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UPDATE (July 9, 2010, 4:10 PM) : It appears via several sources that the Lee to the Yankees deal is OFF. The reason has been given that the Mariners did not feel comfortable with the ankle injury of second base prospect David Adams.

While I view that excuse as a made up one, it seems to me that the Mariners were using the Yankees as leverage to maybe get a better deal from another team.

Or maybe they received a last minute offer which they deem as much better.

Each offseason, owners and general managers of all 30 ball clubs in the Majors work tirelessly trying to put together a collection of players that will contend for the playoffs.

They trade, they sign, they draft and they evaluate talent in hopes that those players have what it takes to succeed at the professional level.

Only eight of those teams see their playoff aspirations realized, however.

The rest must take a step back and reevaluate the direction their franchise is taking.

For some, that point comes sooner than others.

The July 31 trade deadline, for many underachieving teams, is th

The Angels had the second best record in all of baseball for the month of June.

The problem is, the Texas Rangers were the only team better, and they are the team the Angels are trying to catch.

July has not started out with as much promise.

The Angels now find themselves 5.5 games back in the AL West after being swept by the Chicago White Sox during a four-game series in Chicago for the first time in 27 years.

Many are ready to push the panic button and start the fire sale. However, all is not lost with the Angels.

Anything that doesn't involve LeBron James in sports talk right now has my attention and the Cliff Lee rumors are at the top of that list.

Though it isn't the magnitude of the 1919 World Series, we have a very odd situation brewing in Seattle tonight, and it isn't their coffee.

Cliff Lee is rumored to be headed to the Bronx for Yankees prospect catcher Jesus Montero and possibly second base prospect David Adams as well.

The problem? Cliff Lee faces the New York Yankees tonight.

"Hey Alex, here comes a fastball middle-in, see if you can hit it!"

When Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano received an invitation to participate in this years Home Run Derby, the All-Star was surprised and excited.

He did not think twice about it. Cano accepted the invitation and had every intention of participating. Then the Yankees stepped in. The problem however is that it seems the Yankees stepped in without Cano knowing.

Before voting for this year's MLB All-Star Game, the Boston Red Sox were batting 1.000 in the Final Vote. Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, and Hideki Okajima have all appeared on the ballot and all three made the team.

This year, the run came to an end. Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis lost out to Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher in his bid for a third straight All-Star appearance and will not fly to Anaheim for the Midsummer Classic. But he should be making that trip.

The other day, the Yankees got bad bullpen news when Alfredo Aceves suffered a setback. Today they get some more, as Nick Johnson felt pain in his wrist while taking batting practice. He is being sent back to New York for further tests; this could mean the end of his season.

Baseball is mathematically past the halfway mark already, but many teams don't see the first half as history.  Many teams still have many big games in the first half. 

There are 162 baseball games in baseball's regular season, so 81 games is the mathematical halfway point in the season.  Even though that is true, many people look at the All-Star Break as the ending of the first half.

Nick Swisher narrowly won the Final Vote over Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis and will be on the 2010 American League All-Star Team.

Swisher made a big push on Twitter today using #SendSwish to get followers to choose him. He also gave his fans a big thanks after it was announced that he’d be playing in the midsummer classic.

Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues came up with a crazy idea for a trade that I don’t think is so crazy: Javier Vazquez to the Phillies for Jayson Werth . Furthermore, the trade would open up a spot in the rotation for the Yankees to land Cliff Lee .