That was awesome! Mark down Thursday, July 31 as the most exciting trade deadline day I can ever recall witnessing in any sport. MLB doesn’t always get it right, but this was a grand slam homer. Huge deals, one after another in rapid fire, and make no mistake, the decision to move the deadline from midnight to the afternoon was a sensational one. If we’re looking at the old midnight deadline, chances are these deals might not have gotten done till much of the fan base was asleep. Instead, it was front page action and a tremendous success from baseball’s standpoint.
I won’t get into all these deals, but instead will focus on what I thought were the winners and losers. Let’s start with the teams that are probably exchanging lots of high fives right now. The biggest winners appear to me to be the Tigers and Red Sox. Detroit scored David Price for not a whole lot, let’s put it that way. Austin Jackson is a decent CF and Drew Smyly has a chance to be a solid mid-rotation pitcher. But Price is one of the absolute best arms in baseball, and I would doubt the Tigers are looking at him as just a rental through 2015. Even if that turns out to be the case, the Price add clearly enhances the chances of the Tigers to claim at least one title.
As for the Red Sox, they identified that they needed to reshape the roster to get back into contention in 2015. Whether or not you like this team is immaterial. This is a really sharp organization that never stands pat, and that has everything to do with the Sawx winning three titles in the last 10 years. Jon Lester was heading to free agency and getting Yoenis Cespedes, as well as adding valuable commodities from the Cardinals and a nice prospect from the Orioles clearly stamps Boston as a major deadline day winner.
Others who I believe profited are the Nationals, as adding Asdrubal Cabrera means subtracting Danny Espinosa as a regular and that is a nice gain for a contender. I’ve also given the thumbs up to the Dodgers, even though they did nothing. And that’s the point. The big three prospect trio of Pederson, Urias and Seager are still all LA property, and that’s a win for the franchise moving forward. I liked the Yankees approach, as they acquired a nice piece in Martin Prado at little cost. Ditto with the Mariners obtaining Austin Jackson.
The losers? The Rays can’t avoid being placed in this category. I have to wonder at this point how long they can hang on to their manager. Joe Maddon has done an outstanding job with this franchise, but maybe it’s time for him to explore free agency. I’m putting the Royals in the loser category as they did nothing. That means they’re still dogs to make the playoffs, and as it stands right now, the roster will be weaker next season. Considering the ownership of this team, their cries about money ring a little hollow to me.
But the big loser, even bigger than the Rays, has to be the Phillies. I can’t believe they weren’t able to move anyone. Even if they came up short in terms of return value, this team simply has to undertake an overhaul. Doing nothing sure doesn’t qualify on that count, and it got worse last night when Cliff Lee’s tender elbow flared up, and he’s already back on the DL. Bad times in Philly, and that hard core fan base has to be livid.
Reply and tell me what you think . . .
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