Stars get McCoy

Miami trades Justin Springer, Zach Graham, and a 3rd round pick to Florida for 3B Matt McCoy. McCoy adds needed righthanded power to the Stars, and will bat third while splitting 1b and DH with Bubba Lewis.

Utes add a pitcher

Utah improved their starting rotation by getting Cory Schaeffer from Hawaii in exchange for a second round pick and minor league pitcher Scott Klippenstein.

Schaeffer was 8-7 with a 3.75 ERA for Hawaii, and is a restricted free agent after the season.

With one day to go, there may still be more deadline deals, as Florida is involved in discussions to trade infielder Matt McCoy and ace starter Bryan Brooks.

There is no truth to the rumor that Florida would have traded Jake Cisco to Boston for Gonk Droid, with Boston converting Cisco to catcher. That was just a prank caller.

Robins get Crowell from Snow Sox, other deals made

The St Louis Robins improved their chances for a pennant push by landing the biggest bat available in trade, Hank Crowell. Crowell was hitting .323 with 23 HR and 80 RBI for the Snow Sox. The Sox get St Louis's 1st round pick, 2B Rich Almanzar, and P Denny Romero. RHP Bart Evans also joins the Robins in the deal.

Phoenix made two trades designed to lower payroll, trading RHP David Burke to Denver for Ron Hodge, and OF Vernon Coles to Toledo for OF Corey Feldman and Duane Beltran. Burke (8-8, 4.38) has one year left on a contract that will pay him 12.5 million. Coles makes 8 million per season, and has been a major disappointment in Phoenix, hitting .224 with 14 HR. Coles is one of the most talented players in the game, with power, speed, and capable of gold glove defense in center field. He has not played up to the contract he signed after hitting .268 with 39 homers in 2004 for Toronto.

New York Knights trade RF Cesar Ramos to Baltimore for a second round pick plus minor leaguers Travis Griffin and Dan Beck.

Philadelphia trades OF Gabe Kotter to Cleveland for 19 year old RHP Kyle Bonderman.

Mars trades 2B Jimmy Urbano and RHP Ray Swanson to Detroit for a second round pick plus LHP Steve Saldana.

Our sources report Mars GM George Bush tried to make it a larger trade, offering several of his top veterans if Detroit would part with SS BJ Lewis, but had to settle for this deal. Saldana is a lefty who throws 97 MPH with mechanics that make it look like his arm might fall off every time he does.

This Week in APBA

The Florida Penguins made a pair of trades. They sent closer Jeff Beck to Springfield for two minor leaguers, 2B Ruben Ressler and LHP Scott Arroyo. Beck earned a save in his first Springfield appearance.

Earlier, they send OF Mickey Tinsley and DH Richie Jefferson to Charlotte for Kenny Anderson Jr. This may mean that The Herman analyst Kenny Sr. may decide to unretire to allow him to play with his son.

Joe Young has 8 homers in his last 12 games, and 28 on the season. Conan has 27 this year, and 753 for his career. He could pass Hank Aaron any day now. Ryan Ballard leads with 32, the most recent being a 3 run homer in the 12th inning to beat Louisville on Tuesday. He also has 93 RBI.

The Orlando Rugrats have reached .500 for the first time in many years. They have the most young talent in the league, and should be an interesting team if they can keep their core together. Justin Zoolander earned his first big league win with a 4 hit, complete game shutout of Texas. He walked 4 and struck out 9, and was threw 99 MPH on his final pitch.

Utah finally wins

The Utes are in a terrible slump, losing their last 3 and 8 of the last 10. Ryan Ballard still leads the league in homers with 30, but hasn't hit many lately.

Utah took a 5-4 lead into the 9th on a strong pitching performance by Armando Morales, who faced 37 batters throwing 140 pitches. The Utes had only one pitcher available in the bullpen, long reliever and spot starter Ty Aberson. The Utah bullpen has been depleted due to terrible recent starting performances. Aberson pitched out of an 8th inning jam, but in going for his first save he gave up a 2 out, 9th inning homer to Optimus Minor to tie the game.

