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Who was t he biggest winner at the deadline?
1. Texas Rangers and the most dangerous bullpen in the American League. With closer Neftali Feliz(notes) hot and cold, Rangers GM Jon Daniels spent two top-end prospects to get the best setup man in baseball, Mike Adams(notes), and used two other major league-ready players to get another stone-cold lockdown artist, Koji Uehara(notes). With the mashing lineup, the deep bullpen and the rotation full of power arms – C.J. Wilson(notes), Alexi Ogando(notes), Colby Lewis(notes), Matt Harrison(notes) and Mr. Shutout, Derek Holland(notes) – the Rangers are unquestionable winners, the polar opposite of the …
2. Philadelphia Phillies and not worrying about his arms – or, after the deadline, his bats. The Phillies’ trade for Hunter Pence makes them winners even if manager Charlie Manuel counteracts some of the value gain by continuing to play Raul Ibanez(notes) and shipping Domonic Brown(notes) to Triple-A. And the Phillies did trade for Pence at his apex in value, a .370 batting average on balls in play contributing greatly to his numbers this season. Still, the Phillies see holes and value their prospects accordingly: They’re fungible, for the most part, and absent of a few awful drafts – of which scouting director Marti Wolever seems incapable – there will be another crop coming soon enough. The Pence acquisition offsets the …
3. Atlanta Braves’ blockbuster trade for Wil Nieves(notes). OK, fine. Maybe Michael Bourn(notes) is a little more important. Nieves arrived as depth for Brian McCann’s(notes) injury. Bourn comes as the near-perfect puzzle piece for the Braves. He plays center field. He hits leadoff. He’s fast. He’s an excellent defender. He’s exactly what they need, and getting Bourn without giving up one of their four stud pitching prospects makes the Braves unequivocal winners. Consequently, it makes the …
4. Houston Astros thorough losers. And that is after getting Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart, two high-upside prospects, in the trade for Pence. That the Astros would’ve been winners on that deal alone shows just how bad the Bourn deal was. To send him to Atlanta without getting at least Mike Minor(notes) or Randall Delgado(notes), let alone Julio Teheran(notes) or Arodys Vizcaino, shows a deep misunderstanding by GM Ed Wade of the proper way to rebuild: through high-end talent with a propensity to bust. Even if he is a lame duck, it’s better to fail spectacularly than die by paper cuts. And that’s what the Astros got: a whole bunch of paper cuts. Makes you wish they would’ve gone the route of the …
5. New York Mets would’ve traded Jose Reyes. Look at some of the packages for significantly less talented players. Reyes has been the best shortstop in baseball this season, the second-best player in the National League, and for the Mets to keep him around so they can … what, tell him they really like him? Negotiate with him when it’s obvious he wants to hit free agency? Get two draft picks should he sign elsewhere? It was a well-intended move that was wrongheaded from the start, and it nullifies the great return of Zack Wheeler the Mets got from the Carlos Beltran(notes) deal to make them tweeners. They did better than their partners in financial ruin, the …
6. St. Louis Cardinals to take on the shell of Rafael Furcal(notes). The Cardinals, inclined to win this season in case it’s Albert Pujols’(notes) and Tony LaRussa’s final hurrah, already had cemented themselves as losers when they aimed a 12-gauge at their foot and happily pulled the trigger in dealing for Edwin Jackson(notes) and a trio of relievers at the expense of Colby Rasmus(notes), whom the …
7. San Francisco Giants, who seem perfectly content to offset their Carlos Beltran countermeasure by trading for Orlando Cabrera(notes) to play shortstop. Actually, it’s already enough of a black hole that Cabrera can’t make it much worse. It’s best to focus on Beltran, whose arrival coincided with a three-game sweep by Cincinnati, including a 9-0 beatdown Sunday in which the Giants managed just three hits. Their offense still stinks, and even if they’re winners for now, they’re just two games up on the …
8. Toronto Blue Jays happily welcomed into their lineup. The Blue Jays inquired on just about every player available, GM Alex Anthopoulos a virtual octopus with his hands in so many places. Toronto still could chase Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez(notes) after the deadline, as the $39 million left on his contract may prevent him from getting claimed on waivers. Or Anthopoulos could sit still with a strong core, an excellent farm system and an indisputable winners tag at the deadline. Even more than the …
9. Pittsburgh Pirates and their balance between now and what’s to come. The Pirates have dipped to third place, 4˝ games behind Milwaukee and just two above .500, but they’re close enough that trades for outfielder Ryan Ludwick(notes) and first baseman Derrek Lee came across as reasonable. It’s been 18 years since anybody called them this, so why not: The Pirates are winners. Nobody, after all, expected them to approach the deadline with the moxie of the …
10. Cleveland Indians, who threw caution – and all of their other worldly possessions, really – to the wind in acquiring right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez. Not only are the Indians betting on Jimenez to push them past Detroit this year, they’re expecting him to anchor their rotation for two more seasons and keep them competitive in an AL Central that may be the only division with three $100 million-plus payrolls but can’t bother to have a single team outscore its opponents on the season. That includes the Indians, who mortgaged their top two starting-pitching prospects and a pair of other kids for Jimenez. Forget the criticisms: The Indians are winners, and not just because they went against type as well as convention. They saw a chance to win their division and reached for it, while the …
11. Milwaukee Brewers can take pride in their proactivity as well as their joining the winners column. The Brewers kicked off deadline dealing season by sniping Francisco Rodriguez on the night of the All-Star game. K-Rod has thrown scoreless innings in six of his seven appearances and solidified a festering eighth-inning wound for the Brewers. When Rickie Weeks(notes) went down, GM Doug Melvin went out and acquired Felipe Lopez(notes) and Jerry Hairston Jr. World beaters they aren’t. Cheap fill-ins, in this instance, are fine. The Brewers have enough pop to make up for it, an attribute the …
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Originally Posted by Chitownhero14
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