Here’s what else is being discussed as we creep closer to the trading deadline:

• The Yankees are scouting the Giant’s Randy Winn and are looking at possibly acquiring Adam Dunn or Jarrod Washburn;
• The Orioles are shopping closer George Sherrill;

As I follow up on my prior posting, the Pirates pulled Xavier Nady from their lineup in the first inning.  He does not have any reported injuries, so it looks like the deal with the Yankess is a go.

Surprise: the Yankees are rumored to be buyers before Thursday’s trade deadline.  According to Fox’s Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees are on the verge of acquiring Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte for four minor leaguers.  No surprise that the Pirates are trying to move veterans, but do the Yankees have good prospects to give up?

A deal involving Nady has been in the works, but the Bucs have been asking a hefty price for him.

Supposedly, the Yankees are dealing Class AAA right-hander Ross Ohlendorf, Class AA right-handers Phil Coke and George Kontos and Class AA outfielder Jose Tabata  in the deal.

According to multiple reports, the Pittsburgh Pirates have traded Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the New York Yankees for Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf,  Phil Coke and George Kontos.

More details to come I’m sure!

…To make room on their roster for a returning Lastings Milledge, the Washington Nationals have designated catcher Johnny Estrada for assignment. Estrada has already said he wont go to the minors, and will head home to Atlanta.

“Mentally, I’m ready to go home. It has been a grind for me all year. I’ve been hurt. This is the first time, I’ve been hurt,” Estrada said.

It’s always interesting to see career arcs like this, from the top catcher in Atlanta to a Washington Nationals cast off in a matter of a couple years.

…Come Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown New York, Rich “Goose” Gossage will be only the fifth reliever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“It’s totally overwhelming,” Gossage says. “It’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me outside the birth of my three boys.

“My goal is to beat (Bill) Mazeroski. His speech lasted 2 minutes and 15 seconds. I’ll get through this, somehow.”

It was also 25 years ago yesterday that Goose was involved in the now famous “Pine Tar Incident” - that also involved George Brett. Gossage was on the mound when Brett hit his home run only to have Yankees manager Billy Martin come out and challenge the dinger, saying that Brett had to much pine tar on his bat. And the rest, as they say is history..

…The Seattle Mariners have gone home so to speak. For the last six years Mariners radio broadcasts could be heard in KOMO radio. Now they’re going back to their roots and returning to KIRO radio where they had been for 18 years.

“KIRO was our flagship station for 18 years, and we are looking forward to renewing our ties with one of the great stations and broadcast ownership groups in the nation,” Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said. “It feels like we are going home.”

The deal still needs to be approved by Major League Baseball. It’s a three year deal that will take KIRO and the Mariners through the 2011 season.

…As well all know that instant replay is still being kicked around by Major League Baseball. Yesterday on “MLB on Deck” Umpire Tim McCelland gave his two cents on instant replay.

“I am not totally opposed to it. I as a fan I really enjoy the controversy that is part of baseball as an umpire I don’t mind the controversy that is part of baseball but it’s kind of tough when we are the only 4 guy’s on the field that haven’t had access to instant replay.

All the teams can run up in the locker room and see it the fans in the stands have access to TV’s or monitors where they can see replay and obviously and people at home have access to replay. So we seem to be the only 4 guys who don’t have it. So I don’t mind I don’t want to take a homerun I don’t want to make a bad call or an incorrect call I should say my job is to get all the calls right and I certainly I don’t do it all the time but I certainly try hard and I don’t want to miss a call I don’t want to take a home run away from somebody.

So maybe with instant replay some of those tough calls the problem is the stadiums now are so fan friendly and it makes it really, really tough for umpires. Most of the time it’s not an incorrectly call it’s just because we don’t see where the ball hit’s because of fan’s interference or a nook or a cranny or a wall or a scoreboard being light up because of the glare coming off it.

I don’t want to make any excuses for us but that’s just part of what baseball has become today they want to make it as fan friendly as possible and it’s not always umpire friendly.”

