The first-place New York Yankees traded a player to be named later to the Indians for reliever Kerry Wood and cash. The Yanks will pay for only $1.5M of the $3.71 left on Wood’s contract.

How do the Yankees keep picking up solid Major Leaguers without (a) giving up much in return and (b) not paying their entire salaries?

In other news, the Florida Marlins have acquired LHP Will Ohman for RHP Rick Vanden Hurk. A curious deal, since their trade of Jorge Cantu earlier this week suggested they were “sellers” and not “buyers”. But “sellers” do not make deals for 32-year-old situational lefthanders.

I’m not certain, but the Vanden Hurk (Netherlands) – Ohman (Germany) deal may be the first one-for-one, all-European trade in MLB history. Can someone confirm one way or the other?

Meanwhile, the Mets are standing pat. They are very confident in their bullpen personnel.

Finally, the Mets have found a LOOGY to help Pedro Feliciano shoulder the load — they’ve signed the recently released Ken Takahashi.

OK, in reality, there’s little if any chance of Takahashi going north. Most likely, he joins what may be an all-lefty bullpen in Buffalo, hanging in the bullpen with the likes of Casey Fossum, Adam Bostick, Jon Switzer, and Heriberto Ruelas.

On the one hand, if he does eventually get promoted to the big club, he could have a stint of success, based on the fact that no one has seen him before. In a LOOGY role, that stint could be spread out for a couple months. On the other hand, Takahashi is my age, meaning he’s too damn old to be an MLB rookie (though I’d love to put him on my Sunday league roster).

For a full analysis on Takahashi, including a video, see NPBTracker.

In related LOOGY news, the Dodgers signed Will Ohman on a minor league contract (for about a million less than the Mets guaranteed Tim Redding) and the Rangers released Jimmy Gobble.

Despite Ohman’s success against lefties over the past few seasons, the Mets were never interested.

Though Gobble has now been released twice this spring, neither of his previous employers face Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez 19 times a year. I still believe this turkey is worth bringing aboard … certainly he’ll be more useful than Fernando Nieve or Elmer Dessens.

Speaking of … Dessens and Nieve are still in camp, while Nelson Figueroa is not? Where’s the logic in that? Figgy was one of the most impressive pitchers during the WBC, facing some of the best hitters in the world in a tournament that was taken very seriously by everyone other than the USA.

Put another way: Figgy fared better than Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt in March, yet was given a ticket to triple-A so that room could be made for Elmer Friggin Dessens. Go figure.