Here’s a roundup of recaps from yesterday’s trade deadline.
- The Blue Jays and Royals are the biggest winners of last month’s trades, while the Padres are the biggest losers, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman writes. All three choices were probably fairly easy ones, with the Blue Jays landing Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, the Royals grabbing Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist, and the Padres mostly standing pat. Further down both lists is where things get interesting, though — Heyman notes that the Phillies and Athletics did well in their trades of veterans, and that the Dodgers should have done better than Mat Latos and Alex Wood for all the payroll they’re taking on.
- The Astros, Royals, Phillies and Tigers, among other teams, deserve credit for their deadline deals, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan writes. The Padres, meanwhile, did poorly. To expect the Padres to make the playoffs at this point “borders on lunacy,” Passan writes.
- Nine of the top 100 prospects in baseball changed teams at the deadline, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Daniel Norris (headed from the Blue Jays to the Tigers in the David Price trade) tops the list followed by Brett Phillips (from the Astros to the Brewers in the Carlos Gomez deal) and Jose Peraza (who went from the Braves to the Dodgers in the Mat Latos deal). Callis’ take on the Dodgers’ 13-player trade is quite different from Heyman’s — Callis writes that the Dodgers got plenty of big-league help in the deal while also getting a very impressive prospect in Peraza.
- Prospects among MLB’s top 50 include Norris, Phillips, Peraza, Hector Olivera (who went from the Dodgers to the Braves), Jeff Hoffman (Blue Jays to Rockies in the Troy Tulowitzki deal) and Jake Thompson (Rangers to Phillies in the Cole Hamels deal), J.J. Cooper of Baseball America writes.
How is Olivera a prospect? He won’t make his full season debut until he’s 31.
He’s a prospect because he was one of the most highly touted players that came out of Cuba last offseason. Atlanta did good to get him as a return. It could be risky, but just as rewarding too.
Never mind Atlanta tried to get him the first time around and the Dodgers nabbed him. All and all, good deal.
I see the Yankees more as THE losers. Send away Ramirez & Flores for Ackley. Cut Esmil Rogers, don’t try to improve your rotation or bullpen. DFA Capuano & Jones… They are in first somehow, but they just assume Toronto isn’t going to make a run for the AL East… ARE THEY CRAZY?! The Padres at least didn’t implode. They kept some guys for next year… ok I can deal with that. A TEAM WHO IS BARELY IN FIRST PLACE SHOULDN’T SIT IDLY BY AND DO NOTHING, WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING SOMETHING!
They are up by 6 games, only team with a bigger lead is Kansas City. The Yankees were in a very good place to hold onto to their top prospects.
Not exactly. CC can’t get anyone out, Tanaka is 1 bad splitter from his arm falling off, Pineda is now injured, Nova is fresh of TJ and they didn’t add a starter. They didn’t need to make a deal, but they should of.
I think the Yankees, arguably, were more in need of a good arm than the Blue Jays did. Very surprised they didn’t add a guy like Samardzija or even Gallardo.
I think both teams needed an arm to be a legit contender come October. One of them were going to make the playoffs, but I really don’t think that just hitting is going to win them a championship — for either team. Blue Jays overpaid in my opinion for Tulo and Price, but they did a great job addressing their 3 biggest needs. Rotation, bullpen and the leadoff spot. I would of rather of seen them go for a guy like Kazmir rather than Price, but he would of been cheaper. So that way you could have had Norris and Kazmir in the same rotation down the stretch, along with Buehlre, Estrada and Dickey, you could then move Sanchez to the pen full time, and not only strengthen your rotation, but Osuna, Lowe and Sanchez at the back of the pen is great combo.
I love it when fans of other teams get worried about the Yanks. It’s so funny!
Here’s the flip side to everything you just said. Tanaka has pitched great, despite injury “concerns.” Concerns that are more spoken about on message boards than doctor offices.
Nova is pitching well, and he’ll just get better as he recovers from TJ. He needs to add length to his outings, but that will come with time.
