CASSELTON, NEW ENGLAND DEAL TWICE

It's becoming a tradition: during the first few days of a new trading period (after exhausting all allowable deals the previous month), James Herndon is on the horn and ready to continue trying to improve his team.

This time, his trading partners included Landon Bolt (Casselton) and Matt Caskey (Worcester). The first swap of June, however, was actually a challenge trade between Bolt and Ronald Melkonian (a name we curiously haven’t seen in the trade announcements in a while).

In that trade, one of the most expensive players in the league was dealt to his fourth team of the year. Derek Jeter, with a $10.5 million salary, was headed back to the eastern United States and getting ready to don the red, white and blue of the Philadelphia Rebels. In addition to the aging shortstop, Shawn Marcum went from the defending Central Division champs to one of the trendy picks of 2011.

In return, the Horned Toads picked up two players who were expected to help with the stick and the leather, outfielder Carlos Beltran and infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, along with young outfielder Jose Tabata (more on him later). John Lackey was also a part of the deal, but Bolt cut him immediately after taking him on to satisfy Philly’s salary cap.

Melkonian was excited about the prospect of another shutdown starting pitcher. “Not only will we feature Halladay and Lee, but Marcum will boast it even further. With Nolasco and Garza to complete the back end, we are continuing to push towards a playoff berth this season. We also get a great vet in Jeter to help our offense and defense this season.”

Casselton, meanwhile, turned around and dealt Tabata, righties Alexi Ogando and Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Chris Carter to New England for three veterans: Curtis Granderson, Scott Rolen and Gavin Floyd.

While no formal statement was issued by Bolt, it can be assumed that he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance so far but felt his squad could still compete, so he upgraded defensively at third base and centerfield and wanted to add a solid arm after losing Marcum. Herndon did hold a press conference to announce the new acquisitions—and wonder aloud about Melkonian’s moves.

“We’ve been pursuing Tabata since the beginning of the season, and we believe Philadelphia undervalued him. Talks with Philadelphia fell through, but Landon Bolt called and offered us Tabata along with other players we’ve been looking at. We think De Los Santos will be closing many games for us in the future, Ogando will be a staff ace and Carter will smash many a long ball over the Green Monster.

“Not often does a deal benefit both teams, but I feel both Casselton and New England came out on top in this trade. Philadelphia, on the other hand? I’m not sure what you can say about the situation, but their aggressiveness to win now may end up costing them the season. It is still early, though, and ‘Trader Ron’ can pull off another trade.”

Afterward, Herndon and Caskey agreed to a minor deal that likely won’t have too much impact for either team this season. Worcester, confident in their bullpen and outfield, sent Craig Breslow and Ryan Kalish a few miles across Massachusetts and picked up utility man Brent Lillibridge.