UPDATED for DETROIT and Tampa Bay

This has been one of the most interesting trade deadlines in years, and it's not over yet it's over now (except for waiver deals).  What we know:

Oakland is going balls-to-the-wall to get a championship this year.  Their latest moves to acquire Lester, Gomes and Fuld while trading away Milone, Cespedas and a draft pick, plus earlier trades where they gave up money(!) and other minor leaguers, show that Oakland is willing to degrade their ability to compete as early as next year and for probably a few years after in order to get a championship.  Unfortunately, I think there are at least three team that can beat them, two of which are in the American League.

Boston seems to be focused on another rebuild, which means (at least right now) they're not planning on competing next year.  Looks like the Sox are planning to focus on near-ready prospects, however; which means they're leaving the possibility open of spending big in the off-season and charging hard next year.

That seems to be Texas's plan as well, although Rangers' GM Daniels has been clear from the start that Texas plans to be in the playoffs again next year.  To that end, Darvish and Beltre are supposedly completely off-the-table for all but the most extreme offers.  However, we haven't heard many rumors of Texas being in on controllable pitching, with Lester, Lackey and Hammels all going to contenders.  Not necessarily surprising; really...Texas may be holding their cards for waiver-wire trades (Lee) or off-season deals.  Texas has coveted James Shields and David Price for years, and Shields will be a free-agent this year.  Price may still be a bridge too far, but a rotation of Darvish, Lee (thou shalt not covet; see one post up), Shields and Holland would be, umm, potent.

New York is schizophrenic.

UPDATE:  LAAAAACAAA is going all-out too; they're just not run nearly as well as other clubs.  The Angels have literally NOTHING left on the farm, so if they don't make it this year, you have to think it's a slow slide down.

Also, Seattle thinks it's all in, but clearly the Mariners are still a poorly run organization with no clear structure or goal other than "win somehow".

What's Detroit doing?  Does anyone know?  UPDATE:  Oh, yeah; they're still trying to fix that closer thing.  You would think they would do more.  UPDATE:  Detroit has made a deal for Tampa Bay Ace David Price.  That should put Detroit over Oakland pretty easily in my book.  However, the details of the deal so far don't make a lot of sense.  Right now TB is getting Drew Smyly from Detroit and Nick Franklin from Seattle, while Austin Jackson goes from Detroit to Seattle.  Smyly is a good but not great pitcher (under team control five more years) but Franklin is on the edge of being a busted prospect (although he is under control for six more years, so there's time).  Unless there's more to this deal than has been discussed (like, millions of dollars) this really seems to be a *lot* less for Price than people figured.  A young, team controlled middle-of-the-rotation starter and a nigh-busted outfield prospect.

I don't get it.

UPDATE:  I'm gonna call this now, officially.  There *must* be some kind of behind-the-scenes deals going on between TB and Detroit, because Smyly and Franklin for Price DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.  Even if the argument is that Tampa sees a lot more value in Smyly and/or Franklin than other teams YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT, you don't pay extra on principle.  Pundits are putting the best spin on this move that they can, but it's clear that no one knows what to make of this trade.  If what's been said is all there is, either Price has some SERIOUS injury concerns that were disclosed to Detroit, or Tampa Bay, one of the smartest clubs in baseball, just bombed a deal horribly.  At least ten other clubs could have and would have put together a better package than Franklin and Smyly.

I really get the feeling that baseball writers are trying to find the golden ticket in this deal, because Tampa Bay isn't this stupid.  But unless there's a back-room deal going on, this is a BAD trade for Tampa Bay.  And I bet there are a lot of pissed-off GMs out there right now wanting to know why their package of super-prospects was turned down in favor of a light-hitting outfielder and a back-end starter.

UPDATE AGAIN:  TB is also getting class A shortstop Willy Adames in the deal.  Consensus seems to be he's not a top 100 prospect, *yet*; but has speed, bat and power with good defense.  So moving Franklin back to the infield gives them a good-defending 2B, although, like Zobrist, SS is a bit of challenge.  And then Adames is a high-value shortstop-in-waiting.  At least that's the hope.  If Adames really projects that high, then the deal works, I think.

Posted by: Ben at 11:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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