BREAKING: NY Times reports that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz tested positive for PEDs in 2003.

Add another to the list of fallen heroes. There’s been plenty of suspicions about that 2004 Red Sox team, and this isn’t going to do anything to quiet those voices.

Is it time to revisit the Mitchell Report, which named 89 players, none of which were on the 2004 or 2007 Red Sox championship teams?  You remember the Mitchell Report, written by George Mitchell, board member of the Boston Red Sox?  I’m not claiming any intentional shenanigans on Mitchell’s part, but I think any criticisms of the report become more valid with each outed cheater from that era who didn’t appear in it.

So Ramirez and Ortiz, the latter of which we really wanted to believe wasn’t a cheater, were on the list of 103 along with Alex Rodriguez.  Ozzie Guillen was right, it’s time to get it out.  Release all the names and it’s a story for a week.  Keep protecting the cheaters and it’s a story every time another name trickles out.

This should be an exciting time in baseball, just over 24 hours from the trade deadline.  It’s time for baseball to stop shooting itself in the foot with a syringe every time positive momentum is being made.

And nice work, Big Papi. You’re just the next to stamp “liar” across your forehead in baseball history.

After weeks of speculation among national writers and fans alike that, despite all the posturing from both sides, J.P. Ricciardi and Ruben Amaro would wind up hugging it out and Roy Halladay would be heading for Philadelphia by Friday, Wednesday was a quick slap upside the head. The Phillies moved quickly to acquire reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco from the Indians for package of four minor leaguers, none of which were among the trio of players demanded by Ricciardi in the Halladay negotiations.

I don’t think this can be viewed as anything but a win for the Phillies, and especially for Amaro. In his first real pressure situation as GM, he added a Cy Young winner, filled a hole with a righthanded bench bat, and managed to hold on to his most important pieces for the future.  Any time you can turn a weakness into a strength, it’s a good deal.  Now, with Pedro Martinez set to make his Phillies debut sometime in the next two weeks, the champs are in the unfamiliar position of having too many starters.  With the workhorse he’s been asking for finally in tow, I doubt Charlie Manual is losing sleep over that problem.  For the Indians, they did the right thing by getting the best package they could for Lee now before losing value by not moving him, or losing him altogether after next year. GM Mark Shapiro learned the lesson the Twins discovered the hard way in the Johan Santana deal, a lesson that Ricciardi seems to be determined to ignore. With the Dodgers apparently out on Halladay, this deal makes the Phillies the favorite to come out of the NL again.

From the GTFO Department: The Phillies have an $9 million option for Lee for 2010. In February, the Phillies paid Adam Eaton $8 million dollars to go far, far away. Amazing, but in either case, money well spent.

- I’m glad to see Bud Selig is continuing to resist reinstating Pete Rose for admission to the Hall of Fame, despite reports that Selig was reconsidering. I’m sorry, Rose was a great player, but exactly what part of what got Rose banned from baseball for life has become less illegal over the last twenty years? Hank Aaron and Joe Morgan have spoken out on Rose’s behalf, and while I know Selig holds Aaron in the highest regard, there’s a reason guys like Aaron and Morgan don’t vote on HOF admission. If writers can be slammed for a lack of objectivity when it comes to things like this, then other players sure as hell could too. Steroids were illegal too (albeit not tested for), and I think it’s telling that far more guys were willing to break the law of the land than the cardinal rule of the game. Inducting Rose into the Hall isn’t going to change how he’s remembered, and the rules are bigger than any one man, no matter how many hits he’s tallied.

- Josh Willingham of the Nationals hit two grand slams in Washington’s 14-6 win over Milwaukee. He’s the first to knock two slams since Bill Mueller did it almost six years ago to the day for the Red Sox, and the first in the National League since Fernando Tatis hit two in the same inning of Chan Ho Park in 1999. The fact that Park was still in the game when Tatis came up the second time remains the record for “Stupidest God-damned Thing I’ve Ever Heard.”

