You look at the state of baseball you have a team like Atlanta that is
built with arguably the best rotation in all of baseball. It features
recently acquired Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, Matt Morris, Mark Buerhle,
and all world phenom Josh Beckett how does this happen is anyone's
guess. There is no clear cut conscensus this year then the Atlanta Braves
they have hitting and pitching and enough money to keep their payroll.
Then there's the opposite side of the coin in the New York Mets, who
in a surprising move dealt a blow to their team and sent Al Leiter and
John Burkett and Jose Hernandez packing for Carl Crawford and a 1st and
2nd round selections from current second place team Pittsburgh in the
NL central. Baseball America rates Crawford a 7.3 out of 10 scale on
prospect. Good fielder, nice speed, won't make consistent content
will be a nice leadoff hitter, but not great. He was compared to a young
Tom Goodwin. Since that trade the Mets have spiraled to last in the
league and are threatening setting the major league record for most losses
in a 162 game season. With a 32-90 record you have got to wonder if a
regime change is underway. Undisclosed sources close to Bud Selig's
camp have indicated that Major League baseball has conducted internal
investigations on if the Mets are intentionally losing, but no word what
the conclusions are. In any case the Mets seem a lock for a nice pick
and a first overall pick. With prospects in Blaylock, Krynzel, Silvestre,
Morrisey, and Ryan Church help is on the way.

Closing Remarks:

This has been the most odd season I've seen in a long time. Unheard
of''s like Jason Lee and Nettles and street bum Shane Andrews have put
up MVP caliber season beating Barry Bonds But the stat that jumps out
at me is 18 teams are over .500 and the difference in winning
percentages. We have teams in the 23% range for winning percentage.

Around the League:

Kerry Wood has a bone spur in his right hand according to an MRI, but
the Chicago Cubs brass will let him pitch the remainder of the season
although he's currently has a 6 ERA and is winless in 8 starts.

Barry Zito and Sabathia- Have been a dismal disappointment for
Cleveland with huge contracts guaranteed they are not happy.

Freddy Garcia- Erratic throwing continues, pitching coach Larry
Rothchild of the Cubs has been giving Garcia tapes of his days with the
Mariners, but reportedly he left in a fury and broke the clubhouse door by
smashing it with his cleet.

Baseball America:

Top Pitching Prospect:
Mark Prior REDS

Top Hitting Prospect:
Hee Sop Choi CUBS

Mid Season MVPs:
If the season ended today your MVP would be a race between:

AL MVP:
Alex Rodriguez- Seattle
Jason Giambi- New York
Vladimir Guerrero-White Sox
Chipper Jones- Tampa Bay

AL CY YOUNG:
Carlos Hernandez P SEA
Greg Maddux P KC

NL MVP:
Manny Ramirez-SD
Jason Lane-PHI
Jeff Nettles-ATL
Pedro Martinez P COL

NL CY YOUNG:
Pedro Martinez-P COL
Randy Johnson-P PIT
Shawn Sedlacek- P CHC