Baseball's silly season has begun

With baseball's trade deadline now less than 2 weeks away, teams are making deals either to enhance their chances for the post-season, or, if you're, say for example, the Chicago White Sox, building for the future.

Last week, the ChiSox sent pitcher Jose Quintana across town to the World Champion Cubs, and paid immediate dividends in his first start. Tuesday, the White Sox made another deal, sending closer David Robertson back to the Yankees, along with relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle and infielder Todd Frazier, for Tyler Clippard and some minor leaguers. Thus, Clippard ends his 3rd tour of duty in New York (2 with the Yanks, 1 with the Mets), while Robertson begins his 2nd go-round with the Yankees. Kahnle was, as memory serves, drafted by the Yankees, then shipped to Colorado a ways back, so he too comes home.

In a way, the trade is also a homecoming for Frazier, the 2015 Home Run Derby champ. As a youth, the New Jersey native led his team to a Little League World Series title. A 3rd baseman by trade, Frazier will likely move to 1st base, with Chase Headley the starter at 3rd, while the Yanks wait for Greg Bird to finally be healthy enough to play.

Kahnle, like Colorado's Jeff Hoffman, has local ties as he's a graduate of Shaker High in Latham.

That should kill the online rumors that had the Yankees eyeing the Mets' Lucas Duda, but that doesn't mean that the Mets won't still shop Duda, as it's more likely that they won't make the post-season this year. The usual wags are suggesting that veterans like Curtis Granderson, Addison Reed, and Jay Bruce, all in their walk years, could be moved. Bear in mind, too, that the Mets acquired Bruce at the deadline last year. To trade away the veteran leaders, however, would send a sign to the fan base that the Mets are giving up on the season. A lot can still happen in the final 2 1/2 months of the season to overcome the injury plague that keeps haunting the Amazin's. Just sayin'.

Meanwhile, former Tri-City Valleycat J. D. Martinez, who became a big star in Detroit, was sent to Arizona for some prospects. Why Houston gave up on Martinez, I'll never know, but now he's got a new sandbox to play in, now that he's in the National League, joining infielders Paul Goldschmidt & Jake Lamb to create a potent middle of the order that could reignite the Diamondbacks' offense in the stretch run as they attempt to chase down the Dodgers.