July 27
Toronto Blue Jays
OF Colby Rasmus
INF/OF Mark Teahen
P Brian Tallet
P Trevor Miller
P P.J. Walters
Chicago White Sox
P Jason Frasor
P Zach Stewart
St. Louis Cardinals
P Edwin Jackson
P Octavio Dotel
P Mark Rzepczynski
OF Corey Patterson
A bit of a confusing deal. With the amount of players involved and the direction the Cardinals decided to go. They decided to cut their losses with Rasmus, but settled to deal him for immediate help and not long-term. Jackson will be great under the tutelage of pitching coach Dave Duncan, but will he stay past this year? Dotel will help shore up the late inning relief, but he isn’t a long-term solution. Chicago gets immediate help with Frasor in their bullpen. They are counting on their slumping offense to wake up down the stretch. Toronto has a viable replacement for Vernon Wells in Rasmus. Did I mention that he’s a lot easier on their payroll too. Teahen was a nice addition as a super utility guy, but nothing more. The pitchers they received aren’t long-term solutions, but will help keep things balanced this year.
July 28
San Francisco Giants
OF Carlos Beltran
New York Mets
P Zach Wheeler
The Giants are still the team to beat. They gave up their best pitching prospect to acquire the best hitter on the trade market. General Manager Brian Sabean was in a postion of strength having Wheeler at his disposal to lure the Mets into making a deal and taking care of half of Beltran’s remaining salary. It goes to show you the plan the Giants have going forward and that is they will do what makes sense to win a championship. If they decide to let Beltran go as a free agent they will get two draft picks for him.
July 29
Philadelphia Phillies
OF Hunter Pence
Houston Astros
P Jarred Cosart
OF Jonathan Singleton
P Josh Zeid
Player to be named later
They have done it again. The Phillies swoop in and grab the next best player via trade. Once Beltran was dealt to the Giants, I and others thought the Phillies would probably go for a more affordable hitter i.e, Ryan Ludwick or Kosuke Fukudome. Instead they kept after the Astros and acquired their best player. Amazingly they did so without giving up their best young hitter, OF Domonic Brown and their best young pitcher, Vance Worley. Houston still received some good players, mainly Cosart and Singleton, but they gave up their only star player in Hunter Pence. Philadelphia has now purged the Astros in back-to-back years. Last year was Roy Oswalt and this year Pence. He will be a mainstay for many years in Philly.
July 30
Texas Rangers
P Koji Uehara
Baltimore Orioles
P Tommy Hunter
1B Chris Davis
Baltimore might have actually done something right for a change. They maximized an asset and got two players that can play right away for them instead of down the line. Hunter won 12 games last year for the American League champions. Davis is still a big power threat, but wasn’t getting enough at bats in Texas anymore. Uehara is exactly what Texas needs for their bullpen. Someone who will throw strikes. Texas like the San Francisco Giants are going all in to try and win a championship.
Cleveland Indians
P Ubaldo Jimenez
Colorado Rockies
P Alex White
P Joseph Gardner
P Drew Pomeranz
1B Matt McBride
The time was now for one of the best starting pitchers in the National League last to be dealt. The Rockies are now out of the running for any playoff spot and they were looking to maximize their best asset. The big clubs weren’t willing to give the Rockies what they wanted so Cleveland said we’ll gladly oblige. After so many years of giving away their best players the Indians decided to go all in. Their fans are happy to finally see that their team is finally making a move to stay in contention rather than plan for the future. The future is now with Jimenez being fixed at the top of their rotation for a couple more years.
July 31
Atlanta Braves
OF Michael Bourn
Houston Astros
OF Jordan Schafer
P Juan Abreu
P Paul Clemens
P Brett Oberholtzer
Now that Hunter Pence was dealt the next best player the Astros were willing to deal was Bourn. Atlanta was probably better off getting Bourn instead of Pence. It’s just a better fit for what they need. A leadoff hitter who can get on base and disrupt the opposing pitcher. Bourn is the fastest baserunner in the National League and the Braves were glad to deal one of their best outfield prospects in Schafer. He has struggled to stay in the majors the last two years, but Houston has a good player in him. Abreu will be a good pitcher for them as well, but they didn’t get any of the Braves best pitchers in Mike Minor, Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado. Atlanta might just have stolen Bourn from Houston.
Texas Rangers
P Mike Adams
San Diego Padres
P Robbie Erlin
P Joe Wieland
This was the best move the Rangers made. Adams is one of the best setup men in the game today. Everyone wondered why the Padres were in contention last year and one big reason is because of their bullpen. Adams was a big part of that. He will immediately solidify the 8th inning for Texas and make it easier for Neftali Feliz in the 9th. The Padres settled for two good pitchers that will probably be competing for spots in the near future. Texas fixed a weakness after striking out on getting Carlos Beltran.
Arizona Diamondbacks
P Brad Ziegler
Oakland Athletics
1B Brandon Allen
P Jordan Norberto
Ziegler is one of the most durable pitchers in the game. The sidewinder has never been placed on the disabled list and now that closer J.J. Putz is back of the DL the D’Backs have a good late inning duo down the stretch. Oakland might have gotten a good hitter in Allen if he could ever duplicate his production in the minors. He will be given a look this year and might be the first baseman next year. Arizona in a separate deal acquired starter Jason Marquis from the Washington Nationals. He’s an innings eater and ground ball pitcher who will help keep the Diamondbacks from giving up the long ball in their hitter friendly ballpark.
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