Dead Air

The day after the All-Star Game is the only day from April-October that is utterly devoid of MLB baseball. So we have to fill it up with trade rumors and 2nd half speculation.

As the Wilson Turns

According to our boy Barry Svrluga at the Washington Post the on-again, off-again Preston Wilson deal might be on again. I think we've all staked out our positions on Preston: nice guy, good fielder, likely to have little or no pop in his bat at RFK. But the latest twist is that Wilson would play center, with Wilkie moving to 1B until Johnson gets healthy, and Byrd/Church platooning in left.

Then, when Nicky comes back to play 1B, Wilkie moves to LF and Byrd/Church go to the bench. Leaving aside the question of whether Wilson is an offensive and defensive upgrade over Byrd or Church, what do we need all these outfielders for? Both Byrd and Church have shown good defensive range, and Church has a good bat: .325, 7 HRs, 28 RBI in part-time duty. I guess the thinking is that Church doesn't have the range to play CF, and Byrd doesn't have the bat to play everyday.

Stanton? Darn near killed 'em

The other interesting personnel move on the horizon is the potential addition of lefty reliever Mike Stanton, formerly of the Yanquis. Stanton would be the left-handed setup man for The Chief, taking some pressure of Luis "El Guapo" Ayala and Gary "Tex" Majewski. Another lefty in the bullpen would also allow Joey Eischen to return to doing what he does best, sitting in the bullpen looking scary.