Maybe Scott Feldman's 9-8 record with a shade under 4.00 ERA on the year doesn't really show how good he is. Maybe he just hadn't been getting enough run support from a sketchy Cubs offense with the streaky Anthony Rizzo, the slumping Starlin Castro, and not much else. And maybe he has a chance to return to his semi-dominant 2009 self when he went 17-8 with the Rangers. But all that being said, I think this is a bad deal for the Orioles. Giving up a young(er) pitcher in Jake Arrieta who hasn't really put it all together yet but has at least shown that he has the stuff to succeed at this level as well as a strong, underrated bullpen arm who has been frustrating this year but has been brilliant every year since he got over the rookie/sophomore curve in Pedro Strop seems like a steep price to pay for a true #5 pitcher in Feldman. Maybe it's too early to tell but Arrieta did great in his first start for the Cubs giving up just 1 run on 2 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings pitched while Strop had a nice scoreless streak going until he imploded on Monday. Feldman meanwhile had gone 2-2 for the Orioles surrendering 18 earned runs over less than 32 innings pitched while seeing a dipping K rate. I'm just not a believer.
Dodgers acquire Ricky Nolasco from the Marlins
(Insert joke about Jeffrey Loria trading away one of his best players AGAIN here) OK now that we have that out of the way, I think it's a decent deal for the all of a sudden scorching hot Dodgers who have taken over first place in the NL West. All they had to give up were a trio of unknown, unproven bullpen arms to get Nolasco, a veteran righty whose 4-8 record with the Marlins was the result of no run support from the offensive wasteland (sans Giancarlo Stanton) that is the Marlins. Over his first 4 starts with the Dodgers (3 of which have resulted in wins), Nolasco has an under 3.00 ERA and has been giving up the home run ball with much less frequency. Chalk it up to him pitching in an extreme pitchers' park now in Dodger Stadium if you like but the fact of the matter is that Nolasco has performed extremely well since being acquired and is making Magic Johnson and Co. look good for pulling the trigger on this deal.
Red Sox trade for lefty Matt Thornton
One of the premier southpaw bullpen arms in the game, it's a nice acquisition for the BoSox to land Thornton as their setup man especially after the injury to Andrew Miller. Though his ERA and WHIP are a little higher than desired for a relief pitcher, he maintains a fine K/BB rate and has only given up 2 runs through 8 appearances thus far for the Red Sox. It stings a bit to trade away promising 22 year old prospect Brandon Jacobs (not that Brandon Jacobs) who has shown flashes of the coveted speed/power combo down in the farm system especially for a pitcher of Thornton's age (36). But for the Red Sox, who have surprised everyone and have a chance to win and win now, it's a deal that will pay dividends for them sooner rather than later.
Rangers acquire Matt Garza, trade a platter featuring Mike Olt and others to the Cubs
Dem Rangers always acquiring a solid starter at the trade deadline. Last year it was Ryan Dempster. A couple years before that it was Cliff Lee. Now it's Matt Garza, the Fresno St product who had somewhat miraculously gone 6-1 with the Cubs. The Rangers have won each of his first two starts as he's given up just 3 ERs over 14+ innings pitched. His magical season continues as he is now at a sparkling 2.95 ERA on the year. He'll be a real asset for the Rangers down the stretch as they look to overtake the Oakland A's for the AL West crown. The Rangers gave up young slugger Mike Olt (who has suffered some vision problems this year but has been touted as one of their most talented prospects for a while along with Jurickson Profar) and young pitching prospects Justin Grimm and CJ Edwards, so Garza didn't come cheap. Fine deal for the Cubs too as they continue to build up their future in the hopes that it doesn't take them another 100 years to finally win another World Series.
