Now that the trading deadline in Major League Baseball has passed, let’s examine who helped themselves and who hurt themselves:
Winners and losers from this year’s MLB trade deadline
Kansas City: The defending American League champions addressed their one area of concern by trading for Reds ace Jonny Cueto. In acquiring the former 20-game winner, the Royals now have a stud who can front their rotation come playoff time. In also picking up Ben Zobrist from the Oakland Athletics, Kansas City gets a versatile player who can play seven different positions. The Royals were the clear World Series favorites before these moves. Cueto and Zobrist make them overwhelming favorites.
Toronto: The Blue Jays were the most active around trade deadline time, acquiring Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins from the Rockies to address defense at the shortstop position and add depth and experience to their bullpen. The also won the David Price sweepstakes, adding a legitimate ace to their staff. Toronto made a couple of smaller moves as well, acquiring Mark Lowe from the Mariners to join Hawkins in the bullpen and Ben Revere from the Phillies to add a left fielder and possible lead-off hitter. The Blue Jays have the longest active playoff drought in baseball, having not made the playoffs since Joe Carter’s memorable home run to win the 1993 World Series. In making these moves, GM Alex Anthopoulos has signaled to his team and fan base that the organization is serious about ending that drought.
Houston: The Astros added to their talented pitching duo of Dallas Keuchel and Colin McHugh by acquiring Scott Kazmir from Oakland. Kazmir was brilliant in his Houston debut and general manager Jeff Luhnow then went out and picked up outfielder Carlos Gomez from the Brewers after the two-time All Star’s trade to the New York Mets fell through. Gomez will join the recovering George Springer and shortstop phenom Carlos Correia as the young core of the Astros for many years to come. With a sweep of the Angels vaulting them back into first place in the AL West, the Astros look set to be one of baseball’s feel-good stories heading down the stretch and possibly into October.
New York Mets: GM Sandy Alderson was under immense pressure to help his outstanding young pitching staff and that is exactly what he did in first acquiring Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe from Atlanta to provide experience, versatility and professionalism to the New York lineup. Tyler Clippard was then added to the bullpen to set up for closer Jeurys Familia and possibly relieve Familia when he needs a rest or is going through a slump. To top it off, Yoenis Cespedes was added to complete Alderson’s spree and provide the Mets with a big bat in the middle of the lineup. Now armed with a complete team, the Mets seem poised for a run at the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
Losers:
San Diego: The Padres were all the rage leading up to the trade deadline as general A.J. Preller was as likely to subtract all of his high profile additions, such as Craig Kimbrel, Justin Upton and pitchers Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner and outfielder Will Venable. Instead, they did nothing and are now stuck with a mediocre team hoping for a return to form next year from their star players.
Chicago Cubs: While they added pitchers Dan Haren and Tommy Hunter, they failed to acquire a top-tier pitcher for the stretch run that would’ve added talent and experience. Make no mistake about it: the Cubs are here to stay, but their failure to add a bigger name than Haren and Hunter makes them a loser at this deadline, and could leave them on the outside looking in come the 2015 playoffs.
Washington: The NL East leaders are a talented team that lacks guts and courage when it comes to the playoffs and when presented with an opportunity to bolster their bullpen, they chose option #3 in Jonathan Papelbon instead of Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman. If you want to move Drew Storen out of the closers role based on his past October failures, that is fine, but you do NOT do it with an option whose best days may be back in 2007. They also failed to address bench depth.
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 05: David Price #14 of the Detroit Tigers in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 5, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Tigers defeated the Yankees 4-3 after 12 innings. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
