Joba Chamberlain is just one of the prospects that got the call this week.

Neifi Perez is living proof that performance enhancers alone will not transform a mediocre player into a great one. Perez was suspended this week for 80 games for his third positive test for a banned substance. Obviously Perez was seeing some benefit from using or he would have stopped. Using banned performance enhancers when the punishment is so severe would be career suicide would it not? Not only do you lose the huge chunks of cash you earn as a major leaguer but you also get the constant derision from fans and the media. Neifi Perez was surely the subject of many a newspaper article last week was he not?

No, of course not – it is much more fun to attack the accomplishments of Barry Bonds.

The Barry Bonds who has never admitted to using a banned substance; who continues to pass the same tests that every other player in Major League Baseball must pass; who despite the protests to the contrary of Bud Selig is the target of George Mitchell’s much publicized investigation; who the federal government has been unable to make a winnable case against despite two years of trying; who is undeniably the very best player of his era; and who should be a no-doubt Hall-of-Famer but probably will not be because of speculation that no one can actually prove.

Three Great Prospects Called Up

Justin Upton was called up by the Arizona Diamondbacks and you may be seeing the next Ken Griffey Jr. Upton batted .341/.433/.540 in 126 at-bats at High-A Visalia. He hit .309/.399/.556 in 259 at-bats at double-A Mobile. He provides everything a major league or fantasy league GM could want from a player. He will hit for power and steal bases. He has center field quality defensive skills and the arm to excel in right. The scariest part is this 20 year-old is still developing. Don’t bother looking, the minor league junkie in your league already owns him.

Seattle Mariner fans need not feel jealous. Adam Jones is doing a fair “Junior” impression himself. In 420 at-bats with Triple-A Tacoma, Jones has batted .314/.382/.586 with 25 homers, 27 doubles and six triples. Again you see a player with just about everything you could want. He’ll hit for power, steal bases and play a great center field. I would tell you to grab him right this second but he’s gone already too (you can check but I’m pretty sure).

The Yankees called up a top prospect as well. Joba Chamberlain is going to be a starter in the Bronx for a long time but for the rest of this season anyway he will serve as the top set-up man the Yankees have been searching for all season. You can expect mad strikeouts and much gushing by prospect-starved fans in the Bronx. Across three minor-league levels this season Joba pitched 88.1 innings with just 62 hits allowed with 135 strikeouts and 27 walks. He is going to be dominant. He may actually be available if your league is dominated by Yankee-haters. If he is available grab him now.

Trade Deadline Madness

If you were desperately seeking a boost in your NL-only league I hope you saved your FAAB dollars. The trade deadline dealings resulted in a ton of talent moving from the American League to the National League. But you know that by now so without further ado I present all the deals from last week.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent second baseman Jorge Cantu, minor-league outfielder Shaun Cumberland and cash to the Cincinnati Reds for right-handed reliever Calvin Medlock, outfielder turned left-handed specialist Brian Shackelford and cash.

Jorge Cantu was desperately in need of a fresh situation. He not only has failed to produce when given opportunities to do so he also whined just a bit too much about the brevity of those chances. He’ll become a utility player for the Reds and if he can get his batting line over the .207/.277/.224 it presently sits at he should provide power from the bench. Shaun Cumberland isn’t worth anything; he is just too old at too low a level. For the Reds this is a decent deal. Fantasy players shouldn’t go nuts for Cantu as his playing time will remain limited.

The Devil Rays pick up some desperately needed help for their bullpen. Medlock has a mid-90’s fastball and a very solid change-up. Medlock has the short guy prejudice working against him but it seems likely the Rays have now advanced their thinking past that primitive ideology. Brian Shackelford is primarily a left-handed specialist the Rays may be hoping for more but they aren’t likely to get it.   

The Devil Rays also sent right-hander starter turned reliever Seth McClung to the Milwaukee Brewers for right-handed reliever Grant Balfour.

Seth McClung can get the big strikeout. The problem is when he fails to get the strikeout the most likely outcome is a walk. For Triple-A Durham this season, he had a K-rate of 10.43 but a BB-rate of 6.60 so you can see the problem. The D-Rays have been fairly patient but this was probably the right time to move him both they the team could net something from his development and for the sake of the pitcher who might benefit from a different situation. But is Grant Balfour going to help the D-Rays’ bullpen? Yes. Balfour, as the name suggests, has occasionally run into control problems himself but to a much lesser degree than Mr. McClung. At Triple-A Nashville Grant this season Balfour has excelled with a 13.9 K-rate to go with a 3.0 BB-rate, 1.69 earned run average and 0.88 whip. I say thee FAAB Grant Balfour as soon as the opportunity presents itself and you may sneak yourself next year’s Devil Ray closer (they couldn’t possibly have the same closer two years in a row) or at the very least a solid late inning reliever who will accumulate strikeouts. The Brewers have had a ton of success lately taking on projects like McClung and getting productive seasons from them. Balfour is an example of this himself as is Derrek Turnbow. 

