As you know, I've spent a majority of the past month preoccupied with the goings on in London. As a result, I completely missed the MLB trade deadline. Now that I've finally gotten back into baseball mode and had some time to dissect the deals, I've found that some have worked out better than others.
The most obvious thing that you immediately notice when looking at this year's trade deadline moves is that there were a lot more teams looking to buy and not really that many sellers. With the second wild card now in play and last season's collapses by the Red Sox and Braves, there are only a handful of teams that don't consider themselves contenders. It'll be interesting to see if there are any significant moves made in August as teams start to sort themselves out a little bit more. I'm not entirely sure there will be, but I also wouldn't be surprised if a team like the Phillies tries to dump more salary or a cheap reliever can be found somewhere like San Diego.
There are two teams in the American League that look like they have their tickets to October already punched--the Yankees and Rangers. Both made moves at the deadline, but for different reasons. The Yankees, of course, most notably added Ichiro. Ichiro's not the same player he was five years ago, but he fits in perfectly on a veteran team like the Yankees. And I don't think it's a coincidence that his numbers have been significantly more Ichiro-like since he joined the Yankees. He needed a change of scenery. That, more than anything, explains his dropoff in production over his last few seasons in Seattle.
The Raul Ibanez/Andruw Jones platoon in left field was working and probably would've continued to work for the rest of the season, but the Yankees really missed Brett Gardner at the bottom of the lineup. Ichiro and Gardner are similar players. He's also versatile. Ichiro has already started games at all three outfield positions, allowing Curtis Granderson to actually get a day off here and there or Nick Swisher to play first while Teixeira's wrist has bothered him. And how badly did he want to get out of Seattle and actually play for a good team? He's agreed to play left field (something he'd never done regularly) and hit at the bottom of the order (after being a career leadoff man).
Then, after Alex Rodriguez got hurt, the Yankees pulled the trigger on a deal for Casey McGehee. I'd never heard of Casey McGehee until actually seeing him play twice last year, but I actually think this is a good addition also. Losing A-Rod made Eric Chavez the starter at third base. But Chavez is left-handed and they needed somebody to play third against lefties. McGehee is also competent at first base. But most importantly, he's a nice right-handed option off the bench. That will continue to be true when A-Rod comes back. Lack of depth off the bench has been one of the Yankees' biggest problems over the last two years. This year, the bench can be viewed as a strength.
The third guy the Yankees picked up is Derek Lowe. I'm not really sure what purpose Lowe is designed to serve. My guess is that he's supposed to temporarily fill Freddy Garcia's long-relief role while Freddy takes Andy Pettitte's place in the rotation. With Pedro Feliciano supposedly in the September/October plans (I'll believe it when I see it), that Yankee bullpen is going to be awfully crowded. I doubt Lowe's on the playoff roster.
The team that has represented the American League in each of the last two World Series is the Rangers. Texas was also dealing at the deadline, most notably picking up Ryan Dempster. Along with Roy Oswalt, Dempster was supposed to strengthen the Rangers' most glaring weakness--the starting rotation. However, both pitchers have struggled. I doubt Oswalt is even a consideration come the postseason. Right now, it looks like the Rangers' postseason rotation will be Dempster, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Matt Harrison. I'm not saying they can't return to the World Series with that rotation, but I do think they had better pitching staffs in both 2010 and 2011.
The Rangers also got another former Cub, catcher Geovany Soto. Yorvit Torrealba wasn't doing much of anything, but they couldn't get rid of him without getting another catcher. Soto had lost his starting job in Chicago, so he's now Mike Napoli's backup in Texas. It's a slight upgrade over Torrealba, but, for the most part, they're the same player.
The only other significant buyers in the American League were the Los Angeles Angels of Albert Pujols. The Angels managed to snag Zack Greinke, who won the Cy Young a couple years ago in Kansas City and was the ace of the staff on a Milwaukee team that reached the NLCS last season. Greinke hasn't really been what the Angles had hoped, as they continue to move the wrong way in the standings. I thought this team was a favorite for the World Series in the preseason. It's looking more and more everyday like they won't even make the playoffs. Anaheim also activated Vernon Wells from the 60-day disabled list, but I'm not exactly sure what purpose he'll serve since Mike Trout effectively took his job. They can probably get away with putting Trumbo at third, but I'm not sure that makes the Angels better.
In a minor move, the White Sox picked up Francisco Liriano from the Twins, as they try to hold off a Tigers team that's much better than them in the AL Central.
Baltimore and Tampa Bay, interestingly, were quiet. The Rays have a lot of players on the DL, most significantly Evan Longoria, so I can understand why they wouldn't pull the trigger, but the Orioles are a bit of a surprise. Baltimore is actually contending for the first time in years, but has no starting rotation to speak of. I would've thought the Orioles would at least see what's out there in their price range. They likely weren't willing to give up the farm system for what might be a one-year thing, but to have any sort of extended October stay, the Orioles had to upgrade that rotation.
Likewise, Oakland needed to do something. I don't understand how Oakland is this good. Should the A's somehow get to the postseason, I would expect it to be a short stay for them, as well.
So, in the grand scheme of things, I think the Yankees got better and the Rangers pretty much stayed exactly where they were. The big losers, though, were the Angels. Greinke's not the pitcher they were expecting, and that could cost them any chance they had at getting back in the race. Although, with all the talent on that team, I wouldn't be surprised if Anaheim is the American League club that makes a September run.
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