There is plenty to discuss as the dust settles from the passing of yet another non-waiver MLB trade deadline. It seems every year the deals that don't get done are as worthy of debate as those that did. This year is different, however, mainly due to the efforts of John Schuerholz. Yes, due to the 2 trades completed earlier today and yesterday the Braves have to be considered the dominating winners at this years deadline. Without further introduction I will outline this years biggest winner and biggest loser at the deadline along with analysis of the deals that were made, or weren't...
Biggest WINNER:
Atlanta Braves: The Braves gm John Schuerholz will surely dominate the trade headlines for the next day or so as the Braves were able to snag 2 very important pieces of their eventual world series run (more on that later). The first and flashiest of the deals sees Texas slugger Mark Teixeira along with 36 year old middle reliever Ron Mahay moving to Atlanta in exchange for the Braves 3 best prospects and 2 others. Shuerholz was able to capitalize in a big way on the league wide trend of overvaluing prospects. Teixeira makes the Braves especially dangerous as the only hole in lineup with the 9th best OPS in the majors is their league worst play at 1B by OPS. The Braves now have arguably the best lineup in the NL. Now as for the pitching, the Braves were able to add Octavio Dotel to the backend of their bullpen in exchange for the struggling Kyle Davies.
Biggest Loser:
Pittsburgh Pirates: To be completely honest, I thought that this was a prank when I first saw this deal being reported just minutes after the deadline. I mean why would the team with the second worst record in the game and a 38 million dollar payroll trade a young promising OF for a an old overpaid middle of the rotation starter. On one level I understand the idea of adding the value of an experienced SP to anchor a young and inexperienced staff. However, Morris is far too expensive and not nearly talented enough to make this trade worthwhile. Jim Rome put it best when he explained the irrelevance of Morris' success in PNC park by begging the question who do you think he was facing?
Tribe Outlook:
The Indians were only able to put together one deal before the deadline and that was the acquisition of former Indian Kenny Lofton. This deal will benefit the Indians on a number of levels. Most importantly Mark Shapiro was able to get great value back for offensively minded C prospect Maximilano Ramirez. Lofton will add the spark to the tribe that is necessary for them to push into the playoffs and behind. The intangibles that Lofton brings to the table are vast. He will bring leadership and enegry to a young and sometimes lethargic tribe roster. On the field Lofton will be able to help Sizemore set the table for the tribes mashers, eg. Vic and Pronk. Although I would have liked to have seen the Indians add a backend reliever, and from what I have heard Ben Francisco would have netted one, I understand and respect Shapiro's decision to stand pat. In fact, Shapiro is quoted as saying, "I will never trade an everyday player for a relief pitcher." While I agree with this in principle, sometimes the caliber and abundance of certain types of everyday players can override this rule. In any event, the Indians are in a great position to win the Central and to fight for a World Series title.
MLB Outlook:
It seems to easy a prediction to make, but with the moves made over the deadline the Atlanta Braves and Boston Redsox have each moved themselves to the forefront of their respective leagues. It would not surprise me to the Braves win the East by as comfortable a margin as 5 or more games and beat up on an inferior NL on their way to the series. As for the Redsox, with the Indians and Tigers struggling mightily the last 2 weeks I see no reason for them not to be the AL's World Series representative(as much as it pains me to say it). There is still a lot of baseball left, however, so lets not get too far ahead of ourselves as anything is liable to happen the rest of the year and it probably will...
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7 comments:
Wow! I just checked this out when I saw the website on your new facebook group, and it's a site I think I will have to check out more often! However, I have one request and one question: Allow anonymous comments (I'm posting as my brother), and what's going to happen to the Yankees, and why?
Roger Melick
Hey, thanks for the heads up I didnt even know I had comments locked for non-users. As far as the Yankees thats a good question. The is no question they can hit as they are far and away the best offensive club in baseball scoring 36 runs more than any other team in the ML. The pitching is a different story however, as they are ranked 21st currently in starter era. In fact, of all the Yankees that have started a game this year only Wang has an era under 3. The bullpen is solid, but thats irrelevant if they are behind late in the game. As far as I see Boston is too strong to catch more so now with the addition of Gagne. The wildcard is a different story though. The Tigers have completely hit a wall and it is now anyones race to win. I'd say the Yankees are currently the 5th best team in the AL behind BOS, CLE, DET, LAA in that order. If they do make the playoffs I don't see them making much noise due to the lack of a dominate starting pitching duo. (eg. CC and Fausto or Lackey and Escobar)
Now that you lay it out for me, it makes a lot more sense...I always expected that was a small problem wit the Yankees...but how's this Roger Clemens thing coming a long? I realize that he is only one pitcher, and he's old, and he has "retired" several times but will he be a solution, at least for the playoffs?
And you have the Indians as the 2nd best team in baseball. Is that really true, or is that just some hometown pride talking?
To be honest about Clemens I have only seen him pitch twice this season and they were his first two minor league starts. However, I was pretty sure back then that he had little left to offer a ML club. His velocity was down and his delievered seemed rather labored. His Strikeouts are down this year from last and his hrs are up. Not to mention that he is having to pitch in the Al for the first time in three years which my have inflated his numbers in Houston without the DH. So I would say that he is likely a non-factor for the remainder of the season and playoffs. As far as my ranking of CLE 2nd that was in the AL and I'd have to look into it a bit more but I feel comfortable saying that BOS is the only team in ML that would consistently beat the Tribe in a playoff series...
How about the Mets? Is another playoff run in store for them?
What about the Mariners? Ichiro's turned it around and they have some decent pitchers.
ah, the mets, interesting season so far, they started off very well and have been kinda floundering. Although, they still are playing relatively well and with the addition of Pedro they should be able to make it into the post season. However, as far as advancing, I see ATL and SD as the biggest threats in the NL for the world series. The front end pitching of SD and the total package of ATL especially after the deadline are the clinchers for me.
With regard to the AL and Seattle I think of the second tier they have the best chance to progress int he postseason due to the pitching strength, however I think the NYY and DET/CLE loser have a better chance to end up with the wild card because of the offensive prowess and simply the comparative talent levels of the teams.
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