Transaction Wire

Warriors trade Nick Van Exel to Portland for Dale Davis and Dan Dickau. Well, not only do I get to keep all the Dan Dickau fans in the audience informed on his current whereabouts, but I also gave everyone a chance to say, "Wow, Nick Van Exel is still playing?"

Hornets sign former Nugget Chris Andersen. Now that Andersen has established himself in the NBA, Tom Timmermans is in perfect position to take over his role as Poster Child of the NBDL.

Cavs trade Kedrick Brown and Kevin Ollie for Eric Snow. Brown is a decent player, but with LeBron and Luke Jackson (and to a lesser extent, Dajuan Wagner), he gets lost in the shuffle. Of course, now he gets stuck behind Allen Iverson. Kevin Ollie is a good guy, but he was basically just the Cavs' "oh crap, we need a point guard and Mateen Cleaves is still hurt" guy. Snow is just what the Cavs need - a good unselfish guy. He's proved it by a) putting up great assist-per-game and assist-to-turnover numbers and b) playing with Iverson all these years without complaining. The only question now is how well will "incumbent" Cavs PG Jeff McInnis take this trade? The Cavs have said Snow will be McInnis's backup, but I wouldn't put it past McInnis to take this the wrong way. Here's hoping he proves me wrong.

Titans release Eddie George. He'll still want to start, and with his injury problems, he'll need a great OLine. Maybe in a few years, he can return to his home state and become a good mentor to William Green and/or Lee Suggs.

White Sox trade RPs John Rausch and Gary Majewski to Montreal for Carl Everett. Hmm, they must have had another Family Night coming up.

Mets trade Karim Garcia to Baltimore for RP Mike DeJean. Well, you can never have too much relief pitching, especially when you're thinking about a playoff run. However, you apparently can have to many average-ish power hitting right fielders. Once the Mets acquired Richard Hidalgo, you knew that either Garcia or Shane Spencer were out the door.

Dodgers trade C Tommy Piazza to the Mets. Wait, how did the Dodgers get Mike's younger brother in the first place? The draft doesn't even have 64 rounds anymore. Oh well, at least Tommy can now enjoy some Ozzie Canseco-esque success, just as when Ozzie and Jose were with the A's. (Or, maybe he'll be more like Chris Gwynn on the Padres.)

Indians recall OF Grady Sizemore from AAA Buffalo. The 2003 Futures Game MVP now makes the Indians all the more Gammonsesque. Speaking of Gammonsesque, Sizemore joins Kansas City SP Zach Grienke as Gammonsesquity's "holy crap, I didn't actually expect to be able to use this guy this year" players.

Speaking of hot prospects, I hear this David Wright guy the Mets called up to play 3B is pretty good.

Cubs trade Ricky Gutierrez to Boston for a PTBNL or cash considerations. Hey, I've got some loose change in my couch, can I acquire Ricky Gutierrez. Or is this a case of, "Yeah, we'd consider giving you cash, but, it's freakin' Ricky Gutierrez!"

To make room for Alex S Gonzalez on the 40 man roster, the Cubs release Rey Ordonez. Don't the Cubs have any middle infield prospects? Are you even allowed to have Rey Ordonez and Ricky Gutierrez at the same time? Do the Cubs have some sort of secret bet with the Devil Rays to see who can carry the most crappy shortstops and still win? (The Rays have Rey Sanchez and Julio Lugo.) I'm a middle infielder, can I pretend to be a prospect for either of these teams so they can stop doing this? (Sorry Mike and Brittany, probably not what you wanted to hear after the Cards' and Cubs' recent play.)

After refusing to waive his no trade clause, Jon Olerud is released by the Mariners. Along with Rich Aurilia's release, this gives the Mariners a chance to give good PT to prospects Bucky Jacobsen and Justin Leone (along with P Travis Blackley). But, the real reason I mentioned this is to bring up a great Ricky Henderson legend. Olerud and Henderson played together on the Blue Jays, Mets, and Mariners (in that order). When Ricky joined the Mariners, he asked Olerud why he wore a helmet in the field. "Well," Olerud explained, "I had a head injury in college. If I get hit in the head again, it could kill me." "Oh," Ricky replied. "I had a teammate on the Mets who wore a helmet just like that." That teammate, of course, was also Olerud. (Of course, this story is also told about when Ricky first joined the Mets.)

Last week, I reported that Carlos Beltran will probably go to an NL team, most likely the Dodgers. Shortly thereafter, I realized how stupid that sounded with Milton Bradley and Dave Roberts already in LA. Turns out, it's Carlos Delgado that the Dodgers are interested in. Delgado, however, doesn't want to go anywhere.

Speaking of not wanting to go anywhere, Randy Johnson wants to stay in Arizona. The Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels are the lead contenders if he decides to go. Arizona has one of the few smart management teams in the league however. Instead of accepting $25 and a guy who may hit .250 in AAA from the Yankees, as most people do, they went a little Kanka-esque. The D-Backs said they'll consider giving up Johnson, if they can get Jorge Posada. Interesting choice, but it's not a bad idea to ask for a lot in this case.

After Johson, Pirate Kris Benson is the next biggest name at SP. The Twins, Angels, Mets, and Rangers are interested, but no one wants to give up anything (specifically the Twins, who are looking to replace Corey Kosie with Mike Cuddyer at 3B next year. Maybe they can give up Justin Morneau - they haven't seemed to find a use for him yet.)

Rumor has it that the Giants want to give Jose Mesa a second try. Since the Mariners refuse to part ways with Eddie Guardado, Mesa is actually the best closer available. The Cards are also looking at Mesa as a setup guy.

ND Football Verbal Commitments: QB Evan Sharpley, RB Asaph Schwapp, WR David Grimes and David Nelson, LB Scott Smith and Kevin Washington, and DB David Bruton and Brandon Harrison. Of this group, only Harrison is given any "stars" by Rivals.com - 4 of them. He's also ranked the #16 best cornerback prospect. Harrison is/will be a gradutate of Dayton's Chaminade-Julienne High School, the same school that produced Dominic Yonto's freshman rommate Chris Heck, as well as NB women's basketball standout Megan Duffy.

KankaMatic updates tomorrow - I mean it. The scores are up to date now, but that's it.

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