The trades actually happened two days ago but they just weren’t big enough to report at the time. The Cincinnati Reds have been busy this week, shipping light-hitting speedster Willy Taveras to Oakland and signing Orlando Cabrera. Am I missing something, Billy Beane? Did Mr. Moneyball and the Athletics really just acquire a guy with a .321 career on-base percentage and more stolen bases than walks or RBI? Curious.

In a sneaky deal, the Colorado Rockies picked up utility man Melvin Mora off the scrap heap. Mora’s essentially finished but Coors Field can mask decline, as Vinny Castilla so beautifully showed us. Mora does have three 20-plus homer seasons and may enjoy a minor rebirth in Denver.