The trade deadline is one of the most exciting times in all of sports, particularly baseball. Players don’t move in other sports as they do in baseball. Sure in basketball you have real blockbuster deals in the offseason, but in baseball, you get tons of trades to talk about: good and bad. You’ll be at the bar with your buddies; a bit inebriated and that is the time you choose to share your wealth of baseball knowledge and trades that were done. You’ll most likely start off with, “Remember that time when (insert player name here) got traded to (insert team here). Man that trade blew chunks.” Or something along those lines. Well here’s some more potential bar conversation:

• The Yankees are calling around and asking if anyone wants Johnny Damon off their hands. Shouldn’t it work the other way around? Aren’t teams supposed to ask you for your players? The Yankees have exposed their hand on Damon and now no team is going to bite unless the Yanks absorb a heckuva lot of Damon’s salary. Dan Graziano of the New Jersey Star-Ledger says that the Yankees called a few teams including the Braves, since Andruw Jones is most likely leaving after the season is over. The Braves like Damon, “but not at that price”. With Damon’s noodle arm, I think he’ll be better off in left field, with Francoeur in center and maybe Harris in right if the Braves keep Willy.

• The Nationals are close to signing Dmitri Young to a contract extension. Bill Ladson of MLB.com has the story. It looks as though the Nationals think highly of Belliard and Young. They could be right…or wrong.

• George King of the New York Post says that the Tigers are trying to bring Kyle Farnsworth back. I saw somewhere that Atlanta had interest in Farnsworth as well, but I doubted that since John Schuerholz tends to hold a grudge against players who disrespect the franchise, namely Kenny Lofton and Kyle Farnsworth. I posted a few weeks back it’s unlikely that the Braves would trade for him simply because he left for the Yankees and said that the Yankees were better off.

• Nick Cafardo and Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe say that the Red Sox are interested in Ty Wigginton. The Devil Rays slugger is a cheaper alternative for cash-strapped clubs or teams not wanting to give up loads of prospects that would disrupt their plans. They also said that the Sox are interested in Mark Teixeira, but the Rangers want a lot of prospects. That’s where the Braves come in. The biggest rumor right now is the Braves interest in Teixeira and possibly Eric Gagne. If that happens, they could probably move Wickman, let Gagne leave via free agency and get the draft picks. If Andruw Jones leaves, they’ll also get draft picks, plus have Teixeira for a year and a half and draft picks for him in 2009.

I am tired. I love the trade deadline