The Devil Rays kept busy by trading infielder Ty Wigginton to the Houston Astros for their sometime closer Dan Wheeler.

This is one trade I don’t quite get. Wheeler is of course a solid veteran relief option but guys like this are going to be available for nothing but cash in free agency. It isn’t that they didn’t get fair value for him I just think had they traded him for younger players or prospects they could have gotten a better deal. I know Wheeler has been moved into the closer role on occasion but he still is what he is: a very replaceable middle reliever. Wigginton is a nice bat who can play first, second or third and produce solid power numbers. With a dozen teams in the running for his services was Wheeler really the best option?

The Minnesota Twins traded starting second baseman Luis Castillo to the New York Mets for a pair of non-roster players in catcher Drew Butera and outfielder Dustin Martin.

The Mets get a nice defensive upgrade over Ruben Gotay and they get to add another speed element behind Jose Reyes. The Twins insist that they were not giving up on the season which means just one thing to me: Alexi Casilla’s time has come. Casilla has been compared to Luis Castillo many times. He should be a solid defensive player who can steal bases. Fantasy owners will want to grab Casilla is any league where you can stash him until next year. This isn’t to say that Casilla won’t have any value in the last two months of the season but you don’t want your fantasy championship counting on the bat of a rookie do you?

The Reds acquired lefty Matt Maloney from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for right-handed starter Kyle Lohse.

Kyle Lohse has had his moments this season where he has looked like the pitcher the Twins thought he would become someday. Lohse may not ever become that on a regular basis but in real baseball unlike the game we all play Lohse has value as an end of the rotation starter. He takes the ball every opportunity he gets. On a team like the Phillies which should be able to give him plenty of run support he might even collect a few wins. For fantasy purposes he is too dangerous to recommend but if you have nothing to lose you could do worse. Maloney is a nice pick up for the Reds. Maloney was the 2006 South Atlantic League pitcher of the year after going 16-9 with a 2.03 earned run average. Maloney was 9-7 with a 3.94 earned run average in double-A this season with 115 strikeouts in 125.2 innings pitched. I can see Maloney in the Cincy rotation next season though that hardly makes him a fantasy stud.

The Atlanta Braves traded catcher turned first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus,  left-handed starting prospect Matt Harrison,  lefty Beau Jones and  right-handed pitching prospect Neftali Feliz to the Texas Rangers for first baseman Mark Teixeira and lefty reliever Ron Mahay.

This is the big one folks. Mark Teixeira loves the deal judging by the largeness of his bat since the deal. He gives the Braves exactly what they need which is some serious thump. If you want to win in the playoffs (or just get there) you need either some dominant pitching or a killer lineup. Teixeira adds that scary guy in the middle who puts fear into the hearts of lesser pitchers and is pitched around by the smart ones. He makes guys like Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones that much more dangerous making it much more difficult to pitch around them. Throw what you have left in FAAB on him it will be worth it.

The Rangers got themselves a great deal. The Braves were in a unique position to offer top prospects that other teams either couldn’t or wouldn’t. The Braves could trade Salty because they already have a young catcher in Brian McCann. They could trade Elvis Andrus because they have Yunel Escobar and when those two don’t matter trading a couple of nice pitching prospects (but not your best one) for a guy like Mark Teixeira is a no-brainer. The Rangers love it because they either play Salty at first where his bat should (at least eventually) be worthy of the position. Andrus gets a little more development time but could easily be worked in as a utility infielder next season. Matt Harrison is a very nice prospect that is just about ready for the majors, he projects as a mid-rotation type of guy but has been rated higher than that at times. Neftali Feliz is one of those guys that you easily fall in love with but is so far away that he becomes almost impossible to project. This season he was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA, 16 H and 28K 12BB in 26 1/3 IP for Rookie Danville. He has fantastic stuff and could turn into Francisco Liriano (the good version non-injured version) or someone with frustrating potential like Daniel Cabrera. Either way Neftali is an intriguing pick in minor league drafts.

