Results tagged ‘ Trade Deadline ’

I Might Not Be Able To Keep This Blog Yankee Themed, I’ve Just Been Traded To The Pirates

I apologize for not blogging about the past two White Sox games, although I’m sure Yankee fans won’t mind. For those having to experience it, I’m pretty confident they wouldn’t mind not reading about it. But I feel since I’ve missed two games, the least I can do is at least sum it up:


Game 1: Great pitching, but the offense was stifled and didn’t come through in opportunities they were given. Unfortunately the team couldn’t rally behind Swisher’s 9th inning blast, the only ray of light for the Yanks. (Shucks, I guess I’m a series too late for the Rays puns)

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Game 2: Awful pitching all the way around, good offensive effort but it wasn’t enough. I will say this though: Johnny Damon is a monster. I can’t find a picture of it now which is a real bummer but he made a SICK catch crashing into the left field wall. Highlight of the game: WELCOME BACK SHELLY DUNCAN

yankees23.jpgOK ENOUGH OF THAT, TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE REAL NEWS

The trade deadline transported more people than a 747. If I tried to cover every person moving this way and that way, I’d be here until the trade deadline next summer. In the spirit of wanting to finish this and salvage my summer at the same time, I’m going to cover the 7, count ‘em 7, teams that made the biggest impact in the market. 



1. Philadelphia Phillies: As if there was any trace of doubt in the Phillies’ minds about Cliff Lee, it was silenced quickly: 9 IP 4H 1ER 2 BB 6 K. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I actually covered this trade when it was initially made in an early blog in much greater detail, to read it click here
2. Cleveland Indians: It’ll probably take a while to find out whether their trade actions will benefit the organization or not. They traded away their best pitcher Lee and good offensive players in Martinez and Francisco for some prospects, and time will only tell if they made the right move. They collected Chris Perez, Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, Jess Todd and Nick Hagadone. “These trades mean that they’re not going to win for a couple of years…I think they’re going to end up being really good in about 2012. But in the meantime, it’s going to be hard.” 

3. Boston Red Sox: As hard as it is to admit, the Sox pulled off some pretty good trades. They got 1st baseman Casey Kotchman, catcher/1st baseman Victor Martinez and Chris Duncan. While the trades for the 1st baseman and catcher confused me a little bit at first, it really makes a lot of sense for the Sox. With Varitek and Lowell aging pretty visibly, they can put one of their new guys at catcher, one of their new guys at first base, move Youk over to third and that way you can have Varitek and Lowell out of the lineup resting without losing that much offense. And they did it all without having to part with Clay Buchholz. Although it chokes me up to say this…well done…

4. Toronto Blue Jays: As much as everyone says they’re losers this trade deadline and that they made a big mistake and did a bad thing blah blah blah, I have to disagree. Trading Roy Halladay was not a do-or-die situation for them, they did not go into July saying “ok, this is a guy that we have to deal right now.” They entered with the mindset that they were possibly going to deal him if any offer came around that “wowed” them and that was too good to pass up. They almost reached that with the Phillies, but Philadelphia wasn’t ready to part with their best prospects which is what the Blue Jays were asking for and what Roy Halladay is worth. Some say that he was “overpriced” which is pure BS, because this is Roy Halladay we’re talking about. This is a man who can turn a team around and pitch like no other. “…you know what? As good as Cliff Lee is, I still think it might have been worth it [to overpay for Halladay]. Roy Halladay in the National League would have been unhittable. He would have put up CC [Sabathia] numbers for a year and a half. I can’t say that about Cliff Lee,” said one AL executive. No team was willing to give up what Halladay was worth and thats all there was to it. As for the Scott Rolen trade, they probably got the bad end of that one.

5. Chicago White Sox: They’re another team thats going to have to wait a while to see if their trade paid off. Jake Peavy is on the DL and isn’t expected to return until september, but in a tight race in the AL central, he could prove as the factor that pushes the Sox ahead of everyone else. While a healthy Peavy can sure be a dominant one, the Sox took a real gamble on a guy who won’t even be able to pitch until the seasons almost over.

6. St. Louis Cardinals: While they were the early birds of the trade deadline, making their deals in June and July, they sure made some really great ones. They got heavily needed offensive protection for Albert Pujols in acquiring Mark DeRosa, Matt Holliday and Julio Lugo. With power hitters stacked throughout the lineup, opposing pitchers are going to have a hard time figuring out how to pitch to them. “Now you don’t know what the hell to do. You don’t want to walk him [Pujols], and you don’t want to pitch to him, either. And unfortunately, you’ve only got two choices.”

7. Pittsburgh Pirates: On first glance, you might be mistaken into confusing a list of the players involved with their trades with a complete list of their 40-man roster. But if you look closer, you’ll see that the number of those traded/acquired falls a tad short. They traded away “big” names like Hinske, Sanchez, McLouth, LaRoche and Snell for mostly a bunch of unknowns. On the plus side: they’re rebuilding an unsuccessful team. On the negative side: are they trying to erase every semi-known face of their franchise to make the team completely unrecognizable. Who are they trying to hide from anyways?

