The Toronto Blue Jays made a couple of deals heading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline a year ago and both were designed to shore up the bullpen. They dealt outfielder Travis Snider - a former first-round pick - to Pittsburgh for reliever Brad Lincoln and sent Eric Thames to Seattle for another hard-throwing reliever in Steve Delabar. At the very least, Alex Anthopoulos won the Delabar deal, seeing as how he blossomed into an All-Star (with a little help from the fans) this year. The Mariners ended up dealing Thames to Baltimore for another minor leaguer. The swap with Pittsburgh hasnt quite panned out so far. Lincoln has had a couple of shining moments with the big club, but has spent the bulk of this season with Buffalo in Triple A. It was a pretty active week headlining up to the deadline last year. The Angels landed the biggest name getting right hander Zach Greinke from Milwaukee for a trio of prospects including shortstop Jean Segura. The Halos gambled on getting a rental in Greinke and the move backfired when he signed with the Dodgers in the offseason. And the Angels didnt even make the postseason. Detroit did well, giving up three prospects - including pitcher Jacob Turner - to Miami to get right-hander Anibal Sanchez and second baseman Omar Infante - two players who were key in getting them to the World Series against the Giants. The Dodgers new ownership made some huge noise, getting Hanley Ramirez from Miami and Shane Victorino from the Phillies before pulling off the biggest blockbuster of many a year on August 25, getting Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto from Boston in a nine-player swap. Those deals didnt exactly pay immediate dividends for the Dodgers, partially because Crawford was injured. But a year later, with a boost from Yasiel Puig, they are in first place in the National League West and look like they could be World Series contenders. Still, the team that did the best at the deadline a year ago was San Francisco. The Giants added Hunter Pence from the Philllies for outfielder Nate Schierholtz and two prospects and then second baseman Marco Scutaro, who turned into a playoff hero from Colorado. Pence added a colourful quirky brand of leadership that helped propel the Giants to their second World Series victory in three years. Ironically, the Giants could turn into big time sellers this year now that theyve fallen to fourth in the NL West. The Dodgers and Arizona are only seperated by a game and a half in the West, so they could both be active. St. Louis is on top in the Central, but could be in the market for starting pitching. With Tim Hudson suffering that horrible broken ankle, East-leading Atlanta could be looking for a pitcher as well. The American League could be a little quieter, since Texas has already landed Matt Garza from the Cubs and Baltimore has picked up late reliever Francisco Rodriguez from Milwaukee. White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy could be the biggest starting pitcher name to get moved this time around. Its hard to say where the Blue Jays stand in all of this. Theyre 10 games behind Baltimore for the second Wild Card spot with 61 games left to play, so loading up for a run doesnt make much sence. The Blue Jays arent about to "blow it up" either, when their stated plan was to be serious contenders for a three-year span. I could see a reliever or two being moved. Lefty Darren Oliver (whos close to retirement) comes to mind and maybe a utility-type player such as Emilio Bonifacio. If any starting pitcher is moved, Id bet on Mark Buehrle. He upped his stock considerably with that two-hit shutout of Houston on Thursday night (yeah, I know it was only the Astros). Buehrle might look good in the rotation of a National League contender like the Dodgers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks or Braves. The most interesting team to watch might be the Yankees. Theyre only 2 1/2 games back of the second Wild Card slot in the AL and re-acquired Alfonso Soriano. The Yankees are always in it to win it and being this close may be just the temptation they need to go all in again. The non-waiver trade deadline is this Wednesday afternoon at 4pm et. Elsewhere, right-hander Marcus Stroman is continuing to put impressive numbers with the Blue Jays AA New Hampshire affiliate. On Wednesday, he struck out 11 members of the Harrisburg Senators over 6 2/3 innings in a no decision. The 59" flamethrower is 5-2 with a 2.99 ERA. Hes struck out 79 while only walking 19 and opponents are only hitting .216 against him. In his last five starts, Stroman has gone at least six innings and twice into the seventh. 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Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player.MOSCOW -- Russias national soccer team is often attacked for poor performances but players will be paying special attention to their latest critic.With the 2018 World Cup hosts struggling on the field, Vladimir Putin isnt amused.The Russian president said to be honest, we havent seen beautiful play from the national team for a long time. Putin also compared its performance with Russias pleasing ice hockey team.Speaking two days after Russia lost 2-1 to Qatar in a friendly between the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, Putins remarks were reported by state news agencies on Saturday during a factory visit.Russia has won just one of its last 10 games and crashed out of this summers European Championship without winning a game. That prompted the resignation of coach Leonid Slutsky, but things havent picked up under his replacement Stanislav Cherchesov, whose four games in charge have included a draw with Turkey and defeat to Costa Rica.Despite all this, the team has been set a target of reachingg the semifinals in 2018.ddddddddddddOf particular concern for Cherchesov is the need to revitalize a team which was among the oldest at Euro 2016, amid a lack of obvious young talent. In a sign of the audition process underway, the current squad includes five inexperienced central defenders, none of whom have played more than four times for Russia.Recriminations followed the European Championship campaign when two players were disciplined after being filmed partying in a Monaco nightclub with champagne as the Russian anthem played, following their teams elimination from the tournament.Russias next game is a friendly against Romania on Tuesday in Grozny, the capital of the Russian region of Chechnya. It will be the first Russia game to be played in Chechnya, where UEFA has previously banned European competitive matches from being held due to security concerns. ' ' '
