With 14 strikeouts in his first two starts with the Athletics, Sean Gallagher has been exactly what Oakland hoped for when it traded for the young right-hander. Dave Stephenson/Icon SMI

By Jonathan Phillips, RotoExperts.com, Special to SI.com

The wheeling and dealing has started. Dramas abound, and management groups are already pondering how to correct the discomfort. No, we're not speaking of the Dolphins and Redskins. No, believe it or not Brett Favre, we're not talking about you either. No Detroit Red Wings -- acquiring Marion Hossa isn't quite what we're referring to. Ironically, I'm not talking about Aaron Miles either. The guy has 14 home runs in his career, and he delivers the walk-off granny. I know Terrell Owens is shocked I'm not speaking about him. But regardless of the dramas on the field, this is the time the dramas begin off the field. This is about why Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman split. No one knows why yet, and it's upsetting. They seemed so good together, particularly after they survived trysts involving both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Let's flash back to early May, when there were happier times for Jimmy and Sarah. At that time, of the 11 small market teams with payrolls under $70 million, four of them lead their respective divisions, two of them were in second place, and all but two were still in their division races. That situation has changed ... slightly. Two lead their respective divisions, two are just a half game back, two are looking up at the best team in baseball, one is in the race at 14 games under .500, and the rest are essentially out of it. However, asking prices are up. This crop of GMs isn't giving away something for nothing. So don't expect the fire sales of the past, as many small market teams seem to believe they're closer to competitiveness than you might expect. Some are right, and some, sadly, are the Washington Nationals.

Oakland Athletics

Week: 0-3
Last 10: 4-6
Overall: 51-47, 2nd AL West

Before the trade deadline could be seen coming around the corner, Billy Beane fired the opening salvos, trading Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubbies for minor league prospects. Never afraid to shake up his team even in the midst of a pennant race, it's the type of trade Beane is known for. He moves a known starter (even ace) to a place where he can't immediately damage Oakland and acquires more talent for the future (Note the Dan Haren deal this past off season). Beane wasn't done there. Just after the break, innings eater Joe Blanton was pushed over to the Phillies.

For Harden and Gaudin, the A's prime target was Sean Gallagher, a 22-year old, hard-throwing right-hander. Gallagher didn't disappoint in his A's debut against the Angels, when he struck out seven in seven and earned the victory. Then against the Yanks Saturday he tossed five innings, striking out seven while yielding two earned runs. He didn't figure in the decision. In addition, Beane's security in the deal is bolstered by his young arms down below in the form of Gio Gonzalez and Double-A strikeout leader Trevor Cahill.

Matt Murton, also acquired in the Harden deal, becomes another viable major league bat, though he's no cure for their AL-worst team .249 batting average (Murton's batting .228 this year through 57 at-bats). Adrian Cardenas, part of the Blanton trade, may give them the future leadoff hitter they're looking for. The 20-year-old is batting .309 and has 16 SBs and a .374 OBP through 67 games for Single-A Clearwater. Also acquired in their recent deals were left-handed hurler Josh Outman, who will be 23 in October, outfielder Matt Spencer, second baseman Eric Patterson, and catcher Josh Donaldson.

It's clear that Daric Barton won't be joining the Olympic diving team. Over the break, Barton smacked his head against the bottom of his friend's pool (obviously performing his famous triple somersault with a half twist pike) and will be on the 15-day DL. Welcome back to the big leagues Wes Bankston, who has made nine appearances thus far from July 2-10. During that span he hit .294 with a homer and three RBI. Bobby Crosby is due to return this week from the DL, which will most likely signify Gregorio Petit's demotion. Ryan Sweeney also returned to the lineup, immediately relieving Kurt Suzuki of leadoff duties.

UPCOMING SERIES: @TAM (7/21-7/23), TEX (7/25-7/27)

Arizona Diamondbacks

Week: 1-2
Last 10: 5-5
Overall: 48-50, 1st NL West

The talk of Cliff Lee and John Danks for the AL Cy Young award winner has me looking toward Arizona. Though Brandon Webb came out of the gate fast and furious, it was been Dan Haren who has been ridiculously unhittable nearly all year long. Haren has only three starts where he's relinquished more hits than innings pitched all year. Conversely, he has eight starts where he struck out as many or more batters than innings pitched. He has posted a PQS in his last eight starts. While Webb has faded into more inconsistency as of late, it seems Haren is just getting warmed up.

With Eric Byrnes relegated to watching again (and the Diamondbacks rumored to be pushing Byrnes to give up the season for hamstring surgery) Chad Tracy has stepped it up in a mean way. For the month of July he's hitting .404 with a .415 OBP. Considering Arizona's offensive ranking has fallen to 20th in the majors, expect Tracy to see more playing time now, even with the reacquisition of Tony Clark. Clark will give Bob Melvin a decent switch-hitting bat off the bench, as well as the flexibility to rotate Tracy into the outfield.

Justin Upton was placed on the 15-day DL to make room for Clark. The Arizona Republic reports he could be activated as soon as Thursday, but with an oblique strain, there's a good chance he could take longer in his return. Upton returned to form in the first week of July, hitting .304 with two homers, after a .123 June.

Lastly, Diamondbacks setup man Chad Qualls is apparently suffering from a strain in his back according to the Arizona Republic. He's trying to avoid DL time, that would put further strain on a bullpen that has already blown 16 saves, good for sixth in all MLB. With Juan Cruz on the DL already, Tony Pena will likely take over set-up duties until Cruz returns, which should be sometime in late July.

UPCOMING SERIES: CHC (7/21-7/23), @SFO (7/25-7/27)

Florida Marlins

Week: 2-1
Last 10: 7-3
Overall: 52-46, 3rd NL East

In what was an important early second-half series for the Marlins, the Fish hoped newfound ace Ricky Nolasco would continue his winning ways. But Nolasco's slightly high HR/9 rate of 1.3 came back to bite him, as he gave up two long-balls and four runs in a loss to the Phillies. Nolasco has logged 123 2/3 innings, putting him just 16 shy of his career high workload. I still say sell high while you can.

Andrew Miller makes a trip to the DL after knee tendinitis continues to hamper him. Miller's control issues are still the big issue, and a knee problem certainly isn't going to help that. Jesus Delgado has been recalled from Double-A Carolina to move into the bullpen after tossing a nine-pitch ninth inning to close the door on Team USA in the futures game. His fastball, clocked at 98 MPH, definitely caught the attention of a team holding onto Kevin Gregg's high walk rate. However, don't crown Delgado the king of close just yet. In Triple-A Albuquerque, Delgado struggled to the tune of an 11.81 ERA in just six games.

Chris Volstad landed his first victory in his first start, going 8 2/3 innings and striking out six. The impressive part of the victory was that of the other 19 outs, 15 were by ground ball. His GO/AO ratio in the minor leagues was just as impressive at a 2.18. He's a guy to monitor, as well as returning starter Josh Johnson, who struck out six in five innings of work upon his return this past week. Either Doug Waechter or Mark Hendrickson will likely fill in for Miller.

UPCOMING SERIES: ATL (7/21-7/23), @CHC (7/24-7/27)