The offseason managerial axe has fallen for the first time, less than 24 hours into that selfsame offseason: The Detroit Tigers have fired Alan Trammell, one of the great players in the team's history.

Which begs the following questions:

Sadly, there's very little that most of us can do. But I recommend that rather than do nothing, you can make a donation to the American Red Cross as I did. (Please be patient; the link may take some time to load because they are very busy). They are on the ground directly helping victims and are best able to bring their resources to bear on the problem.

Other suggestions are most welcome.

According to Mike Wilner on the Fan 590, the Blue Jays announced about 15 minutes ago that Halladay's broken leg has not healed as well as they had hoped, so they're shutting him down for the season to recover.

According to TSN, the Jays have called up Guillermo Quiroz and designated Ken Huckaby for assignment. Was this Huck's final tour as a Blue Jay? How's Quiroz's health? Does this mean that Gregg Zaun can sleep in one or two days next week?

According to a news flash e-mail from the great Jamey Newberg, the Rangers have called up LHP Justin Thompson, former Tiger All-Star and 15-game winner, and the supposed centerpiece of the Juan Gonzalez trade that also netted the Rangers Coco Cordero and Frank Catalanotto.

Thompson has not appeared in a big league game since 1999. Which [willy insists] prompts the question ... given that he has not pitched in this millenium, if he has sustained success in Detroit, would Thompson be the greatest comeback story in baseball history?

Post your nominations in this category (hint: Jim Bouton with the Braves and Minnie Minoso in his 50s were sideshows, not comebacks) and your memories of both successful and failed comebacks in the Great Game ...

Actually, it's looking more like Trade Fringe right now. JP Ricciardi has all but said there'll be no deals involving the Blue Jays by tonight's no-waivers deadline, and despite all the talk of mammoth three-team extravaganzas, it seems the Red Sox are holding on to Manny Ramirez. So what is happening? Well, er, the White Sox traded for Geoff Blum. So it's looking pretty quiet so far, but in the event some big swaps do happen, or anyone wants to discuss the deals that do take place, here's your thread. Please attach links or references to any reported trades.

A news release from Sean Forman, the man behind BaseballReference.com, the second-best baseball site on the Web.

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Baseball-Reference.com is pleased to announce some improvements and one big addition to the site: http://www.baseball-reference.com/

The Toledo Blade, my one-time hometown newspaper and advocate of the Tigers' AAA Mud Hens club, is reporting:

The IL's days in Ottawa may be numbered. The city of Allentown, Pa., is pushing for state funding for a new baseball park, and it's probable that the tenant for that new park will be the Ottawa Lynx.

Ottawa has averaged roughly 2,300 fans per game this season, almost half as many fans as the next-lowest IL team. The average attendance for the rest of the league is roughly 6,800 fans per contest.

The Ottawa Sun reported that Lynx owner Ray Pecor said he loses between $700,000 to $1 million per year on the club.

The prospective deal would have Pecor sell the Lynx to a group headed by Craig Stein and Joseph Finley, who would move the team to the ballpark near Allentown in time for the 2008 season.

Moves like this have been rumoured on and off for some time and should come as no surprise; but the obvious question for Batter's Box Interactive Magazine readers is clear ... What does this mean to "Baseball From a Canadian Perspective"?

Maybe not the entire summer, but certainly the rest of July and perhaps most of August. The wire story has the vital information from GM J.P. Ricciardi:

For a month we're going to have to suck it up. We played without him last year. It's not a comforting situation to be in, not having him.

The timing will never be better. Last night, the Dodgers lost outfielder J.D. Drew for 6 to 8 weeks after a Brad Halsey pitch broke Drew's left wrist. The injury is just the latest to plague the Dodgers, who still don't know when they're getting Milton Bradley back from a finger injury.