Steve Phillips...You are dead to me.

Truly scary stuff.

In late July of 2002 the Blue Jays were nearing the end of the line with outfielder Jose Cruz Jr.

Cruz owned a .227 batting average at the break with 13 homers and 45 RBIs.

Finally, they found someone with interest in Cruz.

The New York Mets said they would take Cruz, offering a minor-leaguer playing his first full season at class-A.

Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi decided against taking the minor-leaguer for Cruz. The Jays also refused the Seattle Mariners' offer of prospect Rafael Soriano for Cruz, after the Mariners refused to move reliever Clint Nageotte.

The Jays held on to Cruz, who finished the 2002 season with a .245 average, 18 homers and 70 RBIs. After the season the Jays decided not to tender Cruz a contract and he signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.

That class-A kid? Well, it's tough evaluating 19-year-olds as the kid was at the time.

That season at class-A Capital City the kid hit .266 with 11 homers and 93 RBIs. He had 76 walks, 114 strikeouts.

The kid? You may have seen him at Tuesday's all-star game -- and on a hundred or so highlight clips -- as he grew up to be all-star third baseman David Wright.

Wright's 2006 stats: A .315 average, 20 homers and 75 RBIs.

As Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story.

Steve Phillips, you should never work in baseball again outside of what you are currently doing now. You are awful. It is really amazing how the Mets could not get out of their own way during the Phillips era. Imagine if the Mets parted with Jason Bay and David Wright in the same year? Holy crap. Just holy crap. I thank the universe for not allowing this trade to go through.

* * *

Phil Humber gives me a funny feeling in my pants and I think I like it. He went five innings and gave up four hits, no earned runs, no walks, and nine strikeouts. Humber is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in St. Lucie and I think he is really exceeding all expectations. He only went five innings, but he is most likely on a pretty strict pitch count and since he struck out nine people, he was throwing a lot of pitches. I was thinking he would just hang out in St. Lucie for the year working on his stuff, but he looks like he is pitching himself into a promotion.

From BP:

While Pelfrey and Alay Soler have graduated to the majors after beginning the year at St. Lucie, righthander Philip Humber has returned from Tommy John surgery and earned some rave reviews. "He has two big power pitches with the fastball, which is 90-94 mph, and that curve which is just a hammer and a real out pitch," said one National League scout about the third overall pick in the 2004 draft. "He also has a power changeup--and I love those--it's not a touch/feel pitch; its velocity is in the 80s so it gets there with some speed and just bottoms out." Having just returned after missing nearly a year, Humber still struggles with his location, but the scout didn't see it as a long-term concern. "It's really going to depend on command and control with him," the scout added. "It has to improve, but that's always an issue for guys coming back from TJs--there's no reason it shouldn’t improve."

I said it before, and I'll say it again. This guy has more quality pitches than Mike Pelfrey and could have four plus pitches by the time he makes it to the bigs. Dude is the real deal.

The Jeff Keppinger and Ruben Gotay deal has been completed.

Gotay, 23, was the Royals’ 31st-round pick in 2001 and began the 2005 season as the club’s starting second baseman. But he spent much of the last two seasons in the minors and was batting .264 this season with nine homers and 43 RBIs in 87 games at Omaha.

“He grew up in this organization,” Moore said, “but he would probably benefit from a change of scenery.”

Keppinger should finally get his shot in the bigs.

It appears that the Royals are closing in on signing Luke Hochevar and it appears they are offering a similar deal to what Mike Pelfrey received.

The Royals are believed to be offering terms similar to those the Mets reached in January with right-hander Mike Pelfrey, a Boras client who was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Pelfrey’s deal included a $3.5 million signing bonus and guarantees sweetening the overall value to $5.3 million. It also contained escalator clauses that further boost the value if he is on the major-league roster in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Such terms would represent the richest contract ever given by the Royals to a draft pick. The current record is the $4 million signing bonus given last year to third baseman Alex Gordon, the No. 2 overall pick.

The Royals have two of the top ten prospects in Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, Hochevar gives them a great pitching prospect, and they have two ex-Met prospects in Jeff Keppinger and Justin Huber that should contribute as well and be a big part of their team. The Royals desperately need to get something going.

Pedro is a bit closer to returning, but I would love to see another three starts by John Maine before he returns to see what he can do. He has been looking better and better in each start.

The new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees are moving along.

Tom Glavine looks to join Josh Beckett and Roy Halladay as the only 12-game winners in the bigs.

Anderson Hernandez is keeping it in perspective and knows he has things to work on.

“I’m not surprised. If I don’t hit, I go nowhere,” Hernandez said. “I have to hit first. But if I don’t do anything, how can I play up there, you know?”

The Mets were done in by a rain delay after taking a 4-0 lead. I was surprised when Traschel came out after a 2 hour and 23 minute rain delay and it looks like it was a bad idea.

If you didn't watch the game last night, they threw up stat on Steve's seven game winning streak. He is the first player in Major League history to win seven games and not have one 7+ inning game. His seven game winning streak has really been a collection of marginal performances. His loss to the Cardinals before the streak was better than any of the wins.

The Blue Jays just cut a .300 hitter due to a clubhouse incident while in the midst of a playoff race.

"The incident in the clubhouse was fun and happened before batting practice and involved myself and a couple of players," Hillenbrand said when reached by telephone last night. "I was pointed out (by Gibbons) and I was confronted.

"Gibbons told me to leave and go home and I went to my car to cool off and afterwards came back to the clubhouse and that's when I was informed I had been designated for assignment."

What the hell did he do? I need to know.

Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a three year, $30 million extension.

Ha! Apparently the Mets are interested in Miguel Batista and Juan Cruz, but the Diamondbacks are looking for an affordable starter back.

The D-Backs likely would have interest in Mike Pelfrey, the Mets’ first-round draft pick in 2005, but it is unknown if the Mets would trade part of their future for a more proven veteran such as Batista, who will become a free agent this winter.

Umm..yeah. Mike Pelfrey can't be dealt and if he could be, it certainly would not be for Miguel Batista.