Though trades completed after the expiration of the non-waiver period generally lack the marquee appeal of their predecessors, August swaps can have wide-ranging impact — as the blockbuster of 2012 amply illustrates. This year, most of the heavy lifting was done during July, but that doesn’t mean that the more recent set of trades (and straight waiver claims) will go without meaning.
So, MLBTR readers: which of the following dozen players will, in your opinion, be the most impactful addition for their new club? (Players listed in alphabetical order by last name, randomized in poll; links go to the relevant transaction.)
Gordon Beckham, INF, Angels — Beckham has not hit well this year — or, really, for much of his career — but is just 27 and can play around the diamond.
Jonathan Broxton, RP, Brewers — One of the game’s most effective set-up men this year, Broxton will be Milwaukee’s for 2015 as well, at a $9MM price tag.
Kevin Correia, SP, Dodgers —Â Injury flare-ups created a need for innings, but Los Angeles decided to add at the back of the rotation rather than giving up top youngsters.
Alejandro De Aza, OF, Orioles — Though he has had a down year, De Aza appears to be a solid reserve piece and comes with control for next year (though he is a possible non-tender).
Adam Dunn, DH, Athletics — Dunn can still mash, especially against righties, and his bat will be nice to have handy in a now-likely play-in game.
Roberto Hernandez, SP, Dodgers — See above re Correia.
Kelly Johnson, INF, Orioles — With Manny Machado down for the year and second base still a weakness, Johnson is an obvious fit.
Josh Outman, RP, Yankees — Apparently missing Thornton somewhat, New York added the lefty-killer and will have the chance to control him for 2015.
Geovany Soto, C, Athletics — Catcher didn’t seem likely to become a need for Oakland, but Soto could be a good get to plug a late-arising hole.
Matt Thornton, RP, Nationals — Thornton represented the lefty specialist that Washington wanted, and he has been lights out since being nabbed.
Jacob Turner, SP, Cubs — The only non-contender acquisition on this list came about when the Marlins tired of waiting for the 23-year-old’s promise, and his lack of options required an ill-timed DFA.
Josh Willingham, OF, Royals — After a quiet non-waiver deadline, Kansas City made its move to add the still-productive veteran hitter.
“Now-likely play-in game”? Really? There’s a whole month of baseball left, the A’s are 4.5 games back, have been in this situation several times in past season, and face the Angels 3 more times. Hard to pin it as a “now-likely” situation one way or the other. The AL West is still up for grabs.
Fangraphs has it at an 85% likelihood that the Halos take the division. “Likely” implies nothing more than > 50%. I’m comfortable with calling it that.
Doesn’t mean they can’t come back, but it’s a pretty sizeable hole at this point.
Fair enough, and I acknowledge my personal bias, but I think the Angels still have a lot of work to do. They’ll have to still make up for the 3ish starts that would have been Richards and still get through the 3 games in Oakland, where the A’s have been playing very well.
Angels remaining schedule:
— 5 games against Houston (428)
— 4 games against Minnesota (438)
— 6 games against Texas (387)
— 1 game against Cleveland (519)
— 7 games against Seattle (537)
— 3 games against Oakland (577)
Put another way, they have 15 games against the 3 worst teams in the AL. They have 8 games against good but not great teams (Seattle and Cleveland). Finally, they have 3 games against a very good Oakland team.
Oakland has a similar schedule. Swap the Twins for the Phillies and some Houston games for the White Sox. I don’t see any real advantage for either team in terms of SOS.
As for losing Richards … it hurts. But not nearly as bad as people make it to be. Fangraphs ran a great article a few days ago outlining how to approach the problem. That’s exactly what the team did. With expanded rosters, they can throw a bunch of decent arms for an inning or two and likely mimick the results of a league average starter. That approach pitched a shutout against the A’s. It’s a viable alternative for 3 more starts. No worries on my end.
even if the A’s sweep the Angels later this month, the Angels only need to match Oakland the rest of the way to win the division.
The “comeback” has happened the past two years for the Oakland A’s and it’s hard to believe that the A’s offense is going to be bad for that much longer. Also, see my reply above about replacing Richards’ three starts or so that are left on the season. A lot can happen in a month.
oh sure. but they basically have the same schedule. The angels get 4 with the Twins, and the A’s get the White Sox and Phillies, but other than that, it’s a wash for the schedule.