…Someone needs to buy Jimmy Rollins a watch, with an alarm - so you know, he can get to the ballpark on time. This isn’t the first time this has happened, not to mention being pulled from a game after failing to run out a fly ball. And the thing is, Rollins doesn’t get it or at least it comes off that way with this question and answer from Rich Hoffman of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Question: “Do you feel like you let the team down at all, in any way?”

Rollins: “No, no, not really. I mean, I regret that we lost but, like I said, Eric [Bruntlett, his replacement], two doubles and a single, I know my numbers off of [Mets starter] Oliver Perez, so he actually picked it up.”

Talk about missing the point . . .

Missing the point indeed.

Former Notre Dame wide receiver and 2006 5th round draft pick Jeff Samardzija was recalled from Triple-A Iowa today to take the roster spot of reliever Kerry Wood (placed on the DL Thursday).

Most people know Samardzija as the two sport star who decided to forego the NFL Draft after a successful career in South Bend as an undergraduate. His name is also a mouthful!

Jeff will be available to make his major league debut this afternoon against the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field.

The 23-year-old Samardzija joins the Cubs after going 4-1 with a 3.13 ERA (13 ER/37.1 IP) in six appearances with Iowa, the lone six outings higher than Double-A in his professional career.  With Iowa, Samardzija struck out 40 batters in 37.1 innings, an average of 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings, and limited opponents to a .241 batting average. 

Samardzija is the first member of Chicago’s 2006 Draft class to reach the big leagues.

The players to watch and what to watch for this weekend:

Bill Hall, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Houston Astros (7/25-7/27)

With a 10th inning home run and a ninth inning home run to put the Brewers ahead and eventually win on Monday and Tuesday against the Cardinals, third baseman Bill Hall took two more steps toward getting out of manager Ned Yost’s doghouse.  Hall has been in and around there since he whined about a loss of playing time to Russell Branyan and even asked to be traded.  Now, the Brewers head into their weekend series with the Astros just one game behind the Chicago Cubs and look to close the gap and head back home for their four-game series with the Cubs next week.  Hall is hot, too.  Since July 4, he is 17-for-50 in 14 games with four homers and 13 RBI.  In those 14 games, the team is 11-3 and 2-1 in the three games he sat out.  The Brewers are on a seven-game winning streak and face a struggling Astros team who masqueraded as a playoff contender when they acquired Randy Wolf who is scheduled to start on Sunday.  Will Hall finish the week with the heroics he started it with or revert back to the guy who has hit just .231 this season?

Melvin Mora, Baltimore Orioles vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (7/25-7/27)

At 48-53 and in last place in the American League East, the Baltimore Orioles might decide to be sellers at the break.  One player on the team more than anyone else that increased their trade value since the All-Star break, it’s Melvin Mora.  Since the break, while the team has slumped, Mora has gone 15-for-30 with four home runs and 15 RBI in eight games.  Mora went into the All-Star break hitting just .234 but is now hitting .256 and is now on pace to hit 20 home runs for the first time since 2005.  If the Orioles fail to win another series at home — they have not won a series at Camden Yards since they swept the Astros on June 17-19 — the Orioles might shop Mora to one of the teams in the market for a third baseman.  If history is any indication — the Orioles have not beaten the Angels in a series since they took three out of four on April 14-17, 2006 — this weekend’s series could be a showcase for Mora’s talents.

Brian Giles, San Diego Padres at Pittsburgh Pirates (7/24-7/27)

It has been nearly five years since the Pirates sent outfielder Brian Giles to the Padres.  Since then, Giles and the Padres have made two postseason appearances and nearly a third last season but the 37-year-old outfielder still has fond memories of his old team.  He should also have fond memories of PNC Park where he is third on the All-Time Home Run list with 45 behind Jack Wilson (47) and Jason Bay (54) who was one of the players Giles was traded for.  The Padres dropped the first game of the series on Thursday and Giles went 1-for-4.  In his 10 games at PNC since leaving Pittsburgh, Giles is 11-for-35 (.314) with two homers and six RBI.  Coincidentally, both sides of the trade — Giles and Bay — are often rumored as possible players that could be on other teams when the dust settles after the Trade Deadline on August 1.  While he waits to find out if he stays or goes, Giles will enjoy his yearly return to Pittsburgh, especially since he missed last year’s trip due to injury.

Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves (7/25-7/27)

For the first time since May, the Phillies are not in first place and team leader Jimmy Rollins is on the negative side of the team’s news.  Last season, Rollins provided a spark to the team that capitalized on the collapse of the New York Mets in September and was awarded the MVP.  On Thursday, Rollins showed up an hour late for a crucial rubber match at Shea with their division rivals and was planted on the bench by manager Charlie Manuel eager to snap his team back into a contender.  Rollins pinch hit in the ninth and grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game and drop the Phillies to second place.  Rollins also lost a 10-game hitting streak.  Since the team scored 20 for the second time this season on June 13, the Phillies have gone 13-20 and blown a four game division lead.  During that stretch, Rollins has hit just .257 with 13 RBI and 14 runs scored in 33 games.  While he disagreed with the benching, it’s now time for Rollins to put that aside and step up and earn those chants of “M-V-P” he received throughout the second half of 2007.

Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox (Friday, 7/25)

Yankees phenom Joba Chamberlain got the first Fenway Park win of his career out of his way in his only relief appearance in Boston on September 16, 2007.  The Yankees bailed him out in his first start against the Red Sox earlier this month at Yankee Stadium when he left trailing 3-1 but the team bounced back and won 5-4 in 10 innings.  Now, Chamberlain makes his first start at Fenway as the red-hot Yankees chase the Red Sox and Rays for the American League East and the Wild Card spot.  Chamberlain is just 1-1 in nine starts but owns a 2.64 ERA and the team is 6-3 when he starts.  His only win and loss as a starter have come on the road and the 22-year-old has made three consecutive quality starts.  With the recent “Papelbum” fiasco at this year’s All-Star Game escalating the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, Chamberlain will hear the boos a little louder than normal from Red Sox Nation.  While the booing will probably have little effect on the young pitcher, the return of David Ortiz to the lineup after a 47-game absence should not be something to look forward to — even if “Big Papi” is 0-for-3 lifetime against the righty.

Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins (Saturday, 7/26)

When Fausto Carmona went down on May 23 with a left hip strain, the Indians dropped their seventh in a row to fall to 22-26 and 4 1/2 games out in the American League Central.  Since May 23, the team is 22-30 and dropped to fourth place in the Central, 13 games out of the race.  The team also basically sent the message to the team and the fans that this season was over by sending 2007 Cy Young winner CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for prospects.  On Saturday, Carmona returns to help Cleveland play the role of spoiler as they square off with the Minnesota Twins who are surprisingly in the thick of the race for the Central division.  When he went out with the injury, Carmona was 4-2 with a 3.10 ERA and last year, Carmona was 11-4 with a 2.35 ERA after July 1.  With Cliff Lee on the mound Friday and Carmona’s return slated for Saturday, the Twins have their work cut out for them to pick up some ground on the division-leading Chicago White Sox.

Kyle Lohse, Saint Louis Cardinals at New York Mets (Sunday, 7/27)

As a member of the Philadelphia Phillies last year, Kyle Lohse started twice against the Mets down the stretch.  Although he failed to pitch well, the Phillies pulled out both games.  In 2008, as a Cardinal, Lohse has already had one crack against the Mets and pitch seven strong innings and gave up just one unearned run en route to his 10th win of the season.  Now 12-2, Lohse squares off against former teammate and Mets’ ace Johan Santana who has pitched very well although his 8-7 record does not reflect his success.  In his last 12 starts, Lohse is 9-0 with a 2.34 ERA and has not lost since May 8 at Colorado.  While it is still only July, this game has serious playoff implications for both teams with Santana’s Mets looking to overcome last year’s September demons and Lohse’s Cardinals looking to overcome a pile of injuries and their recent dismantling by CC Sabathia’s Brewers.

