Although there was a flury of deals leading up to the MLB trade deadline, July 31st came and went with arguably the weakest splash in recent history as far as moves that were made.
For all the hype over players jumping cities, Alfonso Soriano, Andruw Jones and Miguel Tejada stayed on their respective teams. While some organizations made solid moves that will impact their chances at a playoff berth, others will continue to wallow in the depths of MLB mediocrity.
Here is a recap of what teams helped and hurt themselves by the 4 p.m. trade deadline Monday, July 31st:
Teams that helped themselves
Los Angles Dodgers
The Dodgers might be the team that helped themselves the most. They added Wilson Betemit (from Atlanta) who is a young switch hitter that will give them the pop they needed at third base. He could become a very good player now that he’ll be in a full-time roll.
With a brash of injuries to their infield (Jeff Kent, Nomar Garciaparra), L.A. also acquired middle infielder Julio Lugo from Tampa Bay. Lugo was arguably the best INF on the market while hitting .308, with 12 home runs and 27 RBI thus far this season.
The Dodgers also added Greg Maddux who still has decent stuff left in the tank and staying in the NL will only help the veteran.
New York Yankees
Bobby Abreu (from Philadelphia) isn’t a great outfielder and his slugging percentage has gotten worse every month of the season. He gets on base a ton, but struggles to blast home runs on the road (just five HRs on the road since the All-Star break).
However, the Yankees outfield is being held up by duct tape from all the injuries they’ve had and Abreu only makes their lineup better. They might have a crowded situation next year in their outfield with Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui healthy again, but you got to give it to the Yankees who always play for the present.
Cory Lidle (from Philadelphia) will give them their best fifth starter of the season and all they essentially gave up is cash. NY also got a solid hitter in Craig Wilson from Pittsburgh for a ham sandwich and bag of chips (see below).
Texas Rangers
They add Carlos Lee (from Milwaukee) and Kip Wells (from Pittsburgh) and all of a sudden the Rangers have a very solid lineup and a pitcher that can instantly be inserted into their rotation.
This might not be the year for Texas, but if they can sign Lee in the offseason, the Rangers can me major contenders in ’07.
Teams that hurt themselves
San Francisco Giants
The Giants are in the mist of their longest losing streak of the season and they had a chance to unload some of their aging roster for young prospects, but chose to still try and compete in ’06.
Although he hasn’t gotten much run support, Jason Schmidt has struggled. The White Sox were reportedly interested in the right-hander and probably would have given up a decent pitching prospect in return for the right-hander.
San Fran was built for this season and now that they are sliding right out of ‘06, they are in bad shape for ’07 too. Ray Durham probably won’t be re-signed and his trade value will never be higher than right now (he is on a hitting tear), so why not dump the second basemen as well?
Plus, there is no guarantee that newly acquired Shea Hillenbrand will re-sign with the club next season and the deal cost the Giants one of their young relief pitchers in Jeremy Accardo.
Philadelphia Phillies
This organization gave up. They’ve got a decent team who was supposed to contend after just missing out on the playoffs last year. Don’t let them fool you either, if they had the chance, they would have traded Pat Burrell too.
The organization keeps telling its fans to be patient, but this team is already pretty good and once again the front office is dumping another season without building much hope for the future.
Yes, I know that they saved money by trading Abreu, but mark my words: they won’t get high priced free agents next year because they want to build their farm system.
Teams that missed an opportunity
Chicago White Sox
A week ago, ESPN all but had Alfonso Soriano heading to the Windy City. Four o’clock came and passed with the White Sox not doing anything.
I’ll file the White Sox in the “Teams that might have missed an opportunity” category, however, because I believe they have enough to make another run at a World Championship.
They have a solid roster, but an opportunity for a guy like Soriano is right there and you have to jump at it. Also, they have had their eye on Giants’ starting pitcher Jason Schmidt for the longest time and never gave San Francisco a decent offer.
With the Giants at their lowest point of the season and Schmidt set to be a free agent next season, he was there for the taking and would have made the Chi Sox rotation even stronger.
Boston Red Sox
This is another club that may have the team they feel is playoff ready. However, with their hated rivals making a move to solidify their outfield, how can the Red Sox stand pat?
The Tigers helped themselves with Sean Casey, the Yankees upgraded with Abreu and Lidle and there stands Boston who reportedly could have gotten Roger Clemons.
Another rumor that circled late yesterday was that Andruw Jones was heading to Bean Town. But the deadline passed with the Red Sox not moving an inch and the move might have given the Yankees all they needed to officially pass them.
What the hell were they thinking?
Pittsburgh Pirates
Craig Wilson for a struggling Shawn Chacon? Chacon is 5-3, but his ERA is well above 5.00 and should only get worse with no run support in Pittsburgh. Wilson is a solid hitter and can play both the infield and outfield.
They also lost Kip Wells and Roberto Hernandez from their pitching squad and got next to nothing in return.
This is why the Pirates are always the bottom feeders in a weak National League.
Washington Nationals
If the Nationals don’t re-sign Soriano in the offseason, not moving him in July will be an utter disaster. With him, they can at least compete and build a team around him and give the guy a home.
Without him, they missed a huge opportunity to land some top prospects and build a young franchise like the Florida Marlins did in 2003 and the Detroit Tigers are doing right now.
