind the plate tomorrow (sorry Gerald Laird). I’m going to have to give the Rangers the edge on this one. At least it looks like they have some kind of organizational philosophy. The Braves, on the other hand, still seem to be wandering in the desert.

The first significant trade deadline deal went down today as the Brewers panicked and shipped three well regarded pitching prospects for declining setup man Scott Linebrink.

The Brewers were feeling the pressure to make a move with the Cubs breathing down their necks in the NL Central and the bullpen weakened by the need to shift Yovani “Lamborghini” Gallardo back into the rotation to replace the ever-injured Ben Sheets.

(Amazingly, I appear to be the first person to ever make that lame Lamborghini joke, at least according to Google)

It seems like Scott Linebrink has been the subject of trade rumors since players still wore stirrups. I mean, I’m pretty sure every man on the Red Sox 40-man roster has been rumored to be involved in a trade for Linebrink by now.

But Kevin Towers and the Padres wisely held their hand until they finally got an offer they couldn’t refuse. And this offer was pretty damn nigh unrefusable.

For starters, one of the players received from the Brewers, Triple-A reliever Joe Thatcher, is probably already a better option than Linbrink, whose peripherals have been declining and who just yesterday demoted from his role as the Friar’s primary set-up man in favor of rising star Heath Bell. Thatcher will be immediately slotted into the back end of the Padres ‘pen, and deservedly so.

But the real payoff in the trade for the Padres may will be acquiring Double-A starter Will Inman, who Baseball America ranked as the third best prospect in the Brewers system this spring, behind only Ryan Braun and the aforementioned Gallardo.

Just to give you an idea how good that makes Inman, Braun will almost certainly be named NL rookie-of-the-year this season and Gallardo is regarded as a future top-of-the-rotation who one scout recently said is already better than Phil Hughes or Homer Bailey.