Brad Ziegler, Oakland Athletics vs. Texas Rangers (7/25-7/27)

When 28-year-old reliever Brad Ziegler made his Major League debut on May 31 against the Texas Rangers, it is doubtful anyone thought he would have a shot to break a record that has withstood for over 100 years.  In 21 games this season, Ziegler has pitched 23 2/3 scoreless innings which broke an American League record set by Boston’s Boo Ferriss who pitched 22 scoreless innings to start off his career in 1945.  Ziegler’s streak is just 1 1/3 innings short of the Major League record owned by George McQuillan who started off his career with 25 scoreless innings as a rookie with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1907.  McQuillan finished that rookie season 4-0 with a 0.66 ERA in six games (five starts) and went on to a 10-year Major League career.  Now, Ziegler will chase history against the highest scoring offense in baseball.  Oddly enough, Rangers’ players are batting 1.000 against the rookie — Ziegler gave up a single to Ian Kinsler in his first appearance then picked him off to end the inning.

Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs vs. Florida Marlins (7/25-7/27)

Closer Kerry Wood went on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday and most beat writers are running with the story that 23-year-old Jeff Samardzija will replace Wood on the roster.  One news outlet ran an article which speculated that the Cubs might bump Rich Harden’s next start to Sunday and the former Notre Dame superstar wide receiver Samardzija would slide into the rotation.  The last time a Notre Dame guy made this much news during a Chicago Cubs-Florida Marlins series at Wrigley Field, most Cubs’ fans weren’t happy.  If you don’t believe me, you mention Steve Bartman — also a former Notre Dame alumnus — to any fan of the Cubs and let me know if it incites anger or tears or both.  Hopefully for the Cubs, Samardzija has a different impact on this weekend’s series with the Marlins… if he’s the one to replace Wood on the 25-man roster.

The White Sox are still in first place. Hello, where was I?

What gets me is the way they’re doing it. Sure, Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome are putting up big numbers — no shock there (although maybe Dye is a mild surprise given his performance last year at age 33) — but Paul Konerko and Nick Swisher have been missing in action. Swisher has been passable, but certainly not what anyone expected, while Konerko is hitting like Orlando Cabrera less the batting average.

Where Swisher has faltered, another off-season acquisition, left fielder Carlos Quentin, has emerged. Through Thursday’s game he’s hitting .279/.380/.550 and pacing the club with 26 homers. Oh, by the way, Quentin doesn’t turn 26 until the end of August. It’s a good thing Arizona got rid of him. Well, it’s good for me, but I’m a Padres fan.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, have you noticed how good the White Sox pitching staff has been? Despite a down year in 2006, Mark Buehrle refuses to go the way of Steve Avery and let heavy workloads at a tender age come back to haunt him. (Have people forgotten about Avery? Very well, use Barry Zito instead.) John Danks is blossoming in his second full season, and the bullpen has been ridiculous. Bobby Jenks? Of course. Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink? Those absolutely didn’t look like good signings at the time, but it’s hard to argue with the results.

The question now with the White Sox is whether they can hold off Minnesota and the surging Tigers for the final 2+ months. I don’t know how the Twins are staying in the race — a two-man lineup and a stud closer hardly seems like a strategy for success to me. Over in the other corner, Detroit’s offense can turn it on at any moment, but they’ve basically got two reliable pitchers and one of them is Armando Galarraga, who didn’t fit anyone’s definition of “reliable” before the season started.

Bottom line? The White Sox pretty clearly are the class of the AL Central. Despite my earlier doubts, I’m liking their chances.

