My two cents on the trade deadline
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by Silencer76
So the baseball trade deadline has passed, with several teams making moves to try and shore up their club for the stretch run, while others were left on the outside looking in as Tuesday's 4 pm ET time frame expired.
The Atlanta Braves made a couple moves to boost their club in the run for the NL East and the wild card race, acquiring 1B Mark Teixeira and left handed reliever Ron Mahay from Texas, and Royals closer Octavio Dotel, to give them a setup man to get to Bob Wickman. Mahay is the left hander the Braves bullpen needed to balance things out, after Wil Ledezma flamed out, was designated for assignment, and was later dealt. The Braves did give up Jarrod Saltalamacchia, whose claim to fame so far is having the longest last name on the back of a jersey, beating Todd Hollandsworth. They also dealt off Elvis Andrus, Neftali Perez, Matt Harrison, and Beau Jones to the Rangers. Saltalamacchia, Andrus and Harrison are the Braves top three rated prospects in the Atlanta organization. Kyle Davies went to Kansas City in exchange for Dotel, and Ledezma and Will Startup went to San Diego for Royce Ring.
The Mets made a move to try and solidify their infield defense, acquiring 2B Luis Castillo from the Twins for a pair of prospects. The deal infuriated several Minnesota players, including ace pitcher Johan Santana, who had the following to say:
"It's not just about hope," Santana told The Star Tribune. "In a realistic world, you have to really make it happen and go for it.
"You always talk about future, future. ... But if you only worry about the future, then I guess a lot of us won't be part of it," Santana told the newspaper.
"Why waste time when you're talking about something that's always going to be like that? It's never going to be beyond this point," Santana told the newspaper. "It doesn't make any sense for me to be here, you know?"
Santana is set to be a free agent after the 08 season, and after winning two of the last three AL Cy Young Awards, this is not a player the Twins can afford to become disgruntled.
Castillo has lost a step or two in recent years, and his range, which was slightly above average at best, has declined severely as he has been hampered with hamstring issues the last couple of seasons. Best case scenario for the Mets is that Jose Reyes can make most of the plays up the middle, because otherwise things will be no better than when Valentin was at the second base position.
The Red Sox made a big move to add a power arm to the bullpen, acquiring Eric Gagne from Texas for Kason Gabbard and minor leaguers David Murphy and Engel Beltre. Gagne was a lights out pitcher the last four seasons he actually pitched in September, from 2001-04. He will be lined up with Hideki Okajima as a setup man, paving the way to Jonathan Papelbon in the Sox bullpen.
In a couple of the stranger trades of the day, the Giants sent Matt Morris, a former 22 game winner, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for rookie OF Rajah Davis and the ever popular player to be named later. Morris was 7-7 with a 4.35 ERA, but was 0-4 in his last eight starts. The Pirates have bombed out of the gate since the break, going 2-13 in the first fifteen games. The Bucs are going to pick up the remainder of the 10 plus million dollar contract Morris is owed this year, plus he is due 9.5 million in 08.
The Yankees dealt reliever Scott Proctor to the Dodgers for INF Wilson Betemit. The Dodgers hope that Proctor can regain his previous form before he became overworked in Joe Torre's pen. He has logged more innings than any other reliever since the start of the 06 season. Betemit gives the Yankees a versatile infielder who can also DH, and gives them, minimal, though at least some, insurance should Alex Rodriguez decide to test the market.
The other strange deal saw the Astros deal away reliever Dan Wheeler to the Devil Rays for 3B Ty Wigginton. Apparently, Houston tired of Morgan Ensberg struggling to come back to his pre injury form, when he hit 36 homers and drove in 101 runs in 2005. So far this year he hit .232 with just 8 homers and 31 RBIs. Houston had designated him for assignment, then dealt him to the Padres for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Wheeler was 1-4 with a 5.07 ERA, though he did lead Houston with 11 saves in 15 opportunities.
San Diego acquired Ensberg, Rob Mackowiak from the White Sox, and the aforementioned Ledezma and Startup. They also released Jose Cruz Jr., who was hitting just .234, and fired hitting coach Marv Rettenmund, replacing him with Wally Joyner, in an attempt to jump start a club that was 7-10 since the break.
The team that didn't make a move was the Chicago Cubs, but they will acquire a pitcher that could have a big impact down the stretch if he can stay healthy. Kerry Wood is slated to make a rehab appearance of two innings at AA West Tennessee, and if all goes well, he could be activated Thursday or Friday to solidify the Chicago bullpen. Chicago is just one game back behind Milwaukee, and have the best record in the league since June 3.
The Brewers, after acquiring Scott Linebrink, missed out on Gagne, and ended up sending 2B Rickie Weeks to AAA Nashville. Weeks was hitting just .212 with 5 homers and 19 RBI in 75 games. Linebrink is on leave currently with the birth of a child, leaving the Brewers to call up Elmer Dessens from his rehabilitation assignment.
It will be an interesting last two months of the season to see what unfolds, but it seems that Boston and Atlanta made the biggest moves to improve their ballclubs.
