Here are a few interesting questions from this week's chat at USAToday.com:

The trade deadline has come and gone and the big prize is... Travis Snider? Don't despair; there are much worse things out there.

WAS traded a minor-league catcher to OAK for veteran Kurt Suzuki (C, WAS) to bolster a catching corps decimated by injury. Suzuki is having the least productive season of his career, batting .218 with a .530 OPS. His 0.17 Eye suggests his once-solid plate skills have collapsed, while his .211 xBA says his lowly BA is merited. Suzuki entered 2012 off three straight seasons with 13-15 HR, but with a 57 PX and only one HR in 262 AB, his power has ebbed.

With the 2012 trade deadline now behind us, we take another tour around the minors to see who is hot and who is not. The task is now on finishing the season strong, with some eyeing a potential September call-up.

(*) HQ RADIO: Rick Wilton, Baseball HQ.com's Dr. HQ on injured players and returning players...

Ruiz injury, Young/Parra platoon, additional trade fallout and a couple of anticipated AL debuts ...

The challenge is that we have greater accuracy projecting skill over a longer time horizon, but greater accuracy projecting playing time over a shorter horizon. How do we resolve that disconnect?

This NL Weekend Series Matchup column previews one four-game series and seven three-game series.

Patrick Corbin returned to the Diamondbacks' rotation with a PQS-5 performance. How closely should you pay attention?

The Mets have no doubt wilted in the July heat. But you can't blame Ike Davis (1B, NYM) for the club's mid-summer collapse. After Valley Fever and early season struggles that had pundits wondering if he'd be on the bus to Triple-A Buffalo, Davis has responded with 10 HRs over the past month; 6 of them in a one-week span.

OAK rookie A.J. Griffin owns a 2.51 ERA and a 3.5 Cmd through his first seven starts. Griffin is slated to face TOR on Saturday.