Montreal GM Omar Minaya completed his first trade on Tuesday. The Expos sent UT Geoff Blum to the Astros for 3B Chris Truby. I considered this a good trade for both sides as soon as I heard of it.

While Fernando Tatis still has substantial potential, his injury problems are chronic and severe. He'll likely once again be on the DL when the team breaks camp and the Expos needed someone other than Andy Tracy and Mike Mordecai to replace those at-bats.

Truby's plate discipline leaves much to be desired, but he's a very capable slugger when limited to hitting against left handed pitching. He slugged .618 against lefties last season, while maintaining a .325 OBP. While this was a relatively small sample size of 34 AB, he posted a solid .470 MLE SLG last year, and considering his struggles against RHP(.259 OBP and .382 SLG), he had to have excelled against some pitchers. Given his major league performance to date, he'd likely post an .850+ OPS against lefties.

Tracy didn't accumulate enough at-bats last season to tell much of anything, but he has hit well against right-handers in the past. The Expos shouldn't need their third baseman to hit any higher than 5th and he could hit as low as 7th. Their centerfielder, likely Peter Bergeron, will lead off followed by 2B Jose Vidro and RF Vladimir Guerrero. If healthy, Orlando Cabrera will likely hit 4th with 1B Lee Stevens as a possible alternative. Hitting lower in the lineup will reduce the negatives of Truby or Tracy's low OBP while still allowing the Expos to benefit from the power potential.

In Houston, the departure of Tracy likely insures that Morgan Ensberg will break camp as their starting third baseman. I approve of removing the obstacles from in front of almost any promising prospect, especially a potential Rookie of the Year like Ensberg. Keith Ginter is still theoretically in the competition with Ensberg and Blum, but he's much more likely to return to AAA, only seeing time in Houston if Ensberg or Craig Biggio becomes injured.

Blum will be another quality addition to a capable and deep bench. He can play the infield and some outfield, and he his offense is good enough not be a liability.

The Astros have assembled a championship-caliber bench to back up a potentially great lineup. Blum and Vizcaino give them two switch-hitting utility infielders, Brian L. Hunter is a great reserve outfielder and pinch-runner. Left-handed Orlando Merced has established himself as one of the top pinch-hitters in the majors, and if Adam Everett wins the SS competition, Julio Lugo gives them a quality RH pinch-hitter who's capable of playing almost any position. Backup catcher Gregg Zaun, when healthy, has even posted an .800+ OPS in the last two seasons, so the Astros are nicely situated in case any of their regulars succumb to injury.

By now many of you may have already heard of Ruben Rivera's release and the reasons behind it. There were rumors of an angry discussion between manager Joe Torre and Rivera on Sunday. The cause for the reprimand was unknown at the time and described as a "clubhouse incident", though even then there was talk of Rivera being released as a result of the unknown actions.

On Monday night, the Yankees announced the release of Rivera though they made no comment as to the reason. By Tuesday morning the story was everywhere: Rivera had stolen a bat and glove from Derek Jeter's locker for the purpose of selling them. According to some reports, the players unanimously voted to kick Rivera off the team prior to his release, though there have been some comments that contradict that reporting.

The Yankees certainly appear to want to move past this with as little fuss as possible. Jeter has avoided comment and Ruben's cousin, closer Mariano Rivera, has said very little.

Rivera himself is mysteriously flabbergasted at his former teammate's reactions and can't seem to understand their anger at something he considers quite trivial. He feels that since he repented and returned all of the stolen merchandise, including the bat which the team didn't even know was gone until it was returned, the Yankees should have shown him the leniency that other players have received when they've broken laws. He appears to view this as a mistake that he will be able to move past.

I think he's in for a harsh dose of reality, as this incident will certainly follow him through the remainder of his likely limited career. Team support has been offered to other players accused and involved in crimes more severe, but this was an attack on one of their own. Rivera crossed a massive boundary that I really doubt was located in a gray area. With the groupies that follow the sport, players need to know that they are safe when in each other's company. Rivera's attitude has not helped his public image. I think the only thing anyone is willing to trust him on is that he's telling the truth when he says he "wasn't thinking".

Normally a team still has to pay a player's full salary even if they cut them, however Rivera will only receive a $200K settlement from his $1M contract. He displayed very little sense in losing a million-dollar job for $25K, the reported sale price of the glove.

On Wednesday, officials confirmed that Mike Darr was legally drunk when driving the SUV that crashed a month ago killing him and a passenger. Since alcohol was merely thought to me a factor but not yet confirmed at the time of the crash, I wanted to provide this brief update.