Next up in our series of trade deadline roundups is the NL Central.
- The Cubs acquired righty Joe Smith from the Angels for pitching prospect Jesus Castillo. They also completed their deal for Aroldis Chapman, in which they sent Adam Warren and prospects Gleyber Torres, Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford to New York.
- The Reds got infield prospect Dilson Herrera and lefty Max Wotell from the Mets in exchange for outfielder Jay Bruce. They came close to trading shortstop Zack Cozart to Seattle, but that deal was never consummated.
- After star catcher Jonathan Lucroy vetoed a trade to Cleveland, the Brewers sent him and reliever Jeremy Jeffress to Texas in exchange for outfielder Lewis Brinson, pitcher Luis Ortiz and a player to be named. They also sent lefty Will Smith to San Francisco in exchange for pitching prospect Phil Bickford and catcher Andrew Susac.
- The Pirates shipped closer Mark Melancon to Washington in exchange for lefty reliever Felipe Rivero and lefty prospect Taylor Hearn. Later, in a surprising move, they sent lefty Francisco Liriano and top prospects Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire to Toronto in exchange for righty Drew Hutchison and relief from Liriano’s contract. They also dealt struggling lefty Jon Niese to the Mets in exchange for lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo, and they acquired righty Ivan Nova from the Yankees for two players to be named.
- The Cardinals had a quiet deadline, but they got lefty Zach Duke from the White Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder Charlie Tilson.
Still could Trade Cozart to Mariners if clears Waviers.
He won’t clear. Aledmys Diaz has a broken thumb.
But the Cardinals wouldn’t give what Reds want in return and have others who,can play SS.
The Mets should have just resigned Niese same with Pirates on Barstado and same with Baltimore on Peace.
Garza and others could clear Waviers. Phillips would need to Wavie his no Trade clause.
But the Cardinals would claim him. So he won’t clear waivers. I imagine teams before the Cardinals would also place a claim.
Bottom line: no chance he goes to the Mariners.
I doubt the Cardinals even look for SS depth. Garcia, Wong, Peralta and a Anna in the minors will all be able to help the infield depth. Plus it’s not like he’s out for the season, it’ll just probably be till mid-august.
Neise was traded for Neil Walker in offseason, wasn’t a free agent
Again why is Phillips still a Red are the going to build him a trophy for being loyal
Wow. Looks like the Pirates have thrown in the towel. And the Cards only add a reliever in Duke???
Cubs can put this b***h in cruise control now.
Well… Here’s the thing. The cubs biggest problem this year has been consistency. Their pitching will be perfect, but then their bats are dead. The next night, they put up 7 runs, then the pitching gives up 10.
I’d say it’s at 80% chance, barring injuries, Cubs take division. BUT, if something happens where Rizzo, or Bryant, or Arrieta gets injured, that could all change. In fact, if you ask Joe Madden, he’d say ‘cruise control’ is a deadly phrase. You always gotta be ready for a fight, and assume no divisional lead is safe.
The Cubs current divisional win probability is almost 97% Cards are the other 3%. I’m a Cards fan, but we aren’t catching the Cubs, regardless of the moves at this deadline. Too good of a team with too large of a lead.
Cards have a great run differential and have the talent to compete, but they are too far behind already.
58 Games left to play and 7 games back. I don’t agree with that probability. The problem with that is it assumes both teams will continue at their current rate of production. My point is that there are so many factors, that it’s too early to say who wins the division and who doesn’t.
A couple years back the Brewers were in 1st place for over half the season, and then faltered. The Cubs aren’t the brewers, (as obviously the Cubs are a better team than they were), but anything is possible. Same thing happened in 2011 that allowed STL to get in as a Wild Card team.
I agree the Cubs have a way better team than the Cardinals currently, but the Cubs haven’t played great baseball the last 2-3 months (Comparably to the start of their season). So while Cubs are favorites now, there’s no reason to limit our approach.
That probability has nothing to do with their current productions but rather their run differentials and projected values the remainder of the season by individual performers.
The Cubs are a better team than the Cards. Think about how well the Cards have to play to catch the Cubs.
The Cubs are about to be 64-41. Their run differential is that of a .663 team (38-19) – finishing the season 102-60.
The Cardinals would have to finish the season 52-13 just to tie them.
If the Cards can finish out the season at their run differential (33-24 – .581%) they would finish 88-74. The Cubs would have to finish the season 24-33 to tie.
It’s just not going to happen.
Even if the Cards win every single head to head game the rest of the year (10 head to head games), that would leave the Cards 2 games ahead. They literally can only lose 1 of those games to have any chance.
I’m a Cards fan and I’m an optimist. But it’s not happening without extremely awesome head to head winnings the rest of the way.
Cubs 11-6 since all star break and 8 games up adding chapman. As a Cubs fan with the players we have we should win division by 8 games . I tip my hat to cards. They have carpenter out, Lynn been out all year isn’t pick anyone up and they still battle and are hanging around
Why isn’t my comment showing?
Basically, statistically, for the Cards to catch the Cubs, they have to dominate the last 10 head to head games and still out play the Cubs run differential.
It’s just not happening. Only shot is if Cards can win 8 or more of the 10 head to head games.
For a long time that’s all Cubs fan had was have a better head on competition: go Cubs if they can build chemistry back to many trade next year if the NL don’t go with a DH should have 26 players per team.
While I also believe that the Cubs should run away with the division, I don’t see it to necessarily be a slam dunk to happen. For one, the Cubs could run into another huge cold stretch like the one that they went through in early July. Also, the Cardinals have 10 remaining games with the Cubs, 13 remaining games with the lackluster Cincinatti Reds, and 7 games with the tanking Brewers, not to mention series with the Athletics, Braves, and Phillies. If the Cardinals could take advantage of these opportunities, it COULD become interesting. That’s all I’m saying.