- In trade deadline news, Ryan Garko goes from Cleveland to San Francisco, while Brian Anderson changes footwear, going from the White Sox to the Red Sox for Mark Kotsay and a sack of money with a dollar sign on it. The Pirates, meanwhile, remain determined to trade any player in their clubhouse you may have heard of before.

- Two deadline related sentences without mentioning Roy Halladay? Suck on that! What’s that? Boston’s jumped in and made an offer centered around Clay Buchholz? Where, oh where, have I heard that before? ANALYSIS, BITCHES!!!

A quick commentary on the weekend that was in wild speculation and rumor-mongering:

J.P. Ricciardi may be delusional. The Blue Jays general manager continues to say that he would be perfectly comfortable not trading Roy Halladay before his self-imposed Tuesday deadline or the actual trading deadline on Friday. While any GM worth his salt would keep up this front in order to keep the Halladay’s value in the market high, I’m starting to think he means it. It’s unusual that a talent as rare as Halladay, a perennial Cy Young contender who could write complete games into his day planner, ever reaches the trade market to begin with. What’s even more unusual is that it has been the contenders and not the Jays who have been rejecting every rumored deal to come to light thus far.

News flash to J.P. Ricciardi: the rest of the major league clubs live in a world where the Johan Santana and Erik Bedard trades have happened.

Carlos Gomez has been the most productive member of the Twins' return in the Johan Santana deal - and that's not saying much. (.236 Avg., 2 HR, 21 RBI, 33 R, 8 SB)

Look, the Jays are going to get a good haul for Halladay if they make the deal. They’ve received one good offer from the Phillies already, and are holding out for more. I understand that, it’s good poker. But Ricciardi does himself no favors by holding onto Halladay past Friday. Chances are someone’s coming to come through with a better offer than there has been so far, but teams are not going to make the same mistake Seattle did. In this economy, cheap, talented prospects are worth their weight in gold, and while the Jays can send Doc off for some shiny new baubles, no one’s going to hand Ricciardi the keys to Fort Knox. And while it’s not going to be easy to be the bad guy and trade away the face of the organization, Ricciardi needs to maximize what’s left of his leverage and start building this team into a competitor. Fourth place finishes every year won’t save his job, no matter how tough the AL East may be, but if you’re not Theo Epstein or Brian Cashman, filling holes with 3 or 4 pieces of good young talent is pretty much the only way to go.

“This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”

If he wasn’t one of the best players to ever step onto the field, Rickey Henderson would still be remembered as one of the most entertaining characters in baseball history for lines like the one above, which he allegedly left as a message for Padres GM Kevin Towers while looking for a team in the twilight of his career. And while there’s no shortage of great Rickey stories floating around the internet, on Sunday Henderson will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for what he did between the lines on the field. And unlike so many other players who fade into the history of the game, what Rickey did between those lines was so uniquely amazing that they’ve become even more impressive with time.

After the jump, I’ll look at some of Henderson’s achievements in the context of today’s game. Hot damn, this guy was good.

With 47 steals through 97 games entering Saturday, Carl Crawford of the Rays is on pace to lead the majors in stolen bases with 78, a mark reached once by Jose Reyes, in 2007. Aside from Reyes, only Scott Podsednik with the Brewers in 2004 has even reached 70 steals in a season in this decade. Over his 25 seasons, Rickey Henderson topped 70 steals a staggering seven times, and led the league a record 12 times. He stole an incredible 130 bases in 149 games in 1982, and followed up by stealing 108 more in ’83. In 1985 he scored 146 runs in 143 games, the first to score more runs than games played since Lou Gehrig. Even with the explosion in offense during the Steroids Era, no player has topped Rickey’s 146 run season since. He retired with career records for steals, runs, walks, and leadoff homers. His stats page is quite literally a sight to behold.

