One idea is infinitely better than no ideas

I have time for only one observation, which you might think is hardly worth the effort — but you have to consider things like this in a league in danger of domination by the Johnson boys:

Edwin Encarnacion doesn’t get much press for being a smart player, but this week we got clear evidence he knows how to play all the angles.  In getting himself traded from the Mariners to the Yankees means he will have had the opportunity to play 167 regular season games this season.  He won’t reach that plateau because he missed 8 or so games for the M’s, but when he was traded, the M’s had played 5 more games than the Yankees.  Right now the M’s have played 6 more games than the Giants, so a Mariner looking to pad his stats for his next paycheck ought to try to maneuver himself into a trade to San Francisco.