With less than a month to the BLB trade deadline, many contenders and sellers have already hooked up on some big trades.  Naptown put the rest of the Pilsner Division on notice as they acquired big upgrades at 2B (Cano), DH (Ortiz) CF (Span) and the rotation (Gio).  In that same deal Sudbury cleared a staggering $86 in salary commitments for 2017.

Sudbury has also made a few other smaller deals, sending Ian Kennedy to Woodbury, Melky Cabrera to Ottawa, and Darwin Barney to Edmonton (in a deal barely worth mentioning, but it’s my blog post so I’m mentioning it!).

Meanwhile, Payette had the league wondering what direction they would take at the deadline, but after their deal with Fargo they’ve committed to selling and building for 2017.  That deal sent stud hitting catcher/DH(?) Devin Mesoraco, along with Andrew Cashner and Danny Farquhar to Fargo in exchange for injured but talented Jose Fernandez, Jason Grilli and enigmatic Cubs prospect Javier Baez.  Fargo’s still looking to buy in order to try to close the gap on Shiner who currently have a 6 game lead on the Stout Division.

Remaining questions that this Commish has leading up to the deadline include:

• Will one (or any) of Allegheny, Newcastle or Bridgeport decide to become buyers to try to make a run at the 2nd wildcard spot now that Payette has bowed out?
• Are Shiner and Fargo done, or are there more moves to make in the battle for the Stout?
• Will Guadalajara make any moves to try to hold off Ottawa? Will Ottawa make any more moves to try to make a run at the division?
• What will Toronto do? “Trader Norm” has been awfully quiet this year, but he’s only 6 games behind Naptown. Given his history he could be a buyer or a seller.