Statistically speaking, you would be hard-pressed to find a more interesting career than that of Rickey Henderson. Looking at his career as a whole, Henderson amassed an unmatched volume of numbers, punctuated by individual figures that jump out and grab your attention.  Along with the aforementioned 130 steal and 146 run seasons, his 1989 season, split between the Yankees and A’s, led the AL in runs, steals, and walks.  In his 1990 MVP season he led the league in runs, steals, on-base percentage and OPS.  My personal favorite Henderson season is 1998, where he played in 152 games, leading the AL in walks and stealing 66 bases.  This is the part where I mention he was 39 years old.  As a point of comparison, Ken Griffey Jr. is now 39 years old.  Go ahead, feel old, I’ll give you a minute… While Griffey’s career was derailed by injuries throughout his thirties, Henderson was in the lineup and producing at a high level into his forties.

Henderson’s legacy in the game is set in stone.  He’s the measuring stick for every leadoff hitter who will ever dig into the batter’s box. He hit for average and a surprising amount of pop, he stole bases like no one before or since, and he knew the strike zone better than anyone. One last amazing stat: between 1980 and 2000, Henderson never struck out more than he walked. Young James, please take notes.

After taking off a big league uniform for the final time, he played for Newark of the Atlantic League and San Diego of the Golden Baseball League, because like he told Kevin Towers, Rickey wanted to play baseball.  If you asked him today, he’d tell you he could steal 50 bases.  There’s plenty of goofballs in sports who love them some them, but it’s rare that you see a guy show such a personality without ever putting himself above the game.

Congrats, Rickey. I can’t wait to hear Rickey’s speech about Rickey’s career. I’m sure Rickey will make Rickey proud.

Roy Halladay is the cream of the likely-to-move crop, and while a number of teams have shown interest, Philadelphia has been and still is the most likely landing spot. The Cardinals have been thrown around, but after the Holliday deal it’s unlikely they’ve got the chips to satisfy Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, who’s asking for the moon, sun, and constellations to be named later. The Brewers might have the prospects to get the deal done, but after trading top prospect Matt LaPorta in the Sabathia deal last year, I have a hard time believing they’d be willing to strip their farm system again. And while they’d be getting another season of Halladay, Milwaukee couldn’t come up with the cash to keep Sabathia, so if you can figure out how they’d be able to keep Doc in the fold, be sure to contact Doug Melvin ASAP.

The Dodgers have expressed interest as well, but Toronto will be asking for a package starting with some combination of Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, and Matt Kemp. LA is in the enviable position of having so much of its young talent producing at the big league level, but trading away such important parts of their big league roster just leaves another hole to fill. With a sizable division lead, and a relatively healthy squad, the guess here is that LA takes their chances with a lesser acquisition, a second-tier starter or another arm in the bullpen.

Ricciardi has expressed some reluctance to trade Halladay at all. That goes double for the teams in the AL East. Let’s face it: the Yankees and Sox aren’t trading for a year and a half of Halladay. They’re driving the Brinks truck right through his living room wall and making the Jays’ lives a living hell for the rest of Doc’s career. It’s going to take a mother lode for one of those teams to make it happen.

That said, look out for Boston.

The past few weeks have been rough on the Sox, as Jason Bay’s bat has turned to sawdust along with their division lead. The top of their order is struggling. And the Sox’ personal whipping boys from the Bronx have just slipped by them for first place in the East. Why, then, did Theo Epstein trade for Adam LaRoche and Chris Duncan instead of pursuing Victor Martinez in exchange for Clay Buchholz? Boston has been rumored to move Brad Penny for weeks, and John Smoltz isn’t himself yet, but they’re not hurting for pitching depth, and the young Buchholz is big-time trade bait.

