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Updated: August 1, 6:58 PM ET Trade deadline: Winners, losers and more By Jayson Stark ESPN.com | |||||||||||||||||
| Pedro Astacio changed addresses. Shannon Stewart didn't.
The Rockies made more headlines than deals. The Astros made more deals than headlines.
Yes, another wild and crazy trading deadline has come and gone. And that means it's more than just time to turn off the cell phones. It's time to pick through all the transactions and look at the big winners and losers of another frenzied trading season.
The Winners Cubs: It almost doesn't matter who they got. Fred McGriff, David Weathers and Michael Tucker may not be Ernie Banks, Bruce Sutter and Billy Williams. But they are a symbol that, for the first time practically since Harry Caray's boyhood, the Cubs are actually trying to win. And not just to win a few more games. Not just to win the NL Central. But to really win. To get to a World Series. Boy. Don't they know that will screw up the image of the Cubbies forever? Well, yeah. And that's just the point. They've had enough of that image. And now, with the best record in the league, the deepest pitching staff in the league, the addition of McGriff and the return to health of Bill Mueller, Rondell White and Todd Hundley, they've got a legitimate chance to go deep into October. "Nothing they did was earth-shaking in and of itself," said one club official. "But if some of the other people in this game are smart, they'll look around and see that Andy MacPhail came in there, he wanted that team to be better than it's been, and in one year, he made them better. You can still do it if you're smart, if you spend your money right, if you put the right pieces in place. There's a lesson in that for everybody." Giants: A week ago, the Giants were gasping to stay above .500, couldn't figure out how to score three runs a night and seemed to be one three-game losing streak away from starting to think about next year. Then Andres Galarraga walked through the locker-room door, and everything changed. He gave them instant guru wisdom and leadership. He drove in as many runs in his first five games as a Giant (eight) as he drove in in his final six weeks as a Ranger. He deepened the lineup behind Barry Bonds. He ignited a five-game winning streak and a four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks in Arizona. And by Monday, the Giants were the team everybody feared in the NL West. So the ever-astute tandem of GM Brian Sabean and assistant GM Ned Colletti swooped up Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal from Pittsburgh, for what they thought would be just the price tag on Schmidt alone (Armando Rios and big-upside pitching prospect Ryan Vogelsong). Then they pried left-handed bullpen specialist Jason Christiansen away from St. Louis minutes before the deadline. "For me," said one NL executive, "they improved themselves more than any other team. I couldn't believe they got who they got for what they gave up. To get both Schmidt and Vander Wal for Armando Rios and Vogelsong, that's amazing. If they'd traded those guys for Schmidt alone, I'd have thought they did well." Athletics: Just because the A's made the first big deal of the trading season doesn't mean they get overlooked. GM Billy Beane and his trusty assistants, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta, are always looking further beyond the horizon than practically any of their peers. So they weren't afraid to give up two high-ceiling prospects, Jose Ortiz and Mario Encarnacion, if it brought them Jermaine Dye, the most prized bat on the market and a guy who can help them this year and next. "Brilliant move," said one baseball man. "Jermaine Dye changes their lineup right now. And they're willing to pay him what Johnny Damon would have made next year. So they've already replaced one of their big free-agent losses (Damon) at the same time they're playing to win this year. Great deal." Astros: While the competition stalked Astacio feverishly, Astros GM Gerry Hunsicker took the quiet, under-the-radar-screen approach. Then, finally, when the Rockies' deals with other clubs began falling apart, Hunsicker maneuvered back into the mix to hook the biggest pitching fish left in the ocean. It meant taking on more than $3 million in payroll, even if the Astros buy out Astacio's $9 million option for next year, or more than $11 million if they pick it up. And it's certainly a gamble, giving up their Opening-Day starter (Scott Elarton) for a guy with one win in his last 10 starts and two wins in his last 15 starts. But Astacio's ERA the last three seasons in parks other than Coors was 3.91 -- almost three runs lower than his home ERA. And while it might seem as if Astacio is leaving one pitching torture chamber for another (Enron Field), at least it's possible to throw breaking balls at Enron. If all those curveballs that didn't break at Coors begin to spin again in Houston, Astacio just might pitch the Astros into the playoffs. If not, at least they're not dumping the weight of the franchise on the backs of Wade Miller, Roy Oswalt and Tim Redding. Meanwhile, Mike Williams (69 for 81 in save opportunities the last three years) gives them one more quality bullpen arm. And can a team that plays at Enron possibly have too many of them? Red Sox: With No-mah, Bret Saberhagen, Carl Everett, Frank Castillo, Jason Varitek and hopefully Pedro coming back from trainers-room