Pineda has a forearm strain, muscular not ligament, so he should be back in about two weeks.
CC is not the ace. He’s basically an innings eater at this point; a number 5 starter.
Eovaldi hasn’t given up more than 3 runs in his last 8 appearances. A stretch which he has gone 6-0. I know wins don’t matter, but just saying, he’s been their best pitcher for the last two months.
Oh, and btw, they just added Luis Severino to the rotation. You know, the Top 15 prospect in ALL of baseball?
So, relax. The sky isn’t falling, Chicken Little. The Yanks will be fine with pitching.
Yes, all those things are true about the Yankees rotation–but they will likely be true of the Yankees rotation next year as well. They need controllable quality. There’s not that much out there right now. The price for Hamels was too high for them to meet.
TOR added the best SS in the game and the best arm available, not including a speeder in the OF (Ben Revere). They should be getting reinforcements in Sanchez and Stroman. NYY has a very good backend of the bullpen, but that won’t help their starters. Pineda going down, CC pitching like CC, Tanaka is still coming back, but is that it? Let’s see what Severino is made up of.
I’m not saying dump ALL the prospects, I’m saying deal one or two for an elite guy. They are sunk unless someone good gets designated for assignment. 6 game leads can melt like butter, especially if the competition they face has been bolstered as much as it has been.
You think they’re losers because they gave up on two prospects that didn’t even crack the Top 25? Those guys were not important to the team. Same could be said for Ackley in Seattle though.
The bullpen is still a strength. They tried to get Kimbrel, but the asking price was too high. Unless you are happy with Didi, you should be happy the Yanks did not part with Meteo for a reliever, albeit the best reliever. They need to hold on to any SS prospect they can.
With the rotation, see below on why I think they will be just fine with starting pitching.
I’m glad they held their top guys and didn’t trade for a rental. The only one that made sense was Cole Hamels, but he would require Judge or Severino. Everyone else would be a rental.
No, I think they are losers because Toronto is looking like General Sherman and the AL East has turned into Atlanta circa 1864-ish. While Flores & Ramirez are FAR from MVP candidates in 90% of all aspects, they were useful. They kept getting optioned down, but they were also being called up and served the Bronx Boomers well. Didi Gregorius, Stephen Drew & Brendan Ryan, or a combination of such, could have been traded. One of the greatest Yankees was a rental. Bucky Dent! He was only with NY for 1977-1978. The year he hit his HR against Boston in that pivotal game was the last he was there. They didn’t give him an extension as a way to say thank you, he was let go. The team has a long list of rentals that did good things for them. Going for it would have suited better for the player and the team. The player could say, “I was on that championship Yankee team”, and the team would celebrate the player. Severino and one of the aforementioned infielders and flores wouldve made a great deal for Samardzija & a PTBNL. But HEAVEN FORBID the Bronx Boomers make a smart short-term decision AND an important long-term decision.
Flores is nothing special. He wouldn’t be in a Shark deal. Nor would Didi, Drew, or Ryan. Those guys are horrible. Everyone knows that. No one would want them. This is why fans of other teams hate us; because our fans (like you) think we can trade away our garbage for another team’s top pitchers.
Get back to reality.
Also, Toronto making their moves doesn’t mean the Yankees are automatically losers. Yankees were in a much better place to start with, hence they were 8 games ahead in the loss column. Toronto NEEDED to make those moves. NYY didn’t.
I have nothing against rentals… so I don’t understand the long rant. I just don’t want to give up anything of importance like Judge or Severino or even Meteo for a rental.