Orioles get Francisco Rodriguez from Milwaukee
Ahh K-Rod. I remember when he was a rookie who formed the most dominant 1-2 bullpen punch with Troy Percival when we won it all. Nobody could touch him until David Bell finally did. I remember his 62 save season (a record that still stands by the way). Then he left the Angels and his career went down the toilet. (Sidenote: this happens to pretty much all the Angels when they leave the team. Either they get inexplicably better (see: Mike Napoli, Fernando Rodney, and yes, now Scott Kazmir) or their career falls apart (see: Chone Figgins and the aforementioned K-Rod)). He's had his ups and downs over the last few years (mostly downs) but I think he'll settle in nicely into a low-pressure setup role and at the price of a relatively unknown prospect in Nick Delmonico, plus the resurgence of sorts that K-Rod has had this year, what's not to like?
Yanks reunite with Alfonso Soriano
I don't know, to me, it seems like Alfonso Soriano belongs in pinstripes. Never mind that he's 37 years old. He slugged a cool 17 home runs with 51 RBIs for the Cubs this year and moving back to a hitter friendly situation with the Yankees, who are absolutely desperate for right-handed hitting after being completely decimated by injuries this year, is a win-win on both sides. The Cubs ate most of Soriano's remaining salary and got pitching prospect Corey Black in the deal. I'm expecting big things from the sweet-slugging Soriano for the rest of the year
A's acquire Alberto Callaspo from the Angels
I touched on this a bit on my Twitter (shameless self promotion: follow me @dirnted13) but I'm not quite sold on this deal from the viewpoint of an Angels fan. Callaspo has brought solid defense, contact hitting, low strikeout rates, and occassional clutchness over his few seasons with the Angels. In a season filled with inconsistency, you knew that you could count on Alberto Callaspo for to go 1-4 with a walk and masterful defense at the hot corner. This guy we got in exchange, Grant Green is a SoCal native but doesn't have really much to get excited about. Shown some ability to hit for average and the ability to play multiple positions in Triple A but that's all. I don't know, Jerry DiPoto.
Red Sox land Jake Peavy
In a three way trade, Peavy went to the Red Sox, the hot-hitting Jose Iglesias went to the Tigers and a multitude of prospects went to the White Sox. Peavy is a proven righty who has had a solid, albeit unspectacular year with the White Sox. He may be a far cry from his 2007 Cy Young campaign where he went 19-6 with a 2.54 ERA but he will provide stability to the front-middle part of the rotation especially with Clay Buchholz still on the shelf. The Red Sox did a great job on selling high on the young shortstop Jose Iglesias who was hitting at an utterly unsustainable rate, but who may become a key contributor for the Tigers later on in the season. Don't know too much about the 4 prospects that the White Sox received but when you're receiving a grab bag of that many prospects, odds are that they're not really going to wind up panning out for you. This was quite the anticipated deal so great to see it get done.
Padres acquire Ian Kennedy from the Diamondbacks
Kennedy's never really returned to the form that helped him come out of nowhere to win 21 games a couple of years back. In fact, the highlight to his season has been hitting Yasiel Puig in the nose with a fastball and starting one of the many NL West brawls that we've seen this year. Still, he's a major upgrade over what the Padres have at starting pitcher right now: an absolute mess. They've been relying on Edinson Volquez as their ace (who has been performing pretty admirably but still), Clayton Richard is done for the year, Eric Stults and Andrew Cashner are lucky to have ERAs under 4.00 (and I mean, very lucky) and Tyson Ross is really a relief pitcher. Kennedy is a welcome addition to that rotation and the potential is definitely there for him to return to dominance. Coming at the price of a couple of "C" level relievers, this is a smart move.
Orioles add another pitcher, get Bud Norris from the Astros
Norris was a hot commodity this offseason as teams were lining up to snatch him away from the bottom-feeding Astros, and the Orioles (the deadline's most active team) did just that. 6-9 with a 3.93 ERA whilst pitching on the Astros is actually fantastic and Norris is entering his prime at age 28. He has some room for improvement (command's an issue as it's normal to see him issue 3-4 walks a start) but he's got a pretty nasty arsenal and it makes sense to take a chance on this high-upside pitcher in exchange for an uninspiring pitching prospect in Josh Hader and an unspectacular outfield prospect in LJ Hoes.
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