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Buster Olney's latest blog post is up:

• Mark DeRosa is "a perfect fit for the Cardinals" and the Indians "got exactly what they wanted" in Chris Perez says Olney.
• Olney says the expectation is that a flurry of signings will occur in final 3 days leading up to the August 17 deadline due to "enormous pressure on teams to stay within the slotting recommendations set by the commissioners office." Here's a quick explanation of slot recommendations.
• In response to the Nyjer Morgan/Lastings Milledge rumors, Olney says Washington is determined to purge their system of dysfunctional players.
• Olney suggests Jason Bay is on pace to land a 4 year, $60MM or 5 year, $70MM contract.

Former Yankee Andy Phillips signed a one-year deal worth $400k to play for the Hiroshima Carp, according to an AP report on ESPN.com. We heard rumblings about the move earlier in the week, but it's now official.

Zorilla isn't the only one having a surprise season. From Tampa to Toronto to Seattle, players have surprised us all with breakout starts to the year. Here are just a few of the players to play unexpectedly well so far:

• Ben Zobrist – he's slugging .629 with 15 homers and eight steals
• Marco Scutaro – leads the AL in walks and runs to go along with above-average defense and an .835 OPS
• Edwin Jackson – has kept his ERA under 2.50 after chopping his walk rate by one per nine and striking out as many batters as he has allowed base hits
• Russell Branyan – He has 18 homers already- as many as he's hit in any year since 2002- along with an OPS over 1.000
• Adam Kennedy – hitting .298 with more homers already (6) than he's hit in any year since 2004

Which performance has surprised you most?

Just a note: I'm not talking about established players or prospects who were expected to break out.

Donald Fehr retired as the leader of the MLB Players' association yesterday. Here's what some are saying about his impact on the game:

In his Hardball column yesterday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that MLB should allow a "one-time, one-contract reprieve for all 30 teams." Similar to what the NBA did in 2005, Sherman basically says each team should be allowed to rid themselves of one contract, with MLB's central fund absorbing the money owed to the players. Those 30 players would then become free agents.

My question to you is this: which contract would you like to see your favorite team get rid of? Some are fairly obvious (coughTravisHafnerBarryZitocough), but others not so much. Let's see what you got.

5:53pm: Maury Brown has the Players Association's statement.

1:55pm: ESPN.com reports that Donald Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the MLB Players' Association. ESPN's source says Michael Weiner will replace Fehr, who has led the MLBPA since 1983. Fehr said today he will retire by the end of March 2010.

As MLB.com's Bobbie Dittmeier points out, Fehr began working for the MLBPA in 1977 after working on behalf of the association as a lawyer. Over the course of his leadership, the average major league salary rose from $289k to $2.9MM, according to the AP. However, Fehr has been criticized for waiting until 2002 to allow drug testing in baseball. 

Young players have taken over the game thanks to their ability to produce at a below market salaries. Let's take some time tonight to discuss which club has the best core of young players in place at the big league level right now. Here's some of the obvious candidates:

• Dodgers: Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Clayton Kershaw, Russell Martin
• Rays: Matt Garza, Scott Kazmir, Evan Longoria, Dioner Navarro, David Price, BJ Upton
• Red Sox: Dan Bard, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson, Dustin Pedroia

Plenty of other teams like the Diamondbacks, Marlins, Orioles, and Reds boast an impressive collection of young players, so this should be an interesting talk. So, who ya got?

Cubs GM Jim Hendry is working the trade market as hard as ever, though he doesn't yet know what his team will need in July, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Hendry wants to see what kind of production he gets once Aramis Ramirez returns. Until then, he's counting on the group he assembled to play better. At this point, Hendry doesn't know what kind of players he'll try to add:

We'll be watching closely for the next six weeks as baseball's General Managers make trades. There are lots of skilled deal-makers out there, but which one would you choose if you had to replace your favorite team's GM with one from another club? Here are just a few of baseball's more accomplished GMs:

• Pat Gillick – He's not a GM anymore, but he built winners in Toronto, Baltimore, Seattle and Philadelphia.
• Theo Epstein – His Red Sox have won two of the last five World Series.
• Billy Beane – Perhaps the best-known GM, Beane has built winners on a budget.
• Walt Jocketty – Two-time executive of the year, Jocketty led the '06 Cards to a championship.
• Ken Williams – His team won the 2005 World Series.
• Brian Cashman – He contributed to four of the Yankees' World Series Championships and was GM for three of them

  Lots of good choices- who would you want?

It doesn't happen every year, but some slow-starting teams are able to turn an extended hot streak into a playoff appearance. The 2005 Astros, 2007 Yankees and 2007 Rockies had three of the most memorable late-season surges in recent memory. This year, many teams are unsure whether they'll make a playoff run or deal some parts away in hopes of better teams to come. Here's a rundown of those teams: