Are You Kidding Me? With Humberto gone, we traded Sheffield for Claggett.

Obscured by yesterday's nightmare in Boston was this tidbit:

We released 25-year-old former superprospect Humberto Sanchez, lynchpin of the 2006 trade in which we peddled Gary Sheffield to the Tigers.

We waived Humberto.

Thus, for Gary Sheffield -- who never hit less than .290 for us -- we received... uhmn, let's see now... Anthony Clagget. Straight up.

Sheff for Clagg.

(For whatever it's worth, the third pitcher, Kevin Whelan, is somewhere in the system, on target to throw two strikes in a row once every full moon.)

Here's another thought: After trading Sheffield, our offense broke down in 2007. We could have used the 25 HRs he hit for Detroit. But we soldiered on, dreaming of our rewards -- that magical day when Humberto recovered from Tommy John and became The Ace.

Yep. We traded for Humberto on Nov. 10, 2006. He barely threw a pitch the next spring, then underwent surgery. How much did the Tigers know? Better question: How little did we?

They picked our pockets.

This sucks.

This sucks even more than trading Ramon Ramirez for Shawn Chacon. This sucks even more than signing Kei Igawa. This sucks even more than letting Damaso Marte out the door in 2001 for Enrique Wilson, then trading to get him back after he's pitched himself into Palookaville.

In the 1980s, we fell into a deep decline, because our scouts were always on the outside looking in. We traded for Dale Murray, we signed Bob Shirley and Ed Whitson, even though people throughout baseball saw the mistakes. It was only until we got Bob Watson -- a solid baseball man -- in the organization that we started making the right moves.

Now, who is judging talent for us? Reggie Jackson? Dear God...

Writers tout the "legendary" pitching guru known as Nardi Contreras.

Anybody want to start listing his success stories?

Writers quote scouts anonymously, do backflips for interviews. In those Q&As, do they ever question the scout's track record? (Answer: Not if they want another Q&A.)

At the end of the day, the Steinbrenners write out the checks, and the Cashmans read the reports. But if the reports are garbage...?

Sheff for Clagg.

Imagine that.

Sheff for Clagg.