Yet Morse was dealt to LA, despite LA not wanting him, so LA sent him to Pittsburgh for Tabata. What’s wrong with 1 garbage pick, 1 so-so minor leaguer that Might have some success and a prospect going for a good player. Samardzija wasn’t untouchable. Also, what’s wrong with a prospect for a prospect. Say a 4 for 2 deal, with both sides giving up a prospect. If you cant get players for guys who aren’t elite, like Didi, Drew or Ryan, trade them for money. Use that money, a prospect and a so-so minor leaguer of Low A/High A caliber and/or a major leaguer who is struggling for a Samardzija-esque type player & a prospect. Mike Hessman would have looked good in pinstripes, so would Verlander. Kate Upton would surely like it in New York, maybe she could sway him. Getting SOMEBODY in a tight division is better than sitting with your fingers in your ear singing yankee doodle dandy. All and all, I love not ONE TEAM, but the sport itself. I enjoy watching a good game as much as a diehard fan, but when I see a team mismanaged from the owner down, I find it difficult to watch. New York NEEDS to keep up the division or they will be buried. Meteo, Didi, Luis Cedeno and Skole for Verlander, Mike Hessman & Jason Krizan would have made for an interesting deal, but coulda woulda shoulda.
This is getting ridiculous. Your trade proposals are so preposterous, I don’t want to give up anything of note for Verlander and that contract. Especially not the best SS in our system.
And nobody would want Morse, or Drew, or anyone with negative trade value. They would be throw ins to offset salary. Meaning they wouldn’t bring anyone back. In fact, they would bring back a lesser value by being included in the package, hence the negative value attached to them.
if you offer a guy for cash, more likely than not somebody will bite
Actually, we don’t know what they tried to do, beyond the Kimbrel trade that didn’t happen. I prefer them to get younger and more athletic. That’s not accomplished by bundling half a farm system and sending it off for rentals. Would my ego have improved if they had made a big splash? Maybe, but they have played reasonably well so far, and I don’t mind them being conservative. Everyone else is not doing something. The Orioles and Red Sox did very little. The Rays nothing. The Tigers went in the opposite direction. Toronto went all in–maybe that will bring them a championship. Maybe.
Junior Lake and Gerardo Parra are not little. Underrated YES, little no. Can they be a tremendous difference maker at this second, no. Later, maybe. The Sox made long-term moves with the acquisitions of Josh Rutledge, Jean Machi & Ryan Cook. Granted Victorino isn’t there anymore, but they freed up payroll, which is NEVER a bad idea.They seem to make the series every 3 years anyway 2004, 2007, 2013 (except 2010). As far as the Rays go, they sold harder than an auctioneer at the Kardashian household. Detroit and Philly are in set up mode for next season. Who knows, Daniel Norris might actually make an impact next season. Neither are going to the series next year, unless more changes are made, but still some good came out of it.
Parra makes a big difference. It ends that endless rotating logjam in LF. When Pearce gets back it would shock me if Snider isn’t DFA’ed. Trading Hunter opened up salary and a spot of Mychal Givens, who the Orioles are very high on and I also think he can be quite useful as a reliever. Junior Lake is nothing special, serviceable organizational depth if an injury happens, to play in September, and not to mention has a lot of team control(something Duquette likes).
He hit .315 in AAA this season, which isn’t nothing. Let him warm up to the Majors. Who knows in October?
padres are a joke
I never said they were any good this year, but they are looking at next year. Rzepczynski was a good add in the long run.
I would like to add the Mets as big winners. They made considerable improvements to their offense while not trading away any prospect that could make an impact for them. Fulmer had no spot with all the other young pitchers, and all the other prospects were not that good.
I think they really overpaid for Clippard and did a poor job with Cespedes. They gave a legit pitching prospect up for a guy who fits right in with their biggest prospect – OBP.
I love the underrated Uribe and Johnson pick up though.
I thought NYM did a better job with Cespedes than with Gomez. They can still shop Wheeler for something premium and they have the pitching to lose. Also love the Uribe/Johnson pick-up.
Interesting take. I had never heard of Meisner (who they traded for Clippard), and generally speaking trading a single-A starter for a rental reliever is market price. Does Meisner have that much upside that this is not the case?
As for Cespedes, you are correct about the OBP. However, it seems like other power guys (e.g. Justin Upton) would have cost much much more than Fulmer. Also, the Mets seem to like Wheeler quite a bit, so Fulmer was expendable in my eyes. At least they got a ‘big’ bat to add to their lineup.