Thursday night’s Peoria Chiefs-Dayton Dragons game turned ugly when a brawl broke out in the first inning after tensions rose after three hit batsmen, a dirty take-out slide at second, a brush-back pitch and an argument between Dayton manager Donnie Scott and Peoria interim manager Carmelo Martinez who was covering for manager Ryne Sandberg, absent due to weekend commitments to the Hall of Fame.  Video of the incident can be found on ESPN here.

The argument turned physical when Martinez shoved Scott and a brawl lasting 10 minutes ensued.  During the brawl, Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo threw a ball toward the Dayton dugout which soared into the crowd and hit a fan who had to be taken to the hospital.  15 players and both managers were ejected but both teams protested by phone and after an hour delay, league President George Spelius reversed the ejections because the parent teams — the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs — raised concerns of being forced to use pitchers as outfielders.

Later, Castillo was arrested and charged with assault for the baseball throwing incident.  According to witnesses the ball was thrown so hard by Castillo that it ricocheted off the fan and landed five rows behind him.

On an editorial note, the fact that the League President caved in to team pressure and allowed the ejected players to return to the game is disappointing — especially after personally viewing the incident.  Hopefully, there will be swift and harsh punishment handed down on all of the parties involved.  A lengthy suspension for both managers should be expected since their behavior sparked the vicious brawl.  What is more disturbing is home video footage floating around on YouTube which you can hear audio reaction of the fans who cheer emphatically over the out-of-control brawl.  

To view the FOX-45 Dayton news story recapping the incident, check it out here.

- A.J. Burnett allowed just one run over 5 innings while striking out 7, and Lyle Overbay singled, doubled, walked and drove in a run to lead the Blue Jays to 5-1 win over the Orioles in the completion of Wednesday’s rain suspended game.

- Oliver Perez struck out 12 and gave up just one run over 7 1/3 superb innings, and Carlos Delgado broke a 1-1 tie with a 2-run double in the bottom of the 8th inning as the Mets defeated the Phillies, 3-1. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley fanned 3 times apiece against Perez. Jamie Moyer was brilliant in his own right, tossing 7 innings of 2-hit ball in a no-decision for Philadelphia.

- Adam Lind and Marco Scutaro each went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored, and Roy Halladay was up to his old tricks, holding Baltimore to just one run over 7 innings, as the Blue Jays shot down the Orioles, 7-1, in Thursday’s regularly scheduled game.

- Matt Cain pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout, and Dave Roberts singled twice and drove in the game’s only run in the last of the 8th inning as the Giants blanked the Nationals, 1-0. Tim Redding surrendered just one run in 8 innings for Washington in defeat.

- Yoslan Herrera tossed 6 scoreless innings, Xavier Nady and Jason Bay hit back-to-back home runs, and Nate McLouth added a homer and drove in 3 as the Pirates dominated the Padres once again, 9-1.

- Carlos Zambrano pitched 7 solid innings to run his record to 11-4, and Aramis Ramirez led the offense with 2 hits and 2 RBI as the Cubs doubled up the Marlins, 6-3. Jorge Cantu went 3-for-3 with a walk for Florida.

- Gil Meche was on his game for Kansas City, shutting out Tampa Bay for 7 innings, David DeJesus reached base 3 times, and John Buck smacked a 2-run double as the Royals knocked off the slumping Rays, 4-2.

- J.J. Hardy went 3-for-5, Prince Fielder reached base 4 times, and Ryan Braun went 4-for-4 with a 2-run 9th inning home run that sent the Brewers to a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals. Milwaukee got another impressive performance from starter Ben Sheets who allowed just 2 earned run on 4 hits in 7 innings of work.

Thursday’s Scoreboard

Friday’s Probable Pitchers

**Note - Due to inefficient code, we have changed the scoreboard to what you see above. Click through for full boxscores and play-by-play courtesy of MLB.

BDD’s daily recaps are provided by founder and managing editor Joe Hamrahi. Joe’s a CPA, a financial executive, a baseball analyst, and a proponent of using all available information (read stats and scouts!) in order to make better baseball decisions! Joe can be reached at jhamrahi@baseballdigestdaily.com.