oblivion, the Red Sox didn't need to do much. Adding Ugueth Urbina, literally seconds before the deadline, was the perfect acquisition. He gives them an alternative to Derek Lowe should they decide to go that route, or a late-inning strikeout machine if they use Urbina to set up. Whatever, with a rotation that averages 5 2/3 innings per start -- and just went three weeks without having any starter get through the seventh inning -- it was worth dealing for Urbina to keep the arms of Rod Beck and Rich Garces from turning into rollatini. And just the thought of the Expos giving the Red Sox cash in any deal makes it a memorable trade in and of itself. "If Pedro comes back the way we expect," says one Red Sox official, "I really think this club is good enough to win now." The Losers Blue Jays: Let's get this straight: After all those weeks and all those rumors and all those clubs the Blue Jays left dangling, this team wound up doing nothing? Trading nobody? Keeping a club intact even though, in the words of one AL scout, it has "quit?" What's up with that? The Blue Jays did get close to a deal with Minnesota for Shannon Stewart at the deadline but ran out of time. (Obviously, they thought the trade deadline was 6 p.m. Canadian.) But in the meantime, they left GMs all over the continent mumbling and grumbling over their inflated demands for Stewart, Kelvim Escobar and almost their entire bullpen set-up crew. "That's a team with a ton of talent, and they were the deadest club I'd seen in a long time," said one AL scout. "You can't look at that club, the way they were playing, and then not make one deal. I don't get it." Mariners: Heck, they were 45 games over .500. So the Mariners obviously didn't have to do anything except plan their clinching party. And it has always been GM Pat Gillick's theory that you don't disturb the heart of your club to make short-term moves at the deadline. So he even found it difficult to trade the likes of Joel Piniero for a hitter as iffy as Juan Encarnacion. But Gillick himself has said for months this team needed another bat. And while he still may be able to add one via the August waiver lottery, it would be tragic if his club is somehow haunted in the playoffs by that hitter it never dealt for in July. "They don't need a guy for now," said one scout. "They need a guy for October. I think now they go into the playoffs with everything to lose and very little to gain. If you win 115 games but don't get to the World Series, your season, to me, is not very successful." Royals: They had a sensational chip to deal in Dye -- a chip they didn't have to expend in July, incidentally. And all they wound up to show for it was Neifi Perez, a superior defensive shortstop whose on-base percentage outside of Denver was .269. New GM Allard Baird is getting hammered in Kansas City for not getting a single pitcher back for either Dye or Johnny Damon. But Baird says: "The key to our success is going to be our young pitching -- Chad Durbin, Jeff Suppan, Chris George, Kris Wilson, Jeff Austin. So if that's the case, we've got to be strong at shortstop. Your shortstop affects your pitching staff more than any other position. And we weren't going to be able to sign Rey Sanchez for next year." So Perez -- who did lead National League shortstops in assists last year by more than 100 -- does indeed give them a shortstop. But does he give them enough of a return for Dye, a 30-homer, 115-RBI man who was supposed to be one of their building blocks toward a better tomorrow? "I don't understand their thinking," said an executive of another AL club. "If you can't get something done with Jermaine Dye that helps you now, do it next winter. Do it next spring. Do it at the trading deadline next year. Go get the Yankees interested. Go get the Mets interested. Go get the Giants interested, especially if they lose Bonds. I think Allard is a sharp baseball guy. I just thought he sold early." Rockies: A few months ago, if the Rockies had traded anybody or anything for Scott Elarton and Jose Ortiz, Dan O'Dowd might have looked like a genius. But while O'Dowd did the best he could to scramble out of a tough spot to salvage some young players with star potential, this clearly wasn't what even he had in mind when he began marketing Astacio and Perez. The plan was to add young, big-time prospects for Perez, then to turn around and make a whopper of a deal for Astacio. But after days of waiting for the Blue Jays to step up and put Stewart or Escobar into a realistic package or for the Cardinals to get close enough to the race to get aggressive, O'Dowd was left hanging by both clubs. So the best he was able to do was to take a shot at Elarton, whose 4-8, 7.17 numbers accurately reflect how poorly he threw from day one, after a 17-7 season had elevated him to the top of the rotation. Still, one NL scout said: "I would have loved to have had Elarton. His delivery is so screwed up. But I think he can be salvaged." Of course, the question is: Is Coors Field a place any pitcher goes to find salvation? Jury's Out Twins: On one hand, it was hard to find anybody in baseball who didn't like what they added in Rick Reed, and, to a lesser degree, in Todd Jones. "I love Reed," said one AL scout. "They weren't going to win without pitching. And before, they had three good arms. Now they've got four. To me, Reed was one of the best pitchers in the National League. He's got good stuff. He's got guts. And he saves your bullpen by giving you