The Trade Deadline coincides with my birthday this year. I got a pizza at work, along with some
pistachios, chocolate, and some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I did well.
Some of my preseason picks have looked
pretty good, but I don’t think I went out on a limb with them. The Orioles, Yankees, Astros, Phillies, and
Dodgers being good isn’t much of a shocker.
Cleveland and the Brewers are leading the Central divisions, but then
again, these teams are essentially the best of the worst.
It looks like the AL East and AL West winners may not be
settled until the end of the season. The
other divisions will require the leader to collapse for there to be a
change. The two Central divisions are the
most likely, but whoever wins will probably be irrelevant in the playoffs. The Wild Card race is still wide open to this
point. In the AL, the Twins, the Royals
(good job staying competitive, guys), the Red Sox, the Mariners, and even the
Rangers are still in it. There are eight
teams in easy striking distance of the playoffs in the NL.
I haven’t been keeping a baseball “diary” this season, but
as the deadline has approached, I couldn’t resist noting several games. A couple of trades happened near the end of
the month as part of the recaps.
6-8-24
So far, this has been the game of the year. The El Paso Chihuahuas were down 15-1 in the
fourth to the Las Vegas Aviators. I was
playing a computer game during the slaughter and was barely attention by that
point. However, the pups scored 7 over
the next two innings and the game got my attention back. They scored 9 in the seventh to take a
two-run lead and held on for the next two innings for a 17-16 win!
The game was the talk of the town the next day. Nate Mondou went 3 for 5 with 6 RBI’s and a
two-run homer. The oddity of the game
was that Anthony Rifenberg was the broadcaster.
Our old friend Tim Hagerty was on a team mandated vacation at the time
and was surely kicking himself for not being there.
7-7-24
Funny moment in today’s Rangers game. A fan reached over the rail and caught a
flyball. It wasn’t going to go out and
Travis Jankowski was camped under it to make the play, so it was an odd
circumstance that a fan could have interfered.
The broadcasters recognized the fan as a regular and had even met him
before. They hoped he wouldn’t get
banned from the stadium as a result, since the guy didn’t realize he was
interfering until after the play.
Jankowski was mad at first, but the batter was out on
interference anyway. No harm done to the
game. The broadcasters asked him about
the play after the game. He said, “Not
many fans get to make a Major League putout.”
7-13-24
The Astros had buried themselves at the beginning of the
season, but have made a dramatic comeback since then. This game against the Rangers may have been
their for sure turning point. Both teams
started off the game with shaky pitching in the first, but what followed was a
scoreless nail-biter that played like playoff game. There were three runs waved off during the
game upon review. The Rangers loaded the
bases for three straight innings without scoring. The Astros had their chances, too. Finally, the Astros won it in the tenth,
2-1. This game definitely highlighted
the Rangers’ offensive woes.
The Chihuahuas played against Clayton Kershaw on rehab in
OKC. Under new management, they are no
longer called the Dodgers, though. They’re
going by “The Oklahoma City Baseball Club,” until they settle on a new name
next year. Lame.
Chihuahuas players were asking the manager to be put in
the game to face Kershaw. He didn’t
disappoint. He faced 9 batters in three
innings and struck out 5 with 1 walk. A
batter challenged the call on one of his pitches. Kershaw chuckled and, of course, got the
call. After he was out of the game, fans
crowded around just watching him throw a few pitches in the bullpen.
I should mention this was the same day as the Trump
assassination attempt. I was completely
unaware of it while listening the Ranger game earlier. I’d called dad to give him a breathless
account of the game. He answered with,
“Well, Trump got shot today.” Later in
the OKC game, they sang God Bless America
and the crowd broke into a “U-S-A, U-S-A!” chant.
7-19-24
On the MLB.TV free game tonight, the Pirates come back
from 3 runs down twice tonight to win, 8-7.
In the bottom of the ninth with the winning run on third, Nick Gonzales
only needed to see one pitch to walk it off with a hit. Nick, of course, was an Aggie star player
that I’d seen in person, so I was genuinely thrilled with the outcome. There
was a huge crowd there in Pittsburgh for fireworks after the game.
And then the agony of defeat. It was a 2-2 game between the Chihuahuas and
Sugarland. The pups went up by 2 in
bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth
with two on and two out, there was a dropped third strike. I could tell by the way Tim Hagerty called
it, that something weird was about to happen.
