Monday’s trade deadline passed with a few interesting moves but really very little to talk about. Big name players like Miguel Tejada, Alfonso Soriano, and Barry Zito are still with the teams they began the season with.

Teams desperately seeking starting pitching chose to take their chances with what they have. Teams looking to steal impact offensive players chose not to pay the steep prices sought.

The Yankees made moves reminiscent of the Yankees of the early 90’s when they were known to take on overrated or overpaid veterans and give up young players. Bobby Abreu seems to have aged dramatically since the All-Star break a year ago. His numbers have severely slumped and his salary is still severely inflated. Cory Lidle can best be classified as a serviceable arm with his 4.74 earned run average and 8-7 record. They picked up Craig Wilson also who is just good enough to be talked about this time each year since he is an available piece that can fill a void left by injury.

The Mets must be riding high after their dominating sweep of Atlanta because they backed off several deals to pick-up a legitimate starter. The team is loaded on offense and has one of the top bullpens in the majors. Starting pitching can be a little overrated, especially when you have a double digit lead in your division. Teams often shrink the starting rotation to three in the play-offs anyway. That leaves a rotation of Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, and Steve Trachsel….uhh wait, Orlando Hernandez…ummm, well, hmmm. I know! Mike Pelfrey! Okay, maybe not. For a team willing to spend a few bucks and a very real chance to win a world series, not picking up a legit starter could prove costly.

Well, at least the New York media gets a lot to work with. This should be a fun off-season in New York while another AL Central teams celebrates a World Series title.

Speaking of that AL Central, division leader Detroit made an interesting move. They acquired Sean Casey from Pittsburgh. Okay, maybe that is not really that interesting. The move creates an interesting situation for a young team that got the season started with the help of Chris Shelton’s hot bat who was sent to the minors to make room for Casey. Shelton will get a chance to play everyday and work on some things that have plagued him all season in the majors. However, Shelton should be credited as much as anyone for Detroit’s success in 2006. Momentum is huge in baseball, and he certainly gave the Tigers plenty of that. It will be a shame if he is left off the post-season roster.

All in all, the rumors were at least fun to watch. 2006 has shaped up to be one of the more interesting years in baseball. Ten teams are within 6 ½ games of the wild card in the National League. Four teams are within 5 ½ games in the American League wild card.

Parody lovers can appreciate that the Yankees and Braves are not division leaders. Hopefully, we will be talking about that in late October. Who needs the New York media market for a successful world series? Give me Detroit and Cincinnati.