There were many commentors here and on Twitter and other sites that were upset after the clock struck 4pm yesterday.
In Steve’s Tuesday column on the MASN Sports site, you can read here that Mike Rizzo could still make moves during the month of August and showed in 2012 and 2014 that he will use waiver claims to make deals after the non-waiver trade deadline passes.
Fans of teams all around the country got to take a step back and assess where their team’s stood after the trade deadline passed yesterday.
Here is a list of trades done in the last week (Tuesday, July 26 thru Monday August 1) would you have done?
08/01/16
- Boston Red Sox traded RHP Pat Light to Minnesota Twins for Fernando Abad.
- Miami Marlins traded RHP Colin Rea to San Diego Padres for RHP Luis Castillo.
- Oakland Athletics traded RF Josh Reddick and LHP Rich Hill to Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Frankie Montas, RHP Grant Holmes and RHP Jharel Cotton.
- Tampa Bay Rays traded LF Brandon Guyer to Cleveland Indians for RHP Jhonleider Salinas and OF Nathan Lukes.
- Milwaukee Brewers traded LHP Will Smith to San Francisco Giants for C Andrew Susac and RHP Phil Bickford.
- New York Yankees traded RF Carlos Beltran and cash to Texas Rangers for RHP Nick Green, RHP Erik Swanson and RHP Dillon Tate.
- Houston Astros traded RHP Scott Feldman to Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Guadalupe Chavez.
- Toronto Blue Jays traded RHP Jesse Chavez and cash to Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Mike Bolsinger.
- Pittsburgh Pirates traded LHP Jonathon Niese to New York Mets for LHP Antonio Bastardo and cash.
- Cincinnati Reds traded RF Jay Bruce to New York Mets for 2B Dilson Herrera and LHP Max Wotell.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Ricky Nolasco, RHP Alex Meyer and cash to Los Angeles Angels for LHP Hector Santiago and RHP Alan Busenitz.
- Tampa Bay Rays traded 2B Steve Pearce to Baltimore Orioles for C Jonah Heim.
- New York Yankees traded RHP Ivan Nova to Pittsburgh Pirates for Player To Be Named Later and Player To Be Named Later.
- Los Angeles Angels traded RHP Joe Smith to Chicago Cubs for RHP Jesus Castillo.
- Tampa Bay Rays traded LHP Matt Moore to San Francisco Giants for 3B Matt Duffy, SS Lucius Fox and RHP Michael Santos.
- Milwaukee Brewers traded C Jonathan Lucroy and RHP Jeremy Jeffress to Texas Rangers for CF Lewis Brinson, RHP Luis Ortiz and Player To Be Named Later.
- Houston Astros traded RHP Josh Fields to Los Angeles Dodgers for 1B Yordan Alvarez.
- Toronto Blue Jays traded RHP Drew Hutchison to Pittsburgh Pirates for LHP Francisco Liriano, RF Harold Ramirez and C Reese McGuire.
07/31/16
- New York Yankees traded LHP Andrew Miller to Cleveland Indians for RHP Ben Heller, CF Clint Frazier, RHP J.P. Feyereisen and LHP Justus Sheffield.
- Chicago White Sox traded LHP Zach Duke to St. Louis Cardinals for CF Charlie Tilson.
- Seattle Mariners traded LHP Wade Miley to Baltimore Orioles for LHP Ariel Miranda.
- Arizona Diamondbacks traded RHP Tyler Clippard to New York Yankees for RHP Vicente Campos.
- San Diego Padres traded RF Matt Kemp and cash to Atlanta Braves for LF Hector Olivera.
- Oakland Athletics traded CF Billy Burns to Kansas City Royals for CF Brett Eibner.
Washington Nationals traded LHP Felipe Rivero and LHP Taylor Hearn to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Mark Melancon.- San Diego Padres traded Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea, RHP Tayron Guerrero and cash to Miami Marlins for RHP Jarred Cosart, RHP Carter Capps, RHP Luis Castillo and 1B Josh Naylor.
07/28/16
- Minnesota Twins traded SS Eduardo Nunez to San Francisco Giants for LHP Adalberto Mejia.
- Atlanta Braves traded RHP Lucas Harrell and LHP Dario Alvarez to Texas Rangers for 2B Travis Demeritte.
07/26/16
- San Diego Padres traded LF Melvin Upton Jr. to Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Hansel Rodriguez.
Which one of these trades would you have wanted? The one mentioned most is the Steve Pearce trade, and Tampa received a AAAA player in return. It is a head-scratcher, but several other teams passed on him also.
From @Jerry Crasnick: “#SFGiants out of Steve Pearce market now that they’ve acquired Eduardo Nunez. #Indians still talking to #Rays. But there are others.”
Why did so many teams that clearly needed a right-handed inexpensive option for OF/1B not make the Pearce deal? The Orioles biggest need was pitching, and their only pitching move was acquiring Wade Miley who has a 4.98 ERA and was a failure when he pitched for the Red Sox last year as he had a 4.46 ERA.
The market was not great for adding an ace pitcher and teams that needed one like the Texas Rangers worked other areas to improve in.
MLB.com rated teams after the non-waiver trade deadline, their power rankings in the National League had the top five teams in this order:
- Cubs
- Nationals
- Giants
- Dodgers
- Cardinals
Yes, they ranked the Nationals ahead of the Giants, and yes, they know it’s an even year. The games will be played and when the baseball season ends, and a champion is crowned, there will only be one team invited to the White House. Twenty-nine teams will have not done enough. The teams that people say did the best at the trade deadline between the Rangers, Indians, Cubs, Giants, Nationals, Dodgers etc will have major disappointment as only one team will hoist the trophy.
It seems our time to really assess this will be best served after the season is over in hindsight, but it is certainly fair to try look at who is the best team and how can the Nationals continue to improve going forward.
