Editor's note: With Commissioner Glander away on vacation, guest columnist Peter "The Commissioner" Gammons supplies this month's FTDOTC column.

Bare Market

By Peter Gammons
Special to bigdaddybaseball.com

June 28

With the annual trading deadline a little more than 30 days away, BDBL fans are wondering which superstar players will be moving from the back of the bus to the driver's seat this year.  Remember, a year ago at this time, we saw such big names as Manny Ramirez, Roy Halladay, Matt Clement, Mike Mussina, Tim Hudson, Aramis Ramirez, Victor Martinez, Lyle Overbay, Brett Boone, Troy Percival, Kerry Wood, Marquis Grissom, Orlando Cabrera, Josh Kroeger and Dave Burba switch uniforms.  The year before that, Odalis Perez, Mark Loretta, Jason Giambi, Jason Schmidt, Arthur Rhodes, Mike Sweeney, Jose Vidro, A.J. Burnett, Troy Glaus, Armando Benitez, Dallas McPherson, Brian Giles, Rafael Palmeiro, Adam Dunn, Kevin Millwood and John Olerud were among the seemingly hundreds of players traded at the deadline.

However, fans expecting to see more of the same this summer should lower their expectations, as the prevailing theme among BDBL GM's seems to be: "All Revved Up With No Place to Go."  The fact is, there are more buyers than sellers right now, and the sellers all held their "Going out of business" sales months ago.

Look, the Bear Country Jamboree have been out of the playoff picture since, oh, about April of 2004.  Everybody knows that.  But after shipping off Brad Penny and Jose Vidro prior to Opening Day, the Jamboree have nothing left to sell.  They have one marketable player, and although they've had several inquiries for Alex Rodriguez, he isn't going anywhere.

"Unless they get a good young pitcher in return," said one OL GM, "they refuse to part with him."

The problem for Bear Country is that the supply of good, young pitching is at an all-time low.  And those who have it (Villanova, Allentown, Los Altos) are hell-bent on keeping it.  Rumors leaking out of one front office suggest that the Jamboree were offered a top-five hitting prospect in exchange for A-Rod, but the offer was immediately dismissed.

Listen, in order to avoid a $5 million penalty this winter, Bear Country must play .375 ball the rest of the way, and that's not going to happen without A-Rod. Bear Country GM Matt Clemm will hold onto his prized third baseman, believing that A-Rod saves several millions in replacement value on the free agent market.  The Jamboree then head into the 2006 season with $34.9 million committed to ten players.  Add in that $5 million penalty, and the Jamboree are looking at spending only $24.1 million on 25 players (not counting any additional contracts signed over the winter.)  And with the lowest tie-breaker in the league, and the 16th pick in the draft, they'll have to do some very creative accounting to avoid paying a penalty next year as well.

The team with the next-worst winning percentage in the BDBL (but 100 points better than Bear Country's) is the Cleveland Rocks.  Now, we know Cleveland blew through their best trade bait well before the second chapter, offloading filthy righty ace Jason Schmidt in exchange for the enigmatic Cliff Lee.  Their next-best trade bait, Kelvim Escobar, was traded the following chapter, leaving this team with little to offer any contending team at the moment.  David Wells could help some contending teams, but Cleveland would basically have to give him away, what with his $6.5 million commitment in 2006.  Russ Ortiz?  He could fill in as a back-of-the-rotation starter for some team.

"Frank Thomas could be useful as a pinch hitter," said one EL GM, of Cleveland's first baseman.  "But I'm not willing to give much of anything for a pinch hitter.  Besides, I don't have any 35-year-old Cleveland Indian relievers to offer, so I'm probably out of the running."

Working from the bottom of the power rankings on up, the Los Altos Undertakers' best trading asset was Eric Gagne.  But he, too, was traded before Opening Day, leaving this team with little to offer.  Southern Cal's best pitcher (Josh Beckett) is untouchable, but Octavio Dotel is now available.  He will certainly be traded to the highest bidder before the deadline, though with poor lefty splits and a propensity for serving up the longball, he won't fetch as much in return as he would have in years past.

South Carolina's best pitcher, Matt Clement, is contracted through 2007, making him untouchable.  Their next best pitcher, Kenny Rogers, will be retained in 2006 as well.  Offensively, the Sea Cats have little to offer a contending team at a premier position of need.