It’s be an exciting race and it’s probably unlikely that the division will be won be 5 games or more either way. There are a lot of factors that’ll go into this one month of baseball, but it’ll basically come down to how well these two teams play against teams that they should be beating relatively easily.
I don’t know if this is just bias-ness or what, but it seems that the Angels are over-performing while the A’s are definitely under-performing. I’m a strong believer that ruts eventually come to an end, and if that turns out to be the case with guys like Moss, Vogt, Norris, etc, the A’s offense should be steamrolling through teams. They really only need to score a couple of runs to get a victory on most nights
How can you possibly say over-performing when much of the Angels’ offense has been in a prolonged slump for a while now, including Mike Trout who has yet to really hit his normal stride since the All-Star break? I hardly call it over-performing. And if you mean the pitching, CJ Wilson still hasn’t hit stride, they’re out Richards and Skaggs, and pitching 8 relievers in a game to win against one of the As best pitchers, who ended up pitching 2-run baseball over 8 innings. I don’t think ‘over-achieving’ makes any sense at all.
The Angels have underperformed the last couple of years, so I should rephrase what I was saying about them “overperforming”. I meant that they were doing much better than they had for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, the A’s have underperformed for just over a month. I’d hardly credit the 8 relievers for the A’s awful offense not scoring any runs that game. The truth is, you can’t depend on multiple 8-pitcher games coming every fifth day. That’s not sustainable.
think about it this way: A’s have 25 games left. If the Angels play even .500 ball (even though they have 15 games against the worst 3 teams in the AL), they’re at 96 wins on the season.
I just don’t see Oakland getting there.
(and this is based on the premise that the Angels play only .500 ball).
It is sustainable when your roster expands from 25 to 40.
Definitely “bias-ness”. The Angels have been under-performing the last 3 years (that’s no secret) and that’s arguably a lot of the reason why The A’s had been winning the division these last few years..
A 4.5 game lead is a big lead. Counting on the A’s to mount another one of their comebacks is nice and all, but you shouldn’t expect people to ignore the facts of the matter because you’re an A’s fan.
Not rooting for it as a Tigers fan (hoping for the division)… but an As/Tigers Wildcard would be incredible. The intensity between those two teams (given 2006, 2012 and 2013) in the Coliseum would be off the charts.
Clearly it was Kelly Johnson
Dun hit a HR, but hes still horrible. Especially V lefties. Offense is Brewers issue. While non of the traded players r all that good, Beckham offers the Angels an ability to rest their infield.
How Dunn does against lefties is hardly a factor in his value to the A’s considering he’ll be a part of a platoon.
Since when is hitting 461 homeruns horrible? Yeah, he is bad in other categories but you cant just dismiss all of those homeruns.
In the sense of long term impact, definitely Turner. Short-term impact Dunn, for the A’s who have been slumping. Dunn is a power bat who mashes against righties and brings some veteran leadership to the ball club. Whereas Turner was one of the many young up and coming pitchers the Marlins had, for the Cubs who need to improve their pitching it’s a nice move.
Thornton has been perfect for the Nats
I votes jacob turner. Not because he’ll actually have an impact in any race, but because its still hilarious that the cubs got him for two A-ball pitchers who are both older than jacob turner.
Happy to vote for Kevin Correia on multiple comps for no other reason than to skew the poll (by 0.01%)! 🙂
aa is offended that john mayberry jr is not on this list.
No love for John Axford, eh?
I’ll call it right now – Jonathan Broxton will end up costing the Brewers a playoff spot.
How do you plan to measure that?
When Broxton blows two games for Brewers vs Pirates, moving Bucs ahead in standings, for keeps 🙂
Yeah he should be on there, I missed him.
why would Outman be on this list, because he’s on a fading NYY team? He will likely face 1 – 2 hitters any game he does get into.
I might have gone Willingham over Dunn but I can’t see how he’ll get enough at bats with Hosmer back to provide value. Dunn should get lots of at bats for the A’s. He was really a good fit for that lineup.
I’m confused about why people are voting Dunn. The guy has an OPS of less than 800 and he can’t play the field.
People need to remind themselves that Dunn hasn’t been good since 2010. Over the last 4 years his line is: 202/322/412. His wRC+ is 101. He’s basically been league average for ALL positions. He’s significantly below league average when looking at just DH’s.
I loved the old Adam Dunn. The post 2010 Dunn? Not so much.
The Cubs will turn Turner around just like they did with Arrieta.
Austin Jackson, Seattle Mariners