By Bill Begley
The trade deadline has come and gone, which does not mean there won’t be any wheeling-and-dealing as races tighten later this month.
And, really, measuring how any of these deals will affect the postseason lineup is hard to determine.
Certainly, the Red Sox added a solid weapon by getting Victor Martinez from Cleveland, but will it make that much of a difference?
Is it wrong to think the Mariners have given up by dealing veteran lefthander Jarrod Washburn when you consider the fact that the trade with Detroit allows Seattle to move a high-priced player in his contract year and get some decent prospects in return?
The final verdict won’t come this season and maybe not for a few seasons to come. But, for now, here’s a final look at some of the deals done over the deadline weekend – along with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down for the deals pulled off or, maybe, the deals not done.
3 Up
1. Cardinals: For a while there, Albert Pujols’ chances of seeing a pitch in the strike zone – heck, in the same time zone – were about as good as the odds of Jon and Kate getting back together for the sake of the “eight.” Then along came Matt Holliday, and suddenly teams pitching found that pitching around St. Louis’ slugging first baseman came with a price. A steep one, it seems – Sunday’s “oh-fer” was the first time in 10 games Holliday did not get a hit since the Cards acquired him from the A’s. He is hitting .541, has three home runs and driven in 10 runs. Pujols, meanwhile, is hitting .400 since Holliday’s arrival, and St. Louis has won six of those 10 while holding off the fast-charging Cubs. Giving up slugging third base prospect Brett Wallace wasn’t easy, but Holliday – all of 29 – could ease the pain for a while to come.
2. Phillies: OK, what does it say when a trade that lands a team a reigning Cy Young award winner is considered “consolation” for a deal it could not pull off? It says that, just maybe, obsessing on one player is not exactly the healthiest way to make a deal. Philadelphia got exactly what it was looking for – a veteran ace to bolster its rotation – when it dealt a handful of decent prospects to the Indians for reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. The Phils were focused (obsessed?) with getting Toronto’s Roy Halladay, but the fact is since 2006 Lee (49-31) has been pretty successful, though not as much as Halladay (63-27). Still, Lee is lefthanded, two years younger, with a smaller and more manageable contract and did not cost Philadelphia either of its top pitching prospects, Kyle Drabek and J.A. Happ. What is there to “console” them about?
3. White Sox: Patience, it seems, is indeed a virtue. Especially for Chicago, which went after San Diego ace Jake Peavy back in May, and had a deal in place with the Padres only to see it shot down when the 28-year-old righthander exercised his contractual right to deny the deal. That changed just before the deadline, when Sox GM Kenny Williams sent four young pitchers to the West Coast in exchange for the veteran pitcher, who could make all the difference in a very winnable AL Central race once his tender right ankle is strong enough to get him off the DL. The best part is Peavy is under contract through 2012 (with a hefty option year in 2013), so it’s not just a “hired gun” trade.
3 Down
1. Reds: Maybe Walt Jocketty is feeling nostalgic. That would explain why the Reds’ GM would deal three prospects – including highly touted young pitchers Josh Roenicke and Zachary Stewart – for the Blue Jays’ third baseman. Rolen played in St. Louis during Jocketty’s days as GM there, and Rolen was certainly one of the best players in the game at that time. Now, he is 34 and in his twilight. This might have made sense if the Reds were in the NL Central race, but losing 10 of their last 11 has Cincinnati fighting to stay ahead of the Pirates in the division basement, not fighting to get into the postseason. The third player Cincinnati gave up in the deal – Edwin Encarnacion, whose defensive shortcomings and brain-farts while running the bases earned him the nickname “Special Ed” among Cincinnati faithful – is all of 26 and hit 57 homers during the 2006-07-08 seasons. The logic behind this deal is foggy, at best.
2. Pirates: Is there anyone left in Pittsburgh? Seriously? The parade of talent that has left since Neal Huntington took over as GM is staggering – Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche, Ian Snell and now the anchors in the middle infield, Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson just to name a few. At some point, the stripping and rebuilding gets old and unproductive. Trade deadline has become a salary dump routine for the Pirates for a long time. This season was no different.
3. Rangers: Somehow, with Josh Hamilton struggling during an injury-laden season, a rotation that has shifted over and over again because of a slew of injuries and a closer who has been on the DL nearly as much as he’s been off it, Texas has managed to stay within striking distance of the red-hot Angels in the AL West race. And yet, with a slew of available pitchers out there (including a closer in Baltimore’s George Sherrill), the Rangers did not make a move. Sure, they dipped a toe in the Roy Halladay waters, but never considered parting with one of the many of marketable prospects. Good strategy? Probably in the long run. But, for the short term, Texas missed a chance to shore up its position for the postseason.
