Trade

Anatomy of a Trade (Story): These days the best trades are those ESPN makes up, like its one-day Carmelo Anthony-Andrew Bynum blockbuster with as much basis in fact as Bigfoot. Here's what happened: Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak asked Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri what they want for 'Melo. In the NBA version of "Mission: Impossible's" self-destructing messages, both GMs say the other called him, standard practice since the invention of the telephone.

Here is what national analysts are saying about the Ravens trading Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers. --- Pete Prisco of CBS Sports says that trading Boldin makes sense because he no longer gets separation . “He was old and slow and made too much dough and had to go. … I think Boldin is the best receiver in NFL history at catching passes when he is not open,” Prisco wrote. “His inability to separate because of a lack of speed has forced him to evolve into a receiver who uses his hands and his body to make catches.

CLEVELAND - The Orioles may have found a defensive stopgap for second base Friday, and they officially cut ties with a pitcher once expected to be part of the franchise's future. It wasn't exactly a pre-trade deadline blockbuster, but the Orioles sent cash to the New York Mets on Friday for 30-year-old infielder Omar Quintanilla , who was designated for assignment earlier this week. The Orioles had an opening on their 40-man roster after designating right-hander Brad Bergesen on Wednesday.

In an offseason that has been defined by a flurry of under-the-radar personnel additions, new Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette made his boldest move to date Monday, sending dependable veteran starter Jeremy Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies for right-handed pitchers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. It was a curious decision considering the Orioles had baseball's highest ERA and fewest number of quality starts in 2011 and have now dealt away last year's leader in innings pitched, starts, strikeouts and starter's ERA. But Duquette said he believes Hammel can absorb Guthrie's projected innings and Lindstrom gives the Orioles another power arm in the bullpen — plus the new duo can be under team control through 2013 while Guthrie is an impending free agent.

After waiting several hours and seeing a number of their potential first-round targets still on the board, the Ravens decided that their best move was to fall back. In a decision that was hardly surprising, the Ravens traded out of the first round of the NFL draft late Thursday night, sending the No. 29 overall pick to the Minnesota Vikings. In return, the Ravens got the Vikings' second-round pick (35 th ) and their fourth-round selection (98 th overall). “We had a couple of teams call us and we had several players that we liked that are still available for us [Friday]

Long after what might have been his last - or second-to-last - practice as a member of the Washington Wizards, Jordan Crawford hardly looked like a man worried about his future or prepared to distance himself from his teammates. Engaged in a shooting contest with Bradley Beal, A.J. Price, Chris Singleton, Garrett Temple and Cartier Martin, Crawford giggled and talked trash as the players attempted long jumpers near center court. But as he headed to the locker room, Crawford blew past reporters, ignoring requests to speak to him, likely aware that the line of questioning would revolve around his diminished role and the possibility that he will be dealt by today's 3 p.m. trade deadline.

Josh Bell, once thought to be the club's third baseman of the future, is now an ex-Oriole. The Orioles traded the 25-year-old third baseman to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday for a player to be named later or cash considerations. “We didn't have a meeting of the minds for the player. So we are going to work on that for a short period of time,” said Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette. “It may or may not be a player. We assigned (Bell to Arizona) and it may or may not be a player, it may just be cash considerations.” The Orioles acquired Bell in July 2009 along with minor league pitcher Steve Johnson in the deadline deal that sent closer George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At the Houston economic summit in July, President Bush and the six other leaders of the largest industrial democracies vowed they would make "the difficult political decisions" to push through a new international trade agreement this year. They said they would instruct their representatives "to agree on the complete profile of the final package" at late-July negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.Well, that meeting was held a fortnight later in Geneva, and it was a flop.

When President Bush got the message that the American public considers him less interested in domestic problems than in international affairs, he hurriedly transformed his Far Eastern trip from a diplomatic mission to a traveling trade conference focusing on shoring up American jobs through increased exports. Serving as props for the journey are 21 business executives, including 12 chief executives of major U.S. corporations. But the Japanese, the main target of Bush's open-up-the-market efforts, are unlikely to be impressed by the corporate brass.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS may be out of the running for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the issue he brought forth remains in the race. Because of his prodding, offshore outsourcing -- the transferring abroad of jobs that Americans once naively presumed were theirs in perpetuity -- has become a major presidential campaign issue. It's about time. Jobs are the barometer most voters use to track their economic straits, regardless of what Wall Street or the White House tells them about the nation's economic recovery.