The holdup to a Jays-Phillies deal has been the Phils’ unwillingness to include Kyle Drabek, the young, potential top of the rotation arm Ricciardi wants. Buccholz only turns 25 next month, and he’s got a big league no-hitter under his belt. This is the type of guy a Halladay deal could be built on. It was only last Sunday that Halladay turned in a complete game, one-run performance against the Sox. It would take a lot to make it happen, but if it does, there’s not a team on this planet getting through a Halladay-Beckett-Lester rotation in a playoff series. I’m thinking Epstein is well aware of that.

If Boston doesn’t jump in, it’s Philly or bust for Halladay. While Ricciardi is clearly going to play his hand strong, looking for Drabek, along with J.A. Happ and other top Phillies farmhands, I think Ruben Amaro will be able to keep one of those young pitchers in the fold and still get the deal done. Toronto needs to move salary, and any GM taking Vernon Wells or Alex Rios off the Jays’ books had better have his resume up to date. Halladay is the biggest chip they’ve got, and he’s worth less to them over the winter than he is now or will be in a year. No matter what he gets in return, if he makes this deal, Ricciardi won’t be popular in Toronto. But being popular isn’t his job. His job is to make the Jays a contender, and the quickest way of doing that is to get the best package he can, and to do it by this time next week.

(Make it happen, Rube!)

UPDATE: The NY Post (yeah, I know), citing MLB XM and MLB Network, is saying Halladay to the Phils could be done within 24 hours. (NY Post via The700Level)

Let’s be honest, for diehard baseball fans, a slow trade deadline is a huge letdown. Every year, the rumor mill begins churning weeks in advance, so much so that the buildup often exceeds the payoff. Last year was a notable exception; while CC Sabathia moved to the Brewers early in July, the circus that was the Manny Ramirez deal gave us a lot to talk about on that final afternoon. Even more painful are the homer gymnastics we as fans do to convince ourselves an unexciting pickups like Jeff Suppan or Kip Wells is the missing piece that’s going to put our team over the top this year. The Red Sox got the jump on the snoozer deals yesterday, bringing in Chris Duncan and the whiny LaRoche brother.

Well, with a week to go before the deadline, the first big name is on the move, as the Cardinals have acquired Matt Holliday from the A’s for a package headlined by slugging corner infield prospect Brett Wallace. Wallace is a top-flight prospect, but he projects as a first baseman. Yeah, sorry Brett, the Cards are all set with that.

As a Phillies fan, I’m not exactly thrilled with my team starting a weekend series with St. Louis right now, as Holliday should fit in quite nicely behind Albert Pujols, making it really, really tough to pitch around Pujols for three straight days. Holliday appears to have gotten hot at just the right time. As recently as a few weeks ago Oakland was said to have been unimpressed with the interest in Holliday due to his struggles to produce in the A’s lineup. Back in the NL, and back in a better lineup, a suddenly hot Holliday puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the Brewers, Cubs, and fast-charging Astros to improve and keep pace. Pirates, you can just relax. Just enjoy Lastings Milledge, seriously.

While I’m thinking this takes St. Louis out of the Roy Halladay sweepstakes, it makes this team awfully dangerous going forward.  Even without Holliday, Pujols was doing just fine with everyone trying to avoid him, and Ryan Ludwick is hitting just under .400 for the month of July with an OPS over 1.100. Yikes. Boy, Ruben Amaro, it sure would be nice to have a power righty ace to handle these three power righty bats come playoff time, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it, Rube? MAKE THE GODDAMN DEAL, RUBE!

I’m a Phillies fan at heart, but I love watching, following and talking baseball no matter who’s on the tube.  So expect a liberal helping of Phils-related posts, lots of other MLB talk, and if something especially awesome happens I’ll talk about that too.  I’ll also try to add links and other fun stuff as I figure out how the hell to do it.  Chances are I’ll use some bad language too, because I don’t want to be confused with a responsible member of the media.

Bookmark the page if you like what I’m putting out there, link to it if you want to be a pal, and let me know what you think in the comments. And seriously, put some pants on.