Wheeler almost went to Cincinnati from what I heard, so Fulmer would’ve been useful had he left, but that didn’t happen. Luis Cessa was pretty good too. Surprised they let him go.
Cincinnati? For Bruce? I only heard is name in the Carlos Gomez trade talks. By the way, maybe I should add that I fully expect the Mets to put Wheeler in the rotation next year (and hopefully for the years beyond).
Well, the Padres were declared winners with their ‘stylish’ off-season acquisitions.
However look at them now.
Now come in the Blue Jays with their own stylish moves during the season.
This better work because otherwise he will be working arraignment at the drunk tank on Saturday night in the fine City of Toronto this coming off-season after he is relieved of his duties as GM.
Yeah, they’re 51-53, 51-54 if they lose today with a payroll little over 100mill which puts them 10 games better than they were last year at this time.
Not sure I understand Heyman’s take re: Dodgers. I mean, does he really think they could have gotten more just by taking on payroll?? It’s particularly strange, as he lists the Giants as winners even though they gave up more for less, and one could easily make the argument that SF needed an ace more than LA, as LA already has 2 of them. (disclaimer: I liked SF’s pickup of Leake).
Biggest winners for me:
Phillies – set the rebuild in motion, added 7 prospects to their top 30, they now have 6 in the top 100 on mlb’s list, and cleared the closer spot for Giles.
Dodgers – addressed the rotation short term, and long term while only seemingly giving up a few B level prospects, Olivera and money.
Cardinals – They overpaid for Moss, but they strengthened their bullpen, and they have fixed pitchers before, if they can get production out of Broxton and Cishek, they have a scary bullpen.
Biggest losers for me:
Padres – Obvious reasons. You needed to trade Upton and Kennedy, at least. They only made 1 trade, and it was a minor ‘buyer’ move.
Braves – Sorry, but I don’t see why they gave up Peraza and Wood for Olivera. I love Alex Wood as a pitcher, I think he has TOR potential, and was a great 1-2 with Shelby Miller for the long term.
Red Sox – You either needed to sell off veterans, or add long term pitching. They only got rid of Victorino, but kept Napoli, Ortiz, Koji and Tazawa. Staying in between buying and selling is what killed the Phillies and 2012-2014 when they sold off Pence, Victorino, Blanton and a ton others, but kept bringing in Delmon Young, Michael Young, Marlon Byrd and the Mike Adams’ of the world.
Braves fan here — No, the take doesn’t look great now, but ATL needed a perceived mid-order bat in Olivera who could also be a possible 3B fit (corner OF, if not) — both of which we need. A middle order bat will be expensive on the open market and having Olivera for the next 5 years, even at his age, will bring savings that we can devote to other areas. He might not be the 4-hitter we are looking for, but I could imagine him as a very good 2-hitter or at the very least, a 5 or 6-hitter. Wood is very good, but he’s already had 1 TJ surgery (at UGA) and at just 24, he’s lost 2 MPH on his fastball, down to 90 mph, if that’s any indication. He’s a competitor, but with his awkward mechanics (though this isn’t necessarily foreshadowing of another TJ) and history, we have enough pitching to make him expendable. We have another 2B in Ozhaino Albies that the current regime really likes (as well they should). We had the depth to move Peraza to CF to try and fill in some holes we thought Maybin would not fill (or Mallex Smith after him), but Peraza has not been doing at AAA what he’s always done, which is get on base. In terms of prospects, I think he was overrated, and I’m glad we sold high on him. Olivera (at $30M), and some pitching depth, along with a comp balance pick was a good take. At least enough that I wouldn’t put them on the losers column more so than some of those (i.e. SD) that did not sell.
If its need over value, then I guess it wasn’t terrible for the Braves, but it terms of value, I think they could have done better.
