Hold on to your wallets.
We have reached the time of year when the media and fans clamor for teams in contention to snag the best midseason reinforcements available.
Teams feel pressure to make moves (and headlines), whether there's a gaping hole to fill or not. Yet it's always a seller's market for the top players available. Teams are going to mortgage the future for a short-term gain that few will realize.
Sometimes you give up talent but get the result you wanted. The Blue Jays sent Jeff Kent to the Mets to get David Cone in 1992, and Cone helped them win a championship. Ditto the Marlins sacrificing former first overall pick Adrian Gonzalez to get closer Ugueth Urbina in 2003.
My guess is a wily stock analyst would move to the sidelines rather than dabble in such a high-risk market, but general managers find the action irresistible. As a public service, we present reasons to move cautiously on midseason trades.
1. Randy Johnson from the Expos to the Mariners in a package of players for Mark Langston, May 25, 1989 — The Expos finished 81-81, and Langston left as a free agent.
2. Doyle Alexander from the Braves to the Tigers for John Smoltz, Aug. 12, 1987 — Trailing the Jays by 11/2 games at the time of the deal, the Tigers used Alexander's 9-0 finish to win the AL East but lost to the Twins in the ALCS.
3. Larry Andersen from the Astros to the Red Sox for Jeff Bagwell, Aug. 30, 1990 — Up 61/2 games, the Red Sox won a weak AL East, but the A's swept them in the ALCS.
4. Heathcliff Slocumb from the Red Sox to the Mariners for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe, July31, 1997 — Clinging to a half-game lead over the Angels, the Mariners held on to win the AL West but lost to the Orioles in the first round.
5. Johnson from the Mariners to the Astros for Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama, July 31, 1998 — The Astros, who had an 11-game lead, won 102 games but lost to the Padres in the first round, with Johnson losing Games 1 and 4.
6. Esteban Loaiza from the Rangers to Blue Jays for Michael Young, July19, 2000 — Trailing the Yankees by 11/2 games, the Blue Jays finished third.
7. Bartolo Colon from the Indians to the Expos for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens, June 27, 2002 — Seven games behind the Braves, the Expos finished 19 games back.
8. Ben Broussard from the Indians to the Mariners for Shin-Soo Choo, July26, 2006 — In fourth place but only three games back at the deadline, the Mariners finished 15 back.
9. Casey Blake from the Indians to the Dodgers for Carlos Santana, July 26, 2008 — Blake helped the Dodgers win the NL West and beat the Cubs in the first round, but they lost to the Phillies in the NLCS.
10. Mark Teixeira (and Ron Mahay) from the Rangers to the Braves for Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, July 31, 2008 — Trailing the Phillies by 31/2 games, the Braves finished third.
Rookies everywhere: When people talk about baseball's wealth of rookies, they generally look to a crop of highly advertised kids in the NL — a top tier headed by Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward and including the red-hot Buster Posey and highly advertised Mike Stanton. But the Class of 2010 might be one of the deepest ever.
The American League rookie of the month award has been won by a Tiger three months in a row. Center fielder Austin Jackson was named for April, and right fielder Brennan Boesch for May and June.
Boesch, who was hitting .345 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs through his first 63 games, is a good bet to end a Rookie of the Year drought for Tigers position players. Justin Verlander is the only Tigers recipient since second baseman Lou Whitaker in 1978.
Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez was named the NL's top rookie in June for hitting .375 with four home runs, 16 RBIs and 16 runs scored. He had an OPS of .962.
Assassins: You never know where a division race is going to turn or be decided as momentum comes and goes over 162 games. But the Rockies' three-game sweep of the Cardinals could have long-range implications in both the NL West and Central.
The Rockies, floundering despite the work of Cy Young front-runner Ubaldo Jimenez, had three consecutive walk-off victories that began with a 15-inning triumph over the Giants on Sunday. The most dramatic was the nine-run ninth that turned a 9-3 deficit into a 12-9 victory Tuesday, with Seth Smith's game-winning home run capping the pounding of Dennys Reyes and Ryan Franklin.
Their victory Wednesday came after they had turned a 5-0 deficit into a 7-7 tie entering the ninth inning.
"(Tuesday) was surreal," Rockies closer Huston Street said. "This was more fun because you could kind of see it coming."
Tony La Russa was reduced to pitching newly arrived rookie Evan MacLane when Wednesday's game was tied 7-7. Dexter Fowler homered on MacLane's sixth big-league pitch.
This marked the first time a team has lost back-to-back games in which it had leads of at least five runs since August 1986, when Bobby Valentine's Rangers managed the feat.
When the Cardinals lost to Jimenez on Thursday, it dropped them 31/2 games behind the Reds. They responded to a similar midseason funk in 2009 by trading for Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa, but do they have the resources to make those kind of moves this time around?
The last word: "You look at the guys who are going to the All-Star Game and the years they've had. They did that from Opening Day. I haven't been here since Opening Day." — Strasburg on receiving All-Star consideration.
Phil Rogers covers baseball for the Chicago Tribune.
progers@tribune.com