The catcher’s throw to first was dropped and the runner reached
safely. What followed was 5 unearned
runs and a 7-5 loss. (There were 4
strikeouts in the inning.) There were lots
of boo’s from the El Paso crowd following this one. (And it gets worse.)
7-22-24
“Nikky G” does it again with the game-winning hit. This time it was against the Cardinals. I had a day of Free MLB.TV and got to watch
several games, including a couple of extra innings games. Nick Gonzales got his clutch hit in the
bottom of the eighth. David Bednar
closed it out in the ninth. I couldn’t
resist writing to my Cardinal-loving Aunt Judy to brag about my former Aggie
doing well. I hope she’s still talking
to me. I did notice that Nick is still
using the same walk up music that he was using at NMSU. (Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the
song.)
7-26-24
The Chihuahuas set an ignominious franchise record
tonight—their eighth-straight loss. That
wouldn’t be something you’d want to remember, but for how it happened. In the bottom of the ninth with two on and
two out, a flyball to the outfield by the Salt Lake City Bees was dropped by Oscar
Mercado, who had pinch hit the previous inning.
Both runs scored and the Bees had a walkoff 4-3 win. Tim Hagerty was incredulous (as was the Bees’
announcer, who I also heard). You’d
think after that dropped third strike incident, he’d be more nonchalant about
it. (Mercado started in the outfield the
next night. Unsurprisingly, the Bees
kept hitting it out to him.)
Mike Trout was on a rehab assignment with the Bees to
start the week. Unfortunately that only
lasted two innings before he re-tweaked his injured knee and had to come
out. The Bees sold 5,000 advance tickets
on Sunday before his first game on Tuesday.
The large crowd gave him a big cheer after making a couple of putouts in
the first inning and for his first at bat.
Even without him, the crowds there in Salt Lake sounded large and
enthusiastic. (And why not? They were winning.)
The first big trade deadline deals also happened on the
26-th. The Rays threw in the towel on
the season, as they dealt off Randy Arozarena to the Mariners and the Orioles
picked up Zach Eflin. The M’s
desperately needed the bat, as they’d lost the AL West lead from their anemic
hitting. The O’s needed some more
pitching. Both teams may not be done.
7-28-24
The Rangers and the Blue Jays played their series finale. After yesterday, where Michael Lorenzen
started and threw 40 pitches and only got two outs, today, Jon Gray didn’t even
get that far. He was pulled after
pulling his groin after his final warm up pitch. Worse, after two losses, the broadcasters had
tabbed this as a must win before the Trade Deadline, if the Rangers were going
to try and add pieces to save their season.
After Gray came out, Lorenzen immediately lobbied Bochy to
get into the game, which he did later, but by that point the game was out of
hand. It was a three-game sweep. Lorenzen did go four innings and gave up only
one run to get his confidence back. And
then he was traded the next day to the Royals for a Triple-A pitcher. The Rangers do have some injured players
coming back soon.
Meanwhile, Danny Jansen went from the Blue Jays to the Red
Sox. The Jays been losing pieces
steadily over the last couple of days.
The Rays and the White Sox traded some losing pieces.
Overlapping the Rangers’ game, the Chihuahuas experienced
their first six-game series sweep as they lost their tenth in a row. In the evening, I got to listen to the ESPN
game. The big news was that Jazz
Chisholm went from the Marlins to the Yankees.
(What happened to the Marlins?) Jazz
got to the park just before the game started.
What was usually a 20-minute drive from Logan Airport to Fenway Park in
Boston, but took over two hours because of a massive traffic jam. Red Sox fans will apparently do anything to
try and keep the Yankees from beating them.
(It didn’t work. They got
crushed.)
7-29-24
Lots of trades today.
In addition to trading Michael Lorenzen, the Rangers also picked up Carson
Kelly from Tigers for some catching help.
The Cubs acquired Isaac Paredes from Rays. The Rays are right in the Wild Card race, but
figured it was a seller’s market and the franchise would do better by picking
up more controllable younger talent.
The Cardinals, White Sox, and Dodgers traded a bunch of
players with each other and they all ended up with nothing. The Mariners got more hitting help with Justin
Turner from Jays, but also traded Ty France to Reds. He’d fallen off this season. (Ty was great with the Chihuahuas. I got to listen to him play nightly.) The Astros acquired Yusei Kikuchi from Blue Jays for three prospects for some
more pitching. Likewise, the Brewers
got Frankie Montas. Finally, the Giants
traded Jorge Soler and others to Braves.