Lot of baseball left to be played.
Uh, no
Huntington should be fired immediately for giving up Liriano who he signed and top AA prospects for one middling AAAA arm. Not even any possible excuse other than salary dump – however what is the cost is a top 100 AA catcher? More than Liriano that’s for sure so losing this asset for nothing is reason to be canned. I’m a long time supporter but no more. Enough is enough.
NH made the Pirates into a playoff team and you want him canned after one bad trade? I advise you to stop being a bandwagon fan and see what he has done with this team.
Good GM but it appears they tired of the wide card scenario . So have they give up next year it should go to a 3 game day after the season 2 double header then one at the other team place
Typical ignorant Pirate fan, Fire the GM after he takes you to the playoffs 3 straight years after 20 straight years of losing baseball. You would have probably wanted him fired had they not resigned Liriano last year. Get in line with the rest of the jumpers. Sorry but Liriano has shown this year he isn’t anything more than a 4 or 5 inning pitcher. Not worth 13 mil a year.
Not a typical Pirates fan.
Ramirez and McGuire were been blocked and still are in Toronto but Pirstes did clear a space for youngsters in Rotation.
McGuire wasn’t blocked, his progression should have had him breaking into the bigs just before Cervelli’s contract expires. In my opinion, everyone bashing Huntington is misdirecting their fire, the Liriano trade reeks of Nutting telling NH to shed salary, especially since it was last minute.
I agree…this has Nutting written all over it with NH taking the fall.
Nutting has to pay for Seven Spring ski resort somehow. I don’t understand this trade one bit from the Pirates perspective. I know Liriano has struggled but the prospect price to turn him into a #5 starter Drew Hutchison was crazy. If it were just Ramirez that would be okay but McGuire could have been decent trade chip down the road even if they are higher on Diaz after Cervelli.
It’s not about McGuire being blocked–your backup catcher still needs to catch 40-60 games a year, and Chris Stewart is long past his sell-by date. Plus, catching depth is very, very important, because catchers get hurt. The Bucs were giving at-bats to Jacob Stallings and Eric Kratz in meaningful games. Still think the Pirates didn’t need to keep McGuire around?
Completely understand the negative reaction to the Liriano trade, but Ramirez would only be, at best, a bench guy for the bucs with the current OF and Meadows on his way. McGuire could be a Tony Sanchez 2.0. Hate to see Frankie go as he was a big part of the resurgence but NH and co. must think he will not return to form. maybe allocate that money saved to a Cole extension??
Wow, what are the pirates doing? I’m surprised this trade hasn’t gotten more coverage
When looking back on this deadline in about 3-4 years the clear winners in retro-spect will be the Milwaukee Brewers. They got 4 legitimate prospects today that will play a big factor in their rebuild. Pair those 4 with Arcia, Hader, Ray, Phillips, etc. I like the talent they have accumulated. Big ups to The Brew Crew.
Potentially, yes. But the Cubs put themselves in position to win a WS and in four years, they’ll still be loaded
He didn’t say anything about the Brewers winning a WS did he? All he said was in 3-4 years the Brewers will be looked upon as winners in the 2016 trade deadline. In 3-4 years they’ll be competitors again and will make the NL Central more interesting.
The Cubs have won nothing in literally a hundred years yet national writers perform fellatio on every move Maddon and Epstein make.
It’s rubbing off on the fans, normally the lovable losers reverting back to the angry and entitled Bartman Lynch Mob.
Yes Duke is a low-key buy, but look at his peripherals and his delivery. He changes his arm-slots during at-bats in order to fool hitters. That and his breaking stuff is solid.
From what Mozeliak said, Duke is every-bit as good as any set-up man available, at a fraction of the cost. There’s no reason to give up Weaver, Flaherty, Bader (ect.), when Duke can help the BP this time.
Would I like to have gotten Alex Colome (Rays) or Buchter (Pads) too? Yes. But with the price on the market, it’s not worth doing that, when this offseason will have PLENTY of relievers.
The only thing that stands between the Cardinals and the playoffs, is their health, and their defense. If they can correct those two, they’ll be fine.
Yea. He’s just as good as Chapman, Miller and Malancon ….
Wait are Chapman, Miller and Malancon setup men? No, that’s not what I said. I said he’s just as good as any 7-8 Innings guys on the trade market.
How mozeliak can keep feeding cards fans that kool aid and they keep drinking it. Cards make so much money but never pay players and baseball keeps giving them free draft picks.
“Hey, how about we trade you our #2 starter for a guy in AAA?”
“No, you have to sweeten the pot. Give me one of your ten best prospects.”
“Well….OK.”
“OK, make it two of your top ten prospects and only then will I trade you our #7 starter.”
“Deal.”
I agree that the Pirates were fleeced on this one….in fact it should have been the Jays sending Hutchinson and a low level prospect to the Pirates….sure they cut salary from the roster by trading Liriano who is having a down year…but Hutchinson has not been any better….
I’m a Sox fan. There will be games where he will be good, but quite a few, actually, where he will upset you.
Oh so he’s a human and not a robot?
Thanks.
Anyone else think that the Cubs should start making CJ Edwards a starter?
I admire what Stearns has done with the Brewers.
It’s a lot harder than people give credit for– sticking to a master plan by trading away a fan favourite, PR darling, home grown All Star Catcher in his prime.
Not sure if it’ll work but the Brewers have 8 of the MLB Top 75 now. Not including 2 pitchers in Guerra and Davies who will get Rookie of the Year votes.
The Reds got fleeced as well….Bruce could have netted them much more than 2 prospects….Mets fleeced them
Herrera was a top 50 prospect in all of baseball going into 2015 when he lost prospect eligibility