Aberson became the winning pitcher when in the bottom 9th rookie Doug Dodson send the first pitch from Hank Jenks over the left field wall.

UUUUUUUUUTE!

Return of Larry Patterson

Larry Patterson was 1-7,7.29 ERA before being sent to the minors. One year ago, Larry had a great rookie season, a 10-7 record and 3.47 ERA. After a few starts in the minors, Patterson returned to Tuesday for a start against Cleveland.

He seems to have solved his problems, throwing a complete game 2 hitter, allowing 1 run. He walked 2 and struck out 7.

Good Game For Old Utes

In the New York Knight's 9-3 win over Springfield, several veterans of the great 1990's Utah teams had big games.

Kermit Holmes had 2 hits and 2 runs.

Conan hit 2 homers, giving him 751 for his career, and drove in 4.

Tom Groovine pitched 7 innings for his 11th win.

And Manager Don Muttonly celebrated the victory for his Knights, who are still in last place in the Superior League East.

Thomas may take a rest

Joe Thomas has played in 1913 consecutive games, including 89 this season, good for third place all time after Cal Ripken and Lou Gehrig.

Thomas, 36, is having a subpar season and may retire after the season. He recently hinted that he may take a break. Joe claims it was never his intent to run up a consecutive games streak. He simply played because that was his job.

If Joe decides to keep playing and continue the streak, he could pass Gehrig before the end of the 2007 season.

Money for next year

Here are projected team payrolls for 2006, assuming each team wins exactly 81 games.

If your team is not a .500 team, figure about 400K for each win over 81, and 1.5 mil for each home playoff game.

Money spent may not all represent guaranteed contracts, some of these are rookie options.

http://home.comcast.net/~briankaat/Money_Left.xls

Murray almost throws a nohitter

Alex Murray took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against Orlando before Jim Sanchez lined a clean single to right field. (Strange that it was a clean hit, from a player nicknamed "dirty")

Murray completed the game, getting a 1 hit shutout, and Chicago won 8 to 0.

3000 Hits

Tony Bambora finally did it, becoming just the 3rd player in league history to collect 3000 hits. It was a blooper to left in the 9th inning off Boston's Jared Baker. Bambora, 39, is hitting a mere .226 going into the game in what will likely be his final season.

The hit watch now switches to Kermit Holmes, who needs 22 more hits to reach 3000.

All Star Starters

All Star starters for the 2006 game, to be played on a date to be determined, in Hawaii:

Superior League:

C Gonk Droid, Bos
1B Hal Glover, Lou
2B Jacen Solo, Cha
SS Lou Zamuda, Utah
3B Bill Judge, LV
OF Ryan Ballard, Utah
OF Carlos Merejo, Utah
OF Mark Crawford, Tex

Major League:

C Otto Tingley, BA
1B Prince Coleman, Ala
2B Sam Robinson, Por
SS Fred Lewis, BA
3B Hank Crowell, Ala
OF Chad White, NYC
OF Keith Lee, NYC
OF Ray Hamilton, Det

The leading candidates to start the game are Portland's Lee Oswalt (12-2, 1.98) and Miami's Dave Lefevre (11-4, 2.97)

Stars Get Proven Winner

Miami acquired 304 game winner Sunsurf from Phoenix in exchange for OF Joey Jorgenson, RHP Dan Carson, and minor league RHP Jason Sanchez.

Miami is in first place, and improves their weakest spot, a starting rotation lacking depth. Sunsurf won his 300th game earlier this year and in his last start struck out 11 Louisville Sluggers in 6 innings. The 44 year old pitcher has been a part of a Miami championship team before, he was part of the 1989 Stars.

Sanchez, 19, is they key to the deal for Phoenix. He's a raw thrower with tremendous potential including a 95 mph fastball.