A new notes column from Ken Rosenthal, including his analysis of the Dodgers/D-Rays trade that sent Danys Baez and Lance Carter to the Dodgers for Chuck Tiffany and Edwin Jackson. I agree with Rosenthal that this is a decent trade for both teams.
Rosenthal also reports that a discussed Craig Wilson/Alex Rios trade is apparently dead, although he says that it isn't clear which said balked.
And if you ever want to know why bad teams stay bad, look at what the Pirates are doing with Craig Wilson...whenever he plays, he hits, and last season he was 5th on the Pirates in VORP, despite missing much of the season due to injury. He's probably the second-best player on the Pirates, behind Jason Bay.
And yet, the Pirates have gone out and spent a significant amount of money to get Sean Casey and Jeromy Burnitz. Neither is as good a player as Wilson, both are more expensive, and their presence squeezes Craig Wilson out of the starting lineup.
Rosenthal has this to say on Wilson's situation:
The Pirates say they can afford to keep Wilson as a $3.5 million part-time player. Rival clubs are skeptical of that claim.
I don't know if they can afford to or not, but either way, it is stupid. They need to play him everyday, or trade him. To pay him $3.5 million to pinch-hit is asinine.
Let me say once again...please, Jon Daniels, go get Craig Wilson. Let him get 450 ABs as a DH/LF/RF/backup 1B, who is also an emergency catcher.
He's exactly the type of quality righthanded bat the Rangers need to fill out their roster.