Nashville would love to unload Ken Griffey, Jr.'s contract, but no GM in his right mind would take it from them.  The Funk's two top players -- Ichiro Suzuki and Joe Nathan -- are each locked up long-term, and Lew Ford has become such a fan favorite (his bobblehead night at the stadium was Nashville's only sell-out of the year) his departure would cause rioting in the streets.

Of all the "Pretenders", the Corona Confederates have the most to offer at this point in the season.  Though they have already off-loaded Odalis Perez, Aramis Ramirez, Mike Mussina and Mark Buehrle, they still have some players of value to a contending team, including Orlando Cabrera, Mike Cameron, Barry Larkin, Juan Pierre, Scott Linebrink and Woody Williams.

"Just don't ask about Austin Kearns," says Corona GM Ed McGowan.  "He is NOT -- I repeat, NOT -- for sale."

The Great Lakes Sphinx have already jettisoned their top trade commodity in Brad Lidge.  And Freddy Garcia's salary ($10.5m, with a 2006 commitment) makes him all-but-untradeable. That leaves little in the way of trade bait.

Finally, we come to the Manchester Irish Rebels.  Though the team has been in a nightmarish free-fall since their surprising Chapter One performance, GM Jim Doyle insists his team will compete in 2005, and he refuses to discuss breaking up the team.  This means no trade of Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada or Matt Morris.

So, if those are the so-called "Pretenders" of the power rankings, where does this leave the rest of the league on deadline day?  As Chrissie Hynde might say, "Each day drags by until finally nighttime descends on me / I go to sleep, sleep."

Around the majors

• Despite their Butler Division-worst 26-30 record since the start of Chapter Two, and the hard stumble out of first place in the OL wild card race, the New Milford Blazers front office isn't looking to rebuild yet again.  Their fans have suffered long enough as it is, and with Todd Helton (.261/.393/.412) and Zach Greinke (1-9, 5.92 ERA) stinking up the joint in MLB, and Melvin Mora leaving at the end of this season, Blazers fans have reason to believe that it's now or never in New Milford.  Although Greinke's trade value has deteriorated, New Milford's two-headed GM is reluctant to deal him unless they receive either a guaranteed playoff spot or a 2006 keeper in return.  That will be a tough order to fill.

• Always looking for an excuse to wave the white flag, the Kansas Law Dogs are still shopping impact players Gary Sheffield and Armando Benitez.  Kansas insiders tell us that to date, the team has yet to receive what they consider to be a "serious" trade offer for either player.  Ideally, Kansas is looking to add an impact player for 2006 -- preferably a pitcher, as rumors continue to swirl about a new stadium deal that would rid the BDBL of the league's most offensive (in more ways than one) ballpark.  Of course, Greinke -- a Chris Luhning favorite -- would be the perfect fit.  But Blazers officials insist they will not trade their future for a two-chapter rental.

• Don't be surprised if that on-again/off-again Zambrano-for-Sheets trade happens once again before the final deadline.  Although Zambrano's recent struggles (8.10 ERA, with 14 BB's in 20 IP in the month of June) may have finally killed that deal for good, you can never count out the duo of Kaminski and Gill when it comes to juggling those two pitchers.

• The New Hope Badgers may be the most aptly-named franchise ever.  Without a doubt, they've been the most inspirational story of the season -- if not league history.  Here was a franchise left in a completely hopeless state a year ago, with zero chance of competing any time in the near future.  Yet in just one year's time, new GM Tony Badger has managed to guide this once-great franchise back into playoff contention.  No one in his right mind ever dreamed this turnaround would happen so quickly.  With the success of the Badgers franchise, even Jamboree fans must have a glimmer of hope today that they, too, can turn it around quickly.

Free Agent Folly

More and more, the free agent auction is becoming a gateway to one-year wonders.  This season, we are reminded once again how much of a gamble it is to spend top dollars on free agents.  Of the 50 players in last winter's free agent auction, more than half (28) signed for more than $5 million, triggering the mandatory one-year contract following this season.  Of those 28, only seven are on pace to be worth their salaries in 2006:

*2006 estimated Doyle Formula Value

This and that

• What on earth is up with Tom Cruise?  Man, what a wacko.

• Go buy the soundtrack to "Lords of Dogtown" just to hear Social Distortion's remake of the Clash classic, "Death or Glory."  It kicks ass.