The St. Louis Cardinals acquired reliever Joel Pineiro and cash from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later.

Joel Pinero is one of those frustratingly talented arms that never seem to perform. Dave Duncan is one of those magical pitching coaches who seem to be able to make lemonade from anything that ever even resembled fruit. I would not risk adding Pinero in leagues where I had hope but as a cheap speculation pick for next year you could do worse. What would be far more surprising than Pinero performing would be the Red Sox collecting anything resembling talent in exchange.

The Seattle Mariners traded RHP Julio Mateo to the Phillies for shortstop Jesus Merchan.

Julio Mateo is just one of those pitchers; sometimes he’s good and other times he is just not. The Phillies are grasping for any sort of bullpen competence and Mateo will probably be competent but not worth adding to your fantasy team. Don’t be fooled by Jesus Merchan’s numbers at double-A. He does have a little power and speed and makes decent contact but he is also 26 years-old. Merchan might be a decent utility infielder in real baseball but for fantasy purposes he’s junk.

The San Francisco Giants acquired outfield speedster Rajai Davis and a player to be named later from the Pirates in exchange for RHP Matt Morris.

This is a great deal for fantasy owners. Rajai Davis is going to get a lot more playing time in San Francisco which means you can consider him a good source of stolen bases for the rest of the season. He isn’t a great hitter by any means but at this point of the season you will take your stolen base bump from wherever you can get it. Why the Pirates wanted an expensive not so great starter in Matt Morris, who isn’t better than the guys they already had, will remain a mystery until the end of days. Why they gave up Davis AND another guy is easy to answer: Dave Littlefield is not really such a great GM.

The San Diego Padres acquired OF Rob Mackowiak from the White Sox for right-hander Jon Link.  Then acquired third baseman Morgan Ensberg and cash from the Astros for a player to be named or cash considerations. Then they finished up by acquiring left-handed swing-man Wilfredo Ledezma and lefty Will Startup from the Braves in exchange for lefty reliever Royce Ring.

The Padres may not have acquired any big name talent but they made a grab for every cast-off that ever displayed even a modicum of talent in the majors. Mackowiak is a nice bench player who can play in the outfield and at the infield corners. Morgan Ensberg might just be the most frustrating player to ever grace a fantasy roster. Forrest Gump would say Ensberg is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. The Padres will try to make a starter of Ledezma and in Petco you never know; he might achieve a level of competence that makes him worthy of a fantasy roster.  

The New York Yankees traded one of their few competent bullpen options in right-hander Scott Proctor to the Dodgers in exchange for infielder Wilson Betemit.

Scott Proctor was abused by Joe Torre in New York but he still has some good life in that arm. He needs to be treated much more gently if the Dodgers want it to last past the end of this season. Proctor should be a solid middle reliever if you are looking to pick up such a player. Wilson Betemit will replace Miguel Cairo as the Yankees’ utility infielder and he will be a huge improvement. Betemit also serves as insurance should Alex Rodriguez decide to opt out of his contract. Betemit has had much less opportunity than you probably think to prove his worth as a major league starter. Do not sleep on him.

The Kansas City Royals acquired right-handed starter and former top prospect Kyle Davies from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for their closer, Octavio Dotel.

The Braves will make Dotel their primary right-handed set-up reliever and pray that he stays healthy because when he is, there are few relievers you would rather have. I have always liked Kyle Davies and I still believe he has serious upside. All fantasy owners should recognize that the Royals general manager, Dayton Moore, came from the Braves and knows exactly what he was getting. When you consider the players that might have been available for a top reliever Davies should become very intriguing to those in AL-only leagues. 

The Boston Red Sox acquired closer Eric Gagne from the Texas Rangers in exchange for lefty starter Kason Gabbard, outfielder David Murphy and outfielder Engel Beltre.

The Red Sox already had a great bullpen. Adding Eric Gagne to it makes it a very scary one. Gagne will get the occasional save when the Sox rest Jon Papelbon but he will be used primarily as a set-up man. Kason Gabbard is a slightly under-rated young pitcher who will go directly in to the Rangers’ rotation. David Murphy is a forth outfielder who can play center field. The intriguing player in this deal is the young but extremely talented Engel Beltre. It will be several years before the Rangers see it but Beltre is a potential stud. Add him to your minor league roster as soon as possible, that way you can claim to be a genius just like me.

You can send Jon your thoughts at JonWilliams@SportsGrumblings.com