The MLB trade deadline – a lone beacon of hope in the
otherwise barren sports landscape that is late July. It wasn’t the most exciting deadline of all time, with a
notoriously weak market for hitting, but there were plenty of important moves
to keep fans on their toes. As the
calendar turns over to August 1st, we are finally hitting that
all-important homestretch of the baseball season. However your team looks now, that’s pretty much how it’s
going to look for the rest of this year and into the playoffs. Sure there’s the potential for
injuries. And returns from
injury. And those pesky Biogenesis
suspensions. Ok, never mind, there
is actually still a lot that could change. But nonetheless, we can finally sort of maybe a little bit whittle
down who is looking good going into the home stretch, who is not looking so
good, and possibly make some sort of prediction. Let’s break the big trades down…
Texas Rangers – Matt Garza
The Rangers made perhaps the
biggest splash well before the deadline hit. They gave up a pretty good haul of prospects for about 2-3
months of the coveted Matt Garza. If
he can carry them to another World Series it will be well worth it, but I don’t
think that’s going to happen.
Heck, the Rangers aren’t even going to catch the A’s in the standings if
those pesky Athletics keep playing the way they have been. Garza is a great pitcher and I have
always really liked him, but he has become a bit overrated unfortunately. The Rangers gave way too much up for a
rental when they may not even make it to the playoffs, and while Darvish-Garza
is a nasty 1-2 punch, they don’t have much in the way of pitching to back those
guys up. They have some pretty
good hitting on paper, but even some of their bats have been struggling for
consistency, and if Nelson Cruz gets suspended I’m not sure the Rangers even
have enough to grab that second wild card away from Baltimore or
Cleveland. I have always loved
Garza and I want to love this move, but it’s just not very good for what it is.
Red Sox – Jake Peavy
Now, as much as it kills me to say
it, the Red Sox were the big winners at the trade deadline. They got another guy I have always
loved, Jake Peavy, and although he’s older and injury-prone, he still
undoubtedly has the stuff if healthy to be a major contributor. Like the Rangers and Garza, Boston is
not asking Peavy to be an ace, just to be a really good second or third
starter, and that is precisely what he is at this point in his career. The only difference is that the Red Sox
gave up a lot less – just Jose Iglesias, a shortstop who may turn out to be
really good, but who was not going to replace Stephen Drew this year anyway – and
got Peavy for next year as well. This
deal was so good, I think it might be on steroids. No? Well anyway, I still think
the key for the Red Sox is Clay Bucholz, because if he comes back the rotation
of Lester, Bucholz, Peavy, Lackey is unbelievable. Without Bucholz… we’ll see. Regardless, a few days ago I saw the Rays running away with
it and the Red Sox falling off into wild card land, but now I’m not at all
sure.
Orioles – a bunch of… who?
The Orioles are a hard one to
figure out after the trade deadline.
They got a lot of good players that sort of make you go… him? Scott Feldman, pretty solid starting
pitcher courtesy of the Great Chicago Fire(sale). Bud Norris, young pitcher with a lot of potential who you’ve
never heard of because he’s from Houston.
Francisco Rodriguez, that guy they called K-Rod who got all those saves
years ago and then sort of… what happened to him again? So yeah, sort of a ragtag bunch of acquisitions,
but then isn’t that exactly what the Orioles have been? And that’s exactly why they have Buck
Showalter – so he can turn a ragtag bunch into a playoff team somehow. So I don’t look at the Orioles roster
and quiver anymore than I did a month ago, but they solidified a questionable
rotation, and got an all-star closer who I assume will slot in as the setup
man. That’s pretty good for a
market with very few stars, and the strength of this team was always going to
be its young hitting anyway with Adam Jones and Machado and Crush. They just fell a half game behind
Cleveland last night in the wild card hunt, but they are very much in this race
going forward and with improved pitching they’re as dangerous as anyone.
Yankees – Alfonso Soriano
The Yankees didn’t do too much, but
I have to talk about them anyway. First
of all, I love Alfonso Soriano. He
was my favorite player 10 years ago, because who hits 40 home runs and steals
40 bases? WHO??? And the guy didn’t do steroids as far as we know. Gotta love him. I was all ready to gush over Cashman
once again for this brilliant move, this unexpected yet at the same time so
obvious trade… wait, Cashman didn’t want to do this? That’s right, ownership overruled him. And normally, that means trouble. That means awful A-Rod contract, and
Teixeira, and too much money for Ichiro and no more Russell Martin. But in this one case, I’m with
them. This was a great move. Soriano was still a 30 homer, 100 RBI
guy with the Cubs (although the steals are mostly gone), and with some DH time
and in a clubhouse atmosphere like the Yankees, who knows what he could still
do the rest of this year and next?
And the Yanks only have to pay him 5 million next year. So yeah, great move Yankees ownership,
and I’ll probably never say that again.
And with Jeter back with a bang and Granderson on his way this weekend, all
of a sudden the Yankee lineup is formidable again, with only 2 automatic outs
rather than 4 or 5. Sabathia’s struggles
could be a killer, but if he rights the ship then all of a sudden I have hope
for a playoff berth. They’re still
not going to go anywhere, but that second wild card may just be within reach…
So there you have it, the big American League deals. Not a whole lot changed – the Red Sox,
Rays, Tigers, and A’s still lead the way with Baltimore, Texas, Cleveland, and
the Yankees fighting for that final playoff spot. I still have the Rays as my World Series favorite with the
Tigers close behind, and as far as that final wild card spot goes, well you
already know I don’t like Texas and Cleveland has melted down too many times
for me to take them too seriously.
So I see it coming down to New York, Baltimore, and the AL East. No matter what happens, though, it
should be an exciting finish.
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