While you can always check in with my continuously updates Trades & Trade Rumors piece on all the latest happenings leading up to the MLB trade deadline, there’s one topic with regard to trades that should be addressed separately – flip-flopping teams. One of the toughest jobs a fantasy baseball owner has is speculating on big-league deals while preparing for their own league’s trade deadline. You can look at teams like the White Sox, Padres and A’s and easily figure out which players are headed elsewhere. As sellers on the trade market, their process has already begun. Unfortunately, there are too many other teams who, on paper, should be sellers but continue to change their minds, leaving fantasy owners in limbo with regard to certain players they themselves may be interested in buying or selling.

My great-granddaddy said it best – “Shit or get off the pot!” While those words echo in my nightmares which revolve around being in the bathroom, they are all too appropriate with some of MLB’s general managers. Make a damned decision already. The non-waiver trade deadline is this coming Monday, for crying out loud, and my fantasy leagues’ deadlines come shortly thereafter. All the flip-flopping is making it awfully tough to negotiate trades and values.

The Minnesota Twins are the biggest culprit right now as they declared themselves as being very much in the hunt and even traded for Jaime Garcia in what seemed to be an effort to bolster the starting rotation. But after a four-game losing streak, suddenly Thad Levine is ready to start selling off his bigger assets. Or so he says. He hinted towards this a few weeks ago, backtracked on the statement and now brings it up again. It’s like sitting there with my wife and having that always-annoying conversation that goes like this:

Me: What do you want to do for dinner?

Her: I don’t know. What do you want for dinner?

Me: How about Chinese?

Her: No. I’m not in the mood for Chinese. What else?

Me: Pizza? We don’t have anything in the fridge to grill tonight.

Her: I don’t want pizza. What else are you in the mood for?

I don’t even respond at this point. I just walk out of the room and let her figure it out for herself.

This is what the Twins are doing to us right now. Ervin Santana has struggled at home this season with a 4.09 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and 14 home runs allowed. If he stays, I may want to see if I can trade him to someone who hasn’t noticed his splits. If he goes, where will he land? If it’s in the NL, great. If it’s another AL team, I need to see where it is and how well he’s pitched there.

What about Brandon Kintzler? He’s been one of the more reliable closers in baseball this season, but a trade can obviously ruin his fantasy value. If he stays, keep on keepin’ on. You’ve got a solid closer to use for the next two months. If he goes, again, it depends on where. Maybe the Nationals use him as a closer. The Cubs probably won’t. The Yankees and Red Sox won’t either, but the Rangers may.

And speaking of the Rangers, what the heck are they doing? They’ve been flip-flopping on potential deals involving Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels and it’s another situation driving fantasy owners nuts. Hamels has been through this before, but Darvish hasn’t and he doesn’t appear to be taking it well. When the rumors began just prior to the All Star break, he got lit up by the Red Sox. Then GM Jon Daniels said the reports were erroneous and he wasn’t shopping Darvish. Suddenly the right-hander was throwing gem after gem for three-straight quality starts, but then the Rangers started shopping him again and BOOM! How much of a beating did your ratios take after he served up 10 runs in just 3.2 innings against the Marlins the other day? Just brutal. The team needs to make a decision here so we know whether or not it’s safe to start the guy. Until the rumors disappear, he’s got a nice spot reserved for him on my fantasy bench.

We’re seeing this in Miami with the flip-flopping on Dan Straily. The Mariners and the Braves can’t seem to figure it out either. As a fantasy owner, the best thing to do is just keep on negotiating in good faith, but if your deals involve players who have rumors swirling about them, you may want to wait until the MLB trade deadline Monday night before committing to a deal. Don’t worry, you’re not flip-flopping on trades. You’re still reaching for that brass ring. You’re just exercising a little bit of caution.