Second-Half Team Best Records after the Trade Deadline, 2000-03 Rk. Team W-L Pct. 1. Athletics 154-66 .700 2. Cardinals 144-83 .634 3. Giants 140-81 .633 4. Yankees 133-93 .588 5. Astros 127-96 .570 Source: Oakland A's

Billy Beane has made a July trade in each of his six previous seasons as general manager of the Athletics. If his streak ends this year, it will only be for this reason: He may not wait until July to fix his troublesome bullpen. How big a problem has Oakland's relief corps become? Put it this way: Steve Schott, one of the game's more frugal owners, actually said he would increase payroll to fix it.

The problem with Oakland's pen is it has too many pitchers who rely on finesse and trickery. Beane made a mistake in going against his own practiced beliefs by signing Arthur Rhodes to a three-year contract. Beane smartly has not overvalued closers, switching from Billy Taylor to Jason Isringhausen to Billy Koch to Keith Foulke (whom he wanted to keep) without remorse. In a weak moment, however, Beane -- after missing out on Armando Benitez -- decided that Rhodes would, at the age of 34, suddenly develop the stomach to pitch the ninth inning under pressure. Bad move.

How bad has Oakland's pen been? The unit ranks 28th in ERA (4.82); has lost the most games (14) of any winning team; has saved fewer games (13) than every team but the Braves, Orioles and Indians; and has been tagged for the highest batting average (.275) save for the Giants, Braves, Indians and Rockies.

Oakland's bullpen has thrown the fewest innings in baseball, so workload is not the problem. After Justin Duchscherer, Jim Mecir and Chad Bradford all blew consecutive saves last week, and following Rhodes' return from a three-day absence to attend an uncle's funeral, manager Ken Macha hinted that he might use rookie Justin Lehr in closing situations. Total major league innings for Lehr at the time: One. Total minor league saves entering this year for Lehr: 8. Why not? Unless you have a premier reliever such as Eric Gagne or Mariano Rivera, finding a closer often means using the hot hand -- no experience necessary. (October, however, is another story.)

What can Beane do about it? He's been engaged in talks with Kansas City GM Allard Baird about center fielder Carlos Beltran. Beane may have designs on trading for Beltran then flipping him to another club to improve Oakland's bullpen, though if I could secure Beltran -- even as a rental -- I'd keep him. Beltran, an everyday player at a premium position, can do more to get the A's out of the first round of the playoffs -- where their season has ended the past four seasons -- than a closer. Beane nearly made a similar blockbuster move in 2000 when he tried to get Manny Ramirez from Cleveland.

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Beane also could promote prospect Joe Blanton into the rotation and move Rich Harden to the back end of the bullpen, but Harden's present -- and future -- is as a starter. Harden is a hard thrower who maintains his stuff deep into games and is averaging 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings. He's been more effective than fellow starters Barry Zito or Mark Redman. It might not be wise to ask him to learn how to warm up quickly, recover from pitching consecutive days and develop a ninth-inning routine on the fly and do it in a pennant race. Closing isn't that easy.

There has been speculation that Beane would consider trading Zito, but according to one AL source, that's about five months premature. Beane, the source said, wants to keep The Big Three together for one more run, then he could move Zito after the season to free up money to extend the contracts of Tim Hudson, who can leave as a free agent after next season, and Mulder, who, like Zito, has a 2006 club option. No way I'd move Zito now. Even if he's been off his game this year, left-handed starting pitching is a precious commodity.

Here's what I'd do if I were Beane: Give Lehr a run as closer and see if he's the hot hand; let Rhodes and his Pepto-Bismol have the much calmer eighth inning; trade for Beltran and keep him. After all, Beane and the Athletics are stuck in organizational quicksand. They need to advance further than the first round of the postseason -- and doing so may require a bold move. Of Beane's previous 13 July acquisitions, his biggest have been Jermaine Dye, Jose Guillen, Ray Durham and Kevin Appier. Beltran would easily be his boldest move.

Expos are champions

In the spirit of keeping youth baseball fun -- not to mention honoring John Boccabella, Pepe Mangual and great Montreal players of years past -- and as manager of a team of third- and fourth-graders in my town, I chose our team name and uniform to be those of the Expos. Everybody wants to be the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants or some other big-market team. Why not give a nod to the ultimate underdog? I wondered how many other youth teams in New Jersey -- or anywhere outside Quebec, for that matter -- were the Expos. I'm proud to report we did well by the blanc, bleu and rouge.

After earning a first-round bye after a fourth-place regular season finish, we swept through three rounds of playoffs to win the championship, coming from behind to win each game. So way to go, Expos! After the 8-6 win in the title game, I gave the kids one last piece of advice: hang on to your uniforms. You might never see them again anywhere else.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.