-P- The Royals have traded P Andy Sisco for 1B Ross Gload. This isn't the biggest deal, but I have no idea why you'd do this if you're the Royals - to me, this is a little like the Pirates' trade of Leo Nunez for Benito Santiago. Sisco is enormous, he's 23, he's left-handed, he can start, and he has a very good minor league track record. He even struck out a batter an inning in 2005, his first year in the majors. He's coming off a horrible year, but if I were the Royals' GM I'd think I'd be able to get something better than Ross Gload even if I thought I couldn't get Sisco back on track. Gload's a 31 year old with 12 career homers. Sisco didn't throw as hard as usual last year and isn't exactly a hard worker, but White Sox GM Ken Williams apparently thinks that mechanical tweaks can solve... well, the first problem, at least. Maybe playing for a winner will help with the second. In any case, this is a great deal for the Sox, and it's exactly the sort of trade the Royals shouldn't be making. They need upside more than anything else, and, like Leo Nunez, Sisco's got it. Like Santiago, Gload doesn't.
-P- Speaking of the White Sox, they also signed catcher Toby Hall to a two-year, $3.65 million deal to be their backup catcher. Hall's a much better contingency plan than a starter - he provides decent defense and his hitting is passable. $3.65 million for him seems fair.
-P- Here's one guy who must feel left out: Doug Brocail got a one year, $500,000 deal, plus incentives, to remain with the Padres. His ERAs the last two years have been 5.52 and 4.77, but his peripherals say he's much better than that - he still strikes out twice as many batters as he walks and almost never gives up a homer. This is a nice, albeit extremely minor, gamble by the Padres.