The camera looking down into Municipal Stadium sent out a pixilated version of reality. All of Stephen Strasburg's(notes) pitches looked linear: no bend, no dip, no dive, no tilt. Just fast and slow, a miserable way to judge any pitcher, let alone baseball's biggest phenom making his return from when his elbow blew up 11 months ago.

Witnesses of Strasburg's 1 2/3-inning stint Sunday filled in the details the camera couldn't capture. He sat around 97 mph and once reached 98 with his fastball. His breaking ball looped with its usual ferocity. His changeup dove with relish. Strasburg struck out four hitters for Class A Hagerstown and allowed one run on an opposite-field home run to Jacob Realmuto, a 20-year-old catcher who decades from now can tell his grandkids he went yard off a mythical creature.

That, for now, is Strasburg: a patchwork of what can be, what may

Read More »from Strasburg pushes limits in rehab assignment

There is an umpire problem in Major League Baseball, and it has nothing to do with blown calls or instant replay. It's about a distinct lack of respect and baseball players' cowardice in treating umpires as some subspecies, knowing the worst thing that can fly back at them is a suspension instead of a fist.

MLB is going to lay the hammer Thursday on St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina(notes). Just how heavy the blow still was being discussed at baseball offices Wednesday, but it won't be puny. Molina's blowup at home-plate umpire Rob Drake after a called third strike Tuesday night was disgusting. It's one thing to yell at an ump. It's another to lurch toward his face in anger, lose control of your maxillary function and emit droplets of spittle. Lying about it afterward – nobody, even at MLB, believes Molina's story that the liquid Drake said twice hit him was sweat – only reinforces the point.

Read More »from Mending player-umpire relations must be a priority

Earlier this week, a scout in the middle of his 130th straight day on the road – or maybe it was his 131st; he loses track sometimes – doled out a homework assignment. He's been around for a while and turns sour when he hears all the talk about prospects.

"Go look!" he said. "Look at the last 10 years. And tell me how many pitching prospects blow their arms out or just stink or don't even make it. I think you'll be surprised."

Trade-deadline duties left the project unfinished until Saturday night, when the research actually served a purpose. Pitching prospects came into focus during the most shocking deal before the July 31 deadline: Cleveland acquired the best player on the market, Colorado Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez(notes), for left-hander Drew Pomeranz, right-handers Alex White(notes) and Joe Gardner, and first baseman Matt McBride.

Industry sentiment

Read More »from Jimenez deal forces closer look at prospect value

Yahoo! Sports national baseball writer Jeff Passan breaks down all the trades completed before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Notable deals dating back to the All-Star break are also included.

Boston

ACQUIRED Erik Bedard(notes) Josh Fields

ACQUIRED Trayvon Robinson Chih-Hsien Chiang

Seattle

ANALYSIS: March of the Injured, Take 2: After Rich Harden's(notes) medical records nauseated their doctor so badly a trade for him was canceled, the Red Sox went back for another pitcher with a dubious history. Bedard can be great, even if he wasn't in his spotlight start earlier in the week, and if he's healthy Boston might've found itself a capable fill-in if Clay Buchholz's(notes) back injury holds him up longer. Bedard's lack of experience and easy temper don't portend well for the pressure cooker of Boston, though let's be honest: If he can pitch, they'll love him there, and he'll love Boston right back.

---

Boston

ACQUIRED Trayvon Robinson

ACQUIRED Tim Federowicz Juan Rodriguez

Read More »from Trade Tracker: Deadline deals and analysis

As the baseball landscape quaked around them, the two titans of the sport stood still – maybe a little too still, knowing the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox and their capability of tectonic rumblings.

One final day of maneuvering remains before the non-waiver trade deadline Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, and the Yankees and Red Sox remain bystanders as their greatest threats gird themselves for October. Time does remain, of course, for either team, or maybe both, to do what they do best, which is throw around their weight in money, prospects or both and add a bazooka to a well-hewed artillery.

In other words: The Yankees and Red Sox both need a starting pitcher. And if either can finagle Ubaldo Jimenez(notes) from the Colorado Rockies, that team instantaneously becomes the favorite in a muddled American League race.

That's how it works this year: The elite find their internal weakness, fill it and goad

Read More »from Red Sox, Yankees need to act like heavyweights

The San Francisco Giants are going for it. They traded for Carlos Beltran(notes), the best hitter on the trade market, in a deal that should become official Thursday. To acquire Beltran, they sent the New York Mets a 21-year-old right-hander named Zack Wheeler who by all accounts was San Francisco’s most promising pitching prospect.

The St. Louis Cardinals are going for it, too. They traded for starter Edwin Jackson(notes), a hodgepodge of three relievers and backup outfielder Corey Patterson(notes) on Wednesday. To acquire their haul, they sent the Toronto Blue Jays a package that included three relief pitchers of minimal consequence and a 24-year-old center fielder named Colby Rasmus(notes) who a year ago by most accounts was one of the best hitters in the National League and who, in the words of one executive who coveted him, “is going to make us all look stupid for not ponying up to get him.”

Read More »from Flurry showcased good and bad in deadline logic

Everyone was tired. It was a few minutes before 2 a.m. ET on Wednesday. A rookie catcher named Mike McKenry barely could summon enough oomph to toss the ball back to the mound. Daniel McCutchen(notes), a reliever, was throwing his sixth inning. He hadn't gone more than three all year. On third base was Julio Lugo(notes), a veteran who went unsigned all spring and didn't arrive in the major leagues until a month ago. Scott Proctor(notes) was at-bat. He's a pitcher whose last plate appearance came June 23, 2007. This was bizarro baseball, for the insomniacs and werewolves.

Behind the plate stood a man named Jerry Meals. He turns 50 years old in October and has umpired baseball games for more than half that time. He stood alone, then and about five seconds later, when he made what in the immediate aftermath was deemed the worst call ever.

Read More »from MLB needs to wake up and expand replay

The trade market for outfielder B.J. Upton(notes) is "interesting," as one Tampa Bay Rays official put it Tuesday, and as it develops one thing is becoming clearer: If the Rays deal Upton, they're very likely to get a greater bounty than the New York Mets will for the market's hottest commodity, Carlos Beltran(notes).

Whether it's the San Francisco Giants looking for Beltran insurance, the Atlanta Braves seeking a long-term solution in center field or the Washington Nationals trying to snipe Upton for a run next season, the flexibility in Upton's contract – he doesn't become a free agent until after the 2012 season – is making him an addition as intriguing as Beltran, even if Upton's OPS is nearly 200 points worse.

A number of officials surveyed Tuesday indicated to Yahoo! Sports that they consider the Nationals a favorite for Upton, an idea owed as much to Washington general manager Mike Rizzo's

Read More »from Market for B.J. Upton doesn't lack intrigue