Trade Deadline Passes

One of the busiest times of the MLB calendar (if not the busiest) has come and gone, the non-waiver trade deadline. We will most likely see a few more moves made over the next month, but here's what contending teams did.

American League
East
New York Yankees

Let's go the the AL East. We know the New York Yankees are almost always finding a way to improve and this year was no different. Most experts lean toward the Yankees as having made the best moves. Most of the positives center around the cash aspect. While GM Brain Cashman did do an excellent job of adding only $4.8 million to the Yankees payroll, I'm not so convinced about the talent.

Acquiring Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood and Austin Kearns may look good, consider this. Berkman has been dealing with a bum knee all season. He also is not even close to sporting typical Lance Berkman numbers (.245, 13 HR, 49 RBI). What makes this a potentially good move is that Berkman will DH so wear and tear on the knee is minimized. Berkman can concentrate on what he does best, hit. If the knee comes around, look out.

Wood was just activated off the DL for a finger blister, his second stint on the DL this season. That should be concern #1. By this acquisition, you do have to wonder about the status of Joba Chamberlain as the setup man for Mariano Rivera. But you also have to be concerned about Wood's effectiveness. That's concern #2. There still aren't too many that doubt Wood's ability, they doubt his durability and stability.

Kearns, to me, may be the best of the pickups. He can play all three outfield positions and he possesses a bat with pop (He's primarily a left fielder after breaking in with the Cincinnati Reds as a right fielder). Kearns can spell Brett Gardner or Curtis Granderson against lefties. He could even DH if the situation warrants.

Tampa Bay Rays

The only move the Rays made was trading for former Diamondbacks reliever Chad Qualls and that was out of necessity due to Grant Balfour hitting the DL. Chad Qualls? You couldn't find a better reliever than Qualls? The Dodgers got Octavio Dotel. Wood went to divisional foe New York. Kyle Farnsworth went to Atlanta. Seattle had David Aardsma available.

Isn't this the last gasp of what could be in Tampa? Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford are sure to walk after this season. The Rays were dangling B.J. Upton to attract something, anything.

Boston Red Sox

Odd that the Sawx were quiet. GM Theo Epstein may be exploring other options like waiver wire pickups. But did Boston really need to make a move? They recently activated Victor Martinez, Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett off the DL. You could consider those "pickups", can't you?

The only trade Boston made was sending Ramon Ramirez to the San Francisco Giants.

Just strange not seeing any smoke coming from Epstein's office...

Central
Chicago White Sox

Pale Hose fans might be screaming "Where the hell is Adam Dunn?" Where is he? Still in the nation's capital. Another question should be "Why did we trade for Edwin Jackson?" Why did GM Kenny Williams make this deal. He was hoping to flip Jackson in a deal for Dunn, so the theory goes. Williams started out looking for a big bat and got, at best, a #4 starter.

And Kenny Williams did put out a feeler about Manny Ramirez. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.

Minnesota Twins

I like getting Matt Capps, but I loathed giving up catching prospect Wilson Ramos in the deal. The Nats made out very well and Ramos can learn from Pudge in D.C. Capps and Jon Rausch form an excellent 8th-9th inning duo and we all know the Twins and their late season runs. Just ask the Detroit Tigers.

Detroit Tigers

Being six games back and being 3-7 in their last ten games were signals that maybe, just maybe, the Tigers weren't going to really be buyers. Sure, they traded with the Cleveland Indians for Jhonny Peralta, but that was all. They were bidding for Ted Lilly, who went to the Dodgers. They inