January 6, 2003 [LINK]
Offseason trades
The official Major League Baseball Web site has a special page with a summary of the offseason trading activity by all 28 teams. It ranks each team on its degree of preparedness, based on aggressivenss of trading, relative to other teams within the same division. The Reds, Devilrays, Tigers, Indians are rated very low, whereas the Red Sox, Twins, Yankees, Braves, Diamondbacks, and Giants are rated high or very high. The rating system is odd, since the Phillies rank below the Braves, even though they (the Phillies) have picked up the Braves' fine young pitcher, Kevin Millwood, as well as slugging infielders Jim Thome and David Bell. I thought that meant the Phillies were aiming to overthrow the Braves at the top of the NL East, but they traded away Jeremy Giambi and other key players, so perhaps not. Meanwhile, the Braves just acquired first baseman Robert Fick from the Detroit Tigers.