Well there’s the trades for you, time to look forward to August waivers!

Signing off for now
-Inside the Thought Bubble

Wait Up, Let Me Just Catch My Breath…

The Phillies are absolutely stacked *pant* My Roy Halladay GPS tracking device hasn’t shown any recent signs of movement *pant* Chien Ming Wang is broken *pant* Yankees acquire pitcher Jason Hirsh from the Rockies for some mystery SWB player (boy do I love surprises!) *pant* and Joba deserves his own star on Hollywood Boulevard the way he pitched *pant*

 

Wheph, Ok, let me just catch my breath here…

 

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Let’s just start from the beginning: Trade Deadline

Can I get a drumroll please?

First on my list is the Phillies. Philadelphia is now home to (drumroll again please, thanks.) Roy— whoop, gotcha! Cliff Lee!! The 2008 Cy Young winner (7-9, 3.14 ERA), along with outfielder Ben Francisco (.250, 10 HR, 33 RBI) were traded this afternoon from the Cleveland Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies. Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Lou Marson and Jason Donald (all from the farm system) were sent to the Indians in return.  Lets break it down

5 Reasons This Trade Was Superb for the Phillies

  1. Between 2008-2009 in 8 starts against the National Leauge, (obvoiusly the teams he’s going to be facing the most during his time with the Phillies) Lee averages a 3.00 ERA. Not too shabby.
  2. Courtesy of ESPN.com, Lee has an average 3.4 Fly Ball/Home Run percentage, meaning that only 3.4% of the time, the fly ball Lee allows turns into a Home Run. This is very good news, considering Citizens Bank is a hitters paradise. Side Note: The percentage is the second lowest in baseball to Tim Lincecum ( _____ is only second to Tim Lincecum, now how many times have you heard that one before?)
  3. Cliff Lee is 8th in the American League in lowest run support, which is why he is a perfect fit for the Phillies–the best offensive team in the National Leauge. Just to give you a sample…1st in NL in runs, total bases, RBI, HR. Its as simple as this: the phillies give Lee offensive production and he gives them the win.
  4. The main setback in the Roy Halladay shanannagan was that the Phillies were reluctant to give up their young talent in J.A Happ, Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown, Drabek and Brown being their number one prospects in pitching and position playing, respectively. To see their stats Click Here. In this deal for Lee, they didn’t have to give up any of their most prized talent, making the trade very comfortable for them.
  5. Although the bullpen has improved, its still not at a point where it is one of the teams strengths. Cliff Lee leads the majors in innings pitched with 152, and pitching more innings means Manuel won’t have to go to his bullpen as often.
  6. Bonus Reason: I almost forgot to talk about Ben Francisco! For a team dominated by leftys offensively, they now have a very decent righty off of the bench (that and the fact that if its every righty vs leftys in a gang war, the rightys will now have further support) 

 

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 Moving on: time to talk about my favorite pitcher of them all

With the deadline drawing closer and closer, it seems that Halladay is simply set to stay put in Toronto. While other teams remain interested including the Yankees, Sox, Angels, Rays, Dodgers, Rangers etc. (and come on, who wouldn’t be?) the Jays have not found that “wow” factor they’re looking for. The Yankees had reportedly renewed interest, but aren’t willing to give up what the Jays are asking for, being Joba and Phil Hughes. “All the teams we’ve been talking to, we’ve looked at them as potential matches,” Ricciardi said. “But, once again, we said from the beginning that we’d have to be moved to move the player. At this point, we haven’t been moved.” Halladay himself doesn’t believe any trade is going to happen. But, no matter where Halladay pitches, he is sure to continue to have a substantial impact on the teams success. 

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Alright done with the trade deadline…for now. For everyone who stuck around this long to read up to here so far, lets take a 5 minute bathroom and/or snack break.

 

Next on the agenda: we broke Chien Ming Wang

The Yankees starter who recently went on the 15 day DL had season-ending surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday. Wang was on the DL several times this season, ineffective throughout the year. To fill his space for now is Surgio Mitre, although Cashman has expressed need for additional pitching depth. Acquired Wednesday from the Rockies was pitcher Jason Hirsh. Career numbers in the majors 8-11, 5.32 ERA. The player which the Yankees traded him for is yet to be unveiled. As long as its not Ian Kennedy, Shelly Duncan or Francisco Cervelli I’m sort of impartial to the situation.

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The more Ian Kennedy the better, that’s what I always say…

 

I know I included Joba’s MAD EPIC start in my opening paragraph and I promise it will not be overlooked but I’m calling it quits for tonight/Thursday morning, check back during the day Thursday for a summary of Wednesdays game, it’ll be coming I promise!

Signing off for now

-Inside the Thought Bubble 

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