Well, I think the problem with that is that perceived deals and actual deals, especially midseason, are completely different. Olivera is a power-contact hitter at a premium position (at 3B). That’s going to be tough to fill if not internally, which we have little depth at (Rio Ruiz, Dustin Peterson still far off). I just don’t think anyone is really interested in giving up a mid-order bat that’s close to MLB-ready like Olivera. That’s a much tougher fill than Wood and/or Peraza over the next 2 years.
It was going very hard if impossible for them to unload Ortiz or Napoli. I can’t see why they didn’t trade Koji and Tazawa though.
What could they have gotten in return? Either side would be shouting highway robbery or steal of the century.
If they would’ve packaged them with same a bigger piece they could’ve maybe nabbed an extra prospect, now they will never know. I’m not saying they would’ve got the return say Chapman or Kimbrel would’ve got if they were traded but added to say another piece they could’ve nabbed Boston maybe an extra piece.
I agree the Philles got a nice deal there. Not the elite prospects they wanted but in this situation its probably better with as many good prospects as they can get. The Red Sox have the huge glut of young talent that the Phillies didn’t have the last couple years. I’m sure Tazawa and Koji were put out there but no one is going to give premuim talent for them when guys like Chapman were out there, plus Koji is old and owed alot. Its better to hold them and see what we can do next year even though 2017 is probably where we are aiming to start our next legit run. They can be traded next deadline if things don’t work out. Look for Napoli and De Azia to be traded this month. Trading Ortiz wouldnt get back anything great, He is beloved in Boston and there would have been a huge uproar if he was pointlessly moved. He also has 5+10 and is very close to 500 Hr.
I think we’ll really know who the winners and losers are come a month from now. There are always surprises among those that are thought to be lesser players and those that are considered big moves. Big splashes don’t always fix problems and small pick ups sometimes do.
But if i’m forced to choose a big winner and a big loser at this point, i’d pick the Astros and the Dodgers respectively.
Dodgers did what they needed to do and used money to avoid giving up any high-end prospects. Olivera, while nice, was a luxury, but getting Peraza in the deal makes up for his loss. In fact, he’s probably a better fit that will add speed and a plus glove at 2B when he finally makes his debut.
And while people freak out that the Dodgers didn’t sign any big NAMEZ, getting Wood and Latos filled their need for depth perfectly. And considering the gross overpay for David Price and even Leake, among other rentals, I’m glad LA didn’t try to beat those offers.
They’re likely going to end up with Price in the off-season anyway, so there’s no point in giving up prospects to get him now.
As for not getting Cole Hamels, giving up Urias or even a combination of Holmes and DeLeon, along with a Sweeney and/or Schebler would have been just too steep of a price to pay, and would have meant that the Dodgers system would have taken a huge blow in depth.
Getting Hamels would have been a luxury, not a necessity. Giving up Urias would have been too steep, but I disagree that giving up some combo of Holmes, De Leon, and others would have been too much. What’s done is done and the Dodgers are positioned very well to make a deep playoff run.
A combo of Holmes, De Leon and someone like Darnell Sweeney would have been similar to the return that they actually got for Cole Hamels. So i agree with you that it wouldn’t have been an overpay.
In this day and age, you get someone like Urias in your system, and you don’t part with him. Hes a guy who going to pitch in the majors as a teenager and hes going to be filthy.
Bingo. As much as I love Cole, the only way you move a guy like Seager/Urias/Crawford/etc is if a young stud was somehow available like Sale (who obviously isn’t available).
The packages are similar, except that the Dodgers package would have given a better group of pitching prospects while the Rangers package provided the Phillies with 2 bats.
Thank you for getting it. Now someone needs to explain it to Heyman, who at least admits that he doesn’t understand what happened. By using cash instead of players to get what they need, the Dodgers are playing Ultimate Moneyball. Heyman also doesn’t seem to understand the four other players they got in the deal, two of whom will be of immediate use, and the other two possibly down the line.
I don’t see the Padres as losers. They get draft pick for Upton, no one wants Kennedy, they may resign Venable, Benoit has option for 6.5 mill next year. Did they really miss out on much? Rest of players can be dealt later. You best believe someone like Shields and Gyorko will pass through waivers