innings." But on the other hand, Matt Lawton's departure leaves an offensive hole that hard-working GM Terry Ryan wasn't able to fill on deadline day, despite a last-minute charge at Stewart. Lawton was also a huge element in the chemistry that has carried the Twins this far. So no one knows how this team will replace the leadership void his departure leaves. "It's tough to take away that veteran player," said one scout. "He wasn't having a great year. But he was somebody the young guys really looked up to." Yet another scout's view: "His intangibles leave a hole. There's no question. He was a guiding light for that team during a really bad period when he was their best player. But all of a sudden, the Doug Mientkiewiczes and those guys grew in the last year. So they'll miss Lawton in the clubhouse, but it's not as significant this year as it would have been last year, because that team's grown up together." Pirates: They got three good arms for Schmidt, Williams and Terry Mulholland, in Ryan Vogelsong, Tony McKnight and Adrian Burnside, respectively. Still, the question that persists is: Did new GM Dave Littlefield get enough for Schmidt and Vander Wal, his two biggest trading chips? The assessments of Vogelsong ranged from "something special" and "18-game winner" to No. 3 or 4 starter. Rios was mostly judged to be a decent hitter who, in the words of one scout, "is the kind of guy who's a starter on a so-so club like that, but a fourth outfielder on a good club." So the reviews, in general, were thoroughly mixed. "They got a pretty good bat and a pretty good arm," said one scout. "But you don't sit there and say, 'Wow.' " Mets: They freed up $23 million over the next three seasons by dealing away Turk Wendell, Reed and Dennis Cook. They got a young left-handed starter with great stuff in Bruce Chen. And that gave them the extra starter that enabled them to trade Reed for more offense (Lawton). But was Lawton the kind of hitter the Mets needed? They're last in their league in just about every major offensive category. But it's their lack of power (just 94 homers -- only 22 by all their outfielders combined) that made some baseball men question whether Lawton was the right ingredient in their mix, even with his .396 on-base percentage. "I think they sold themselves short on Reed," said one scout. "He might have been the best pitcher out there. And Lawton's a good player, but he's not a star." "They get so little offense out of their outfield that, from that standpoint, he's an upgrade," said another scout. "But that team has absolutely no power. If you took Piazza out of their lineup, they'd be lucky to hit 100 home runs all season. And that's not the way the game is played now." But it's also probably too early to judge what the Mets did. They merely signaled their change of direction, to push for more offense, with these deals. They'll attempt to finish their reshaping over the winter. And you know they'll plow the money they saved right back into that reshaping. Dodgers: They didn't dent their big-league club at all to add three veteran arms in James Baldwin, Mike Trombley and Mulholland. But Mulholland has been out for seven weeks with a broken finger. Trombley has allowed 16 runs in 21 innings over the last two months. And Baldwin -- while he was pitching well lately (5-1 in his last six starts before the trade) -- still has a 5.02 career ERA. Yet, with $180 million in pitchers on the disabled list, the Dodgers seem to have done the best they could without giving up anyone who will haunt them in the short term. Diamondbacks: Albie Lopez lives in Arizona, can go back to being the No. 4 starter he ought to be as a Diamondback, and can't help but be grateful to be out of Tampa Bay. Nevertheless, the consensus is that Arizona gave up a lot more than the Dodgers did (in the useful Nick Bierbrodt and Jason Conti), further draining their depleted farm system for a pitcher who had lost 10 games in a row and offers no more guarantee of success in the desert than Baldwin does in southern California. The Diamondbacks also failed to plug holes at shortstop and in the bullpen. So Lopez sure had better pitch well. Devil Rays: The good news: They were able to find takers for McGriff (a savings of $9 million) and Lopez (a savings of almost $1 million) and catcher Mike DiFelice (a savings of $300,000). The bad news: They found no takers for Greg Vaughn (due $18 million in 2002-03) and John Flaherty (under contract for next year at $3.25 million). Still, this is a team that finally has recognized it's time to gear up for a brighter future that includes some of the best prospects in the game. But that's going to mean taking plenty of lumps in the short term. Modest Gainers
Jose Rijo 1993 17 Mark Leiter 1995 17 Barry Latman 1960 16 Jose Rosado 1997 16 John Cumberland 1971 15 Stu Miller 1958 15 Dennis Rasmussen 1987 15 Tracy Stallard 1965 15 Frank Castillo 1995 15 Batter Team Date Howard Johnson Mets 8/31/1991 Roy Smalley Yankees 9/05/1982 Dale Sveum Brewers 6/12/1988 U L Washington Royals 9/21/1979 Maury Wills Dodgers 5/30/1962 Bret Barberie Expos 8/02/1991 Jose Valentin Brewers 7/01/1999 Jose Valentin White Sox 9/30/2000 Bret Barberie 8/2/1991 Johnny Lucadello 9/16/1940 Brian Simmons 9/26/1998 U.L. Washington 9/21/1979Trivia answer Jose Canseco (A's, Rangers, Blue Jays, Devil Rays) Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings appears each week. |
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