Ken Davidoff's baseball insider

One can argue that baseball has never been more popular, given the attendance numbers and vast media coverage. In conjunction with that, there is a clear hunger for anticipated player movement, and this time of year, that means looking ahead to the July 31 non-waivers trading deadline.

But here in 2007, the fans and media are all revved up with few places to go.

In-season trade discussions have changed dramatically in the last few years. Just look at the White Sox. They peddled Mark Buehrle to the usual suspects, discovered that no one was willing to give up an elite prospect and now they're trying to re-sign the impending free agent. Which takes the top starting pitcher off the trade market.

There'll be plenty of chatter in the next month, with some big names probably thrown in, but ultimately, you can expect someone of Jermaine Dye's caliber _ or perhaps the oddity that is Sammy Sosa _ to be the biggest player moving. Last year, it was Greg Maddux _ a huge name, I grant you, but one well past his prime. In 2005, it was...Kyle Farnsworth?

There are two obvious factors behind the change: 1) Fewer teams are willing to give up on their seasons, thanks to the late playoff runs of the 2004-05 Astros and 2006 Twins; and 2) There's virtually no team that will give up a big-time prospect without a compelling reason. That includes the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox, all of whom used to be more far more generous when it came to disposing of unproven youngsters.

So, enjoy the proceedings, and we'll certainly document everything here at Newsday. But don't get your hopes up too much. The times, they have changed.