They may have thrown in the towel on this season.
7-30-24
The big news of the day is that the Chihuahuas finally
broke out and ended their 10-game losing streak. In related news, the Padres picked up Tanner
Scott for their bullpen. This deal sent
a couple of Chihuahuas to the Marlins. I
should mention that Dylan Cease just pitched a no-hitter for the Padres
recently. The team seems to be on the
rise.
Unsurprisingly, on the final day before the Trade
Deadline, there were a bunch of trades.
Maybe what was surprising was the lack of big deals. Two big rumored trade pieces, Tarik Skubal
and Vlad Guerrero Jr., were not moved.
Likewise, no top 100 prospects changed teams. With the expanded playoffs, more teams are
still viable, but that also means they don’t want to give up what they have to try
and improve. It’s also reduced the
number of non-contending teams with good pieces to trade.
In response to the surging
Padres, the Dodgers got Jack Flaherty from the Tigers for essentially
nothing. [Edit: Apparently, there were
possible medical issues scaring teams off.]
I find it hard to explain that.
If Detroit had sent Skubal to the Orioles, they would have lost this
years’ possible Cy Young winner, but they might have gotten Jackson Holiday for
him. [Edit: Don’t listen to me. Holiday hit a grand slam for the O’s
today.] The Tigers should have been good
the last two years. What’s wrong with
them? (Other than poor trade decisions,
like not dealing Eduardo Rodriguez last year, and then not keeping him for this
year.)
The Dodgers also acquired Kevin Kiermaier from the Blue
Jays. He’s not the player he used to be,
but is a good late innings defensive replacement. These are the kind of deals you can make when
you’re the Dodgers, picking up niche players to patch up little holes in your
roster. The slumping, disappointing Blue
Jays, meanwhile, traded off a bunch of players on their team, but kept Vlad,
who would have gotten them back someone worthwhile at least.
In other random trades, the Royals picked up a couple of
players. They’re really trying this
season. If they had the money, they
would have done something splashy. As
is, they’re just building up decent parts and hoping to squeak into the
playoffs. The D-Backs got Josh Bell. That deal isn’t as exciting as it was the
first three-or-so times Bell was traded. [Edit: He's there for Christian Walker, who is injured.] They also picked up A.J. Puk from the Marlins for their bullpen
last week. (Is there anyone good left on
the Marlins? They certainly didn’t need
Kim Ng as their GM, if dismantling the team was ownership’s plan.)
The O’s got Eloy Jimenez from the White Sox. I’m not sure if they needed the bat. Highly-rated pitcher, Garrett Crochet, might
have been a better acquisition, but the Sox didn’t part with him, especially
after Crochet said he might not be available to pitch in the postseason. Once again, the good stuff was held
back. The Pirates
acquired Bryan De La Cruz from Marlins.
(They needed pitching, too.) And,
the Giants give up Alex Cobb to Cleveland and gave up on the season in
general.
Obviously,
it’s too early to rate the impact of these trades. I didn’t even mention Tommy Pham going back to the Cardinals. He paid off immediately by hitting a grand
slam yesterday for them and going 3 for 4 today (all against the Rangers). Likewise, Jazz Chisholm has chipped in four home
runs for the Yankees.
I’m inclined to say the Mariners picking up a couple of
bats might help them win the AL West.
While the Astros did get some pitching help, I think a team that started
off as badly as they did will regress.
If Jazz, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto can all keep hitting, the Orioles
are in trouble, but the O’s did improve themselves, too. The Dodgers may not be endangered from
winning the NL West, but they’d best hope they don’t meet the Padres in the
playoffs.
The Rays, White Sox, Marlins, and Blue Jays were sellers
in a seller’s market and probably didn’t do much to improve their teams for the
future. If you’re going to be sellers,
you probably need to go all-in to get a real return. Finally, my World Series pick, the Phillies,
basically didn’t do anything. This
reminds me of the Orioles last year.
That wasn’t the best strategy.
The Phillies also got swept, if not embarrassed, by the Yankees this
week. That wasn’t the Trade Deadline
statement they wanted to make.
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