Trade DEAD-line
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by Insan
With the MLB Trade Deadline less than five days away, little buzz is being generated about potential deals that can affect the rest of the season. There are a number of reasons for this; one being, the contract extension of Mark Buehrle. Before the White Sox could work out this deal, Buehrle’s name was the most talked about because of his great season and the White Sox’ awful season. Everyone was sure he was going to be traded until the Sox decided to keep him. Another pitcher, Dontrelle Willis fell out of trade talks for the complete opposite reason. No one wants him due to his awful season, a 7-10 record with a 5.15 ERA. Another reason the deadline buzz is sluggish is because big market teams are playing well at the point of the deadline to where they don’t need to make big moves to be contenders for the postseason including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs. With all of these events taking place before the deadline, it seems like it will be a boring next few days. There are some intriguing talks none-the-less, involving a few players that can heighten the deadline buzz.
Mark Teixeira 1B
Here is the premiere player that can single handedly save the trade deadline headlines. The Texas Rangers have stated that they will trade Teixeira before the deadline. His .299 BA, 13 HR, and 49 RBI make him a highly pursued player among teams right now, but the catch is that he can opt out of his contract after the 2008 season meaning only teams that can win a championship now will pursue him.
Of the teams interested in Teixeira, the Atlanta Braves look like the most logical choice. They have a hole to fill in the first basemen slot which is currently filled in by young backup catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Teixeira will not only fill this hole but he will also help the Braves significantly decrease the gap between them and division leader, New York; this will also help the Braves pull away in the tight wild card race.
Another possibility is the Yankees, however that looks dead due to New York’s unwillingness to give up young prospects Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. Also, Andy Phillips has been filling in the role quite nicely as of late. Other possibilities that seem unlikely are the Red Sox who already have Kevin Youkilis, the Angels who already have Casey Kotchman, the Padres who already have Adrian Gonzalez, and the Dodgers who have stated they are comfortable with James Loney.
The Yankees and Red Sox Bullpen
Although both the Red Sox and Yankees are doing quite well right now with no huge holes to fill in their roster, they are both looking for relief pitching that can help them out, especially with their older starting pitchers. The bullpen proved to be an important role in last year’s postseason race when the Yankees swept the Sox 5-0 in the battle of the bullpens. The Yankees’ bullpen is worse than the Red Sox’ this season, however the Sox don’t want to give the Yankees the oppurtunity to grab a big name reliever to use against them when the season comes to a close. A few possible names that are being tossed around are Texas’ Eric Gagne, Kansas City’s Octavio Dotel, Washington’s Chad Cordero, Cincinnati’s David Weathers, Pittsburgh’s Salomon Torres, Pittsburgh’s Damaso Marte, Colorado’s Brian Fuentes, Houston’s Brad Lidge, Houston’s Chad Qualls, and Houston’s Dan Wheeler.
The other factor that plays a role in the Yankees’ and Red Sox’ pursuit of a better bullpen is that they both have guys in the farm that can come out and help them in August and September, so they do not need to go out of their way to make a deal. The Yankees are very high on Joba Chamberlain and they also have Ross Ohlendorf who looks great when he’s healthy.
The Red Sox farm is equally as good as they have brought up Manny Delcarmen and he has looked very promising this season. Clay Buchholz may also join Manny in the bullpen later on this season. The big question with the Sox is which starter will be axed once Curt Schilling comes back? Longtime Red Sox pitcher, Tim Wakefield has not been great this season, so he might be a possibility. Both Kason Gabbard and Jon Lester have come up from the minors and have been great. It will be interesting to see how Boston handles this situation.
Eric Gagne RP
As mentioned above, Gagne is being pursued as he is having a great season with 16 saves and a 2.16 ERA. However, the Yankees and Red Sox aren’t the only teams looking at Gagne. In fact, the list of interested teams is quite long including the Tigers, Braves, Dodgers, Rockies, and Indians.
The only catch to pursuing Gagne is that Gagne has a no-trade clause and has stated that he wants to be a closer not a setup man, which rules out a lot of teams that want to use him as a setup man.
Jose Contreras SP
Despite his horrible performance this season, 5-13 with a 6.22 ERA, teams around the league are willing to take a chance on Contreras hoping to bring him back to his dominant form of the first half of last season. The good thing about this is that Contreras’ price will be low making it easier to grab him for next to nothing. Interested teams include the Cubs, Braves, Mariners, Marlins, Indians, Phillies, and Mets.
Phillies Pitching & Pat Burrell OF
The Phillies’ problems are as clear as a sunny day. Their offense is ranked third in the majors with runs scored and OPS. Their team pitching however, is ranked 27th in the majors in ERA. Their starting pitching besides Cole Hamels is awful and their bullpen is nothing to brag about either. If the Phillies don’t get help as far as pitching is concerned in the next four days, you can count them out of the playoffs.
The good news is that the Phillies have a huge trading token in Pat Burrell who is having an off year. Since the Phillies don’t need help from Burrell, and Burrell has shown some great stuff in the past, they can trade him for some quality pitching. Possible players include Oakland’s Joe Kennedy, Chicago’s Jose Contreras, San Fransisco’s Matt Morris, Florida’s Dontrelle Willis, Cincinnati’s Kyle Lohse, and Houston’s Jason Jennings.
Seattle Pitching
The Mariners are another team that has major pitching issues. Although lately the Mariners have been losing, they had made a nice run to stay 3.5 games back from the division leading Angels. If they want to make another run, they need help in their pitching rotation. Any of the pitchers mentioned above can be likely options for Seattle.
Padres Hitting
The Padres have the opposite problem. The Padres pitching is one of, if not the best pitching staff in the league. The problem is that they have little to no offense. The Padres are ranked 28th in the majors in runs scored and 27th in the majors in OPS. They did acquire outfielder Milton Bradley recently but he will not be enough. The Padres look to be seriously considering Tampa Bay’s Ty Wigginton, Chicago’s Jermaine Dye, and Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn.
This season’s trade deadline seems to be taking a backseat in the headlines. The dark ages for commissioners have something to do with that but even without that, there’s not enough on the table to be seriously excited over. It is very likely that any of the deadline deals done will have little impact on the postseason race. As everyone counts on the Texas Rangers to save the day by trading Mark Teixeira, we all sit and wait for a potential blockbuster deal. Will it happen? Probably not. But where there are storm clouds, the sunshine awaits above in the off-season.
