The Red Sox decided to sell last week after it became clear the odds were against them contending, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe writes in a long piece on the team’s deadline moves. “No matter how we think the team should be playing or could play over the last 60 games or so, the math was against us,” says Sox GM Ben Cherington. “And if we’re really serious about building another team and trying to become as good as we can as quickly as we can, well, what do we need to find out the rest of the way to do that?” Abraham adds that the Red Sox discussed potential trades with 26 of the 29 other teams, ultimately dealing Jon Lester, John Lackey, Stephen Drew and Andrew Miller. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.
- One player the Red Sox didn’t discuss was Giancarlo Stanton, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes. The Marlins were bidders for Jon Lester, but they offered a collection of prospects, and the Red Sox did not attempt to pry Stanton away. Of course, from the Marlins’ perspective, dealing an established star like Stanton might have defeated the purpose of trading for another established star in Lester, particularly since Lester is eligible for free agency after the season.
- When Esmil Rogers entered the game for the Yankees Sunday, he became the team’s 29th pitcher this season, a franchise record, as Katie Sharp of It’s About The Money tweets. That group includes injury cases (Masahiro Tanaka, C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda etc.), barely used relievers (Bruce Billings, Chris Leroux, Wade LeBlanc, Jim Miller, Cesar Cabral, Jeff Francis) and even former infielder Dean Anna.
- The Pirates sat out of the trade deadline for the second straight year, but the trading season isn’t over, notes Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Bucs made two waiver trades in 2013, acquiring outfielder Marlon Byrd, backup catcher John Buck, and first baseman Justin Morneau. After a quiet July trade deadline in 2014, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pirates dip into the waiver trade market again.
- Pedro Alvarez has lost his job as the Pirates’ starter at third base, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. The Bucs aren’t likely to move him to a different position (probably first base) until after the season, however. The Pirates acquired infielder Jayson Nix Sunday as an additional option at third, although Josh Harrison will likely receive most of the available playing time there.
- Major League Baseball should consider moving the non-waiver trade deadline to some point in August, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The presence of the second Wild Card causes many teams to consider themselves contenders in late July, leading to few sellers on trade market. Athletics GM Billy Beane says that he approves of the current July 31 deadline but adds that there haven’t been many sellers in recent years. Giants GM Brian Sabean, meanwhile, believes the deadline should be changed.
- Players who appear likely to clear waivers and become candidates for August trades include Josh Willingham of the Twins, Alex Rios of the Rangers and Carlos Quentin of the Padres, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes. That could mean there could be a reasonable market for teams looking for outfielders, especially if Marlon Byrd of the Phillies and Drew Stubbs of the Rockies also clear. John Danks of the White Sox and Scott Feldman of the Astros (who pitched a complete game today) are among the starting pitchers likely to clear.
- The Dodgers and Brewers had the most interest in Padres reliever Joaquin Benoit, Heyman tweets, noting that Benoit is unlikely to clear waivers.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
RT “Scott Feldman of the Astros (who pitched a perfect game today)”
Fact check, aisle 5.
Ooops! Still, though, he pitched a good game.
Yeah, I meant a complete game, obviously.
Yeah, what? 8 hits, 2bbs and 1 run is perfect?
Almost as accurate as a quality start being 6 IP and 3 ER.
That largely depends on your definition of quality. People want to see it as meaning good but the stat quality start was meant to denote average.
Sure, but 6 IP and 3 ER isn’t average. Using this years stats, you’d be one of the worst 15 starter in the majors (in terms of ERA – which is a bad stat to begin with) having pitched to 6 IP and 3 ER each outing.
Yes but pitching numbers are up this year and hitting numbers are down. When the stat was created it was used to determine an average pitcher. That may not be the case anymore.
Don’t we get a “trade deadline should be moved” article every year? It was one of the busiest deadline weeks this year
The deadline shouldn’t be moved. You should go to the playoffs with the team that got you to the playoffs. August trades should be as uncommon as they are.
The real problem is the second WC, which cheapens the value of the 162 game season.
They should also abolish the whole “40-man rosters in September” thing. I could see bumping it to 27 or something to allow a little less strain on bullpen arms down the stretch, but the current system makes so little sense to me
That one doesn’t bother me as much, but I see why people don’t like it. I guess it benefits losing teams who are able to better assess their players. Especially since the 40 man roster sees a fair amount of turn over from the end of one season to the beginning of the next.
Buck Showalter had a pretty good idea for how to deal with the 40-man in September. A team can carry 40 players through September but before each game they need to identify the 25 to 30 who are active and eligible for that particular game or a series vs. a single club — kind of like setting a playoff roster.
Yeah, that feels like a reasonable compromise.
The deadline is working fine. July 31 leaves teams with a decision to make. They should leave it as is.
Poor Pedro, he looks so lost in all parts of the game. Hopefully he can recover but it’s probably gonna have to be somewhere else other than Pittsburgh.
Yes, the timing of his collapse has really hurt the Pirates, at least for this year, as he currently has no trade value. He will need to be switched to 1B in the offseason, provided he can outperform Ike Davis. Problem is, by all accounts, he hasn’t been receptive at all to moving over to 1B. Most likely scenarios are for him to either get traded this season for peanuts (unlikely) or play out the remainder of his contract as a 1B and move over to the AL as a DH for 2016. Pirates will likely never seen the return they fully expected to get for the 2014 HR champ, which is unfortunate.
That being said, eventually being able to move Walker to 3B and promote Hanson to 2B does make sense for the Pirates, provided they can get consistent power out of 1B. I wonder if they eventually give Snider a chance at 1B as well? I suppose Bell is still the long-term answer there.
The way Walker is playing 2B, I wouldn’t want to move him anywhere else anytime soon. 3b is always so pigeonholed as a spot which has to produce power, but if the Bucs can re-sign Walker and continue to get power from 2B, I would be just fine with leaving Walker at 2nd and Harrison at 3rd
Alen Hanson isn’t a player you move a guy like Walker for. I don’t even think Hanson will ever play a game for the Pirates, he looks like a trade chip to me. Jacoby Jones has a much better bat and has higher upside. And Gift Ngoepe is a much better defensive player.
The Red Sox had a healthier team than the Yankees and even a better rotation so they had no reason to sell.They gave up and so more benefit to lose than win.THis was a easy division like last year when they snuck into the postseason last year.
Sneaking into the postseason this year isn’t worth sacrificing next year too. They took steps to improve their offense, allow their pitching youth to grow, and still have plenty of room and resources for a big FA arm or two.
I’d be pretty annoyed if I were a Marlins fan if they were to give up prospects for two months of Lester, as a team not really in contention.
Since Quentin is unlikely to come off the DL, he is equally likely to be a waiver claim trade candidate. Thanks though John Heyman.
To think there were Pirate fans who were arguing over the offseason that Pedro Alvarez was worth a $100MM contract. That would look worse than Ryan Howard’s contract right now if it had happened.
Most Pirates fans (or Pittsburgh fans in general) live in hindsight. If you can get one Pirate fan to admit they wanted to see Pedro get an extension, you deserve a prize.
Since you were one of the most ardent supporters of Alvarez being worth a $100MM, what do I win?
a cookie :)
Hahaha. I’ll take it. Oatmeal raisin please.