Here’s how the last few days before the trade deadline went for teams throughout the AL West.
- The Rangers acquired Phillies ace Cole Hamels in a monster eight-player deal, also receiving Jake Diekman and cash. In return, the Rangers gave up pitcher Matt Harrison, catching prospect Jorge Alfaro, pitching prospects Jake Thompson, Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff, and outfield prospect Nick Williams. In a more minor deal, they acquired reliever Sam Dyson from the Marlins for catcher Tomas Telis and pitcher Cody Ege. They also claimed catcher Bobby Wilson from the Rays and designated lefty reliever Wandy Rodriguez for assignment.
- The Athletics were busy as usual, this time selling in the wake of a disappointing season. They got a solid pitching prospect in Sean Manaea, plus another young pitcher in Aaron Brooks, when they sent Ben Zobrist to Kansas City. They got yet another pitching propsect, Casey Meisner, from the Mets for Tyler Clippard. Last week, they received catcher Jacob Nottingham and pitcher Daniel Mengden from the Astros in exchange for Scott Kazmir. They also traded reliever Ryan Cook to the Red Sox for a player to be named and acquired lefty Felix Doubront from the Blue Jays for cash.
- The first-place Astros were, of course, the team that received Kazmir. In yet another significant deal, they acquired outfielder Carlos Gomez, starter Mike Fiers and international spending rights from the Brewers for outfielders Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips and pitchers Adrian Houser and Josh Hader. They also designated Roberto Hernandez for assignment and outrighted outfielder Alex Presley. Additionally, they designated reliever Joe Thatcher, who became a free agent.
- The Angels addressed their outfield and DH issues by acquiring David Murphy from the Indians (for infield prospect Eric Stamets), David DeJesus from the Rays (for pitcher Eduar Lopez) and Shane Victorino from the Red Sox (for infielder Josh Rutledge). They also designated reliever Vinnie Pestano for assignment and signed lefty Wesley Wright to a minor league deal.
- The Mariners sent lefty J.A. Happ to the Pirates for starting pitching prospect Adrian Sampson, and reliever Mark Lowe to the Blue Jays for pitchers Rob Rasmussen, Jake Brentz and Nick Wells. They also shipped outfielder Dustin Ackley, a former No. 2 overall pick, to the Yankees for outfielder Ramon Flores and pitcher Jose Ramirez. They also promoted top prospect Ketel Marte. Finally, they acquired righty J.C. Ramirez from the Diamondbacks.
Everyone did pretty well except the Angels.
Probably spent most of the time trying to offload CJ Wilson
And now he is injured..
Red Sox are a mess.
Praying the Mariners fire Zdurencziek as soon as the season ends. There’s so much collective brain power in Seattle. The city deserves an intelligent, dynamic GM. Zdurencziek started out looking like he had those qualities, but that was revealed to be a sham as soon as he was forced to ditch Blengino et al. Unfortunately, a new GM is going to inherit a difficult situation. Cano, Cruz, and Felix tie up lots of payroll and Seager is about to become a lot more expensive. There’s some young talent at the major league level, but it’s not really surplus – you’re depending on Walker, Paxton, and Miller to fill three spots – and there’s not a ton of impact talent close to the majors nor much in the lower minors that could net a significant return in trade. Best case, maybe you re-sign Iwakuma for a not too expensive deal, hoping his injury history scares off some teams and he takes a home town discount, Montero fulfills his promise and gives you cheap production at 1B/DH, Walker keeps improving, Paxton stays healthy, and a new GM has enough budget room and creativity to fill the holes at C and in the outfield.
I am hoping Zunino will work on his swing this off season and figure out how to get his BA to a respectable level.. If he could somehow raise it to .255 or so which would get his OBP to around .320 he would be a solid everyday catcher.. The Ackley trade shows the weakness in Z’s ability to make quality trades.. He was offered Flores and Gamel a few days before the deadline and passed. Only to accept a trade of Flores and Ramirez.. Any Yankee fan that is familiar with prospects will tell you that Ramirez is pretty mediocre, at best.. Gamel was a solid prospect and even though he isn’t ready yet, holds way more potential to be an everyday player.. Taking Ramirez instead tells me he shopped Ackley around and couldn’t receive a better offer, then went back to Cashman, who withdrew Gamel’s name and added Ramirez.. Z was thoroughly fleeced in that trade and Ackley has the skills/ability to turn his career around finally becoming a solid everyday player.. Returning to 2nd base and hitting in Yankee stadium is going to allow a return of his confidence and imo will allow him to finally reach his full potential.. I really like that trade and would have been comfortable with Cashman sending a better prospect for him.. You can’t buy any lower on a former #2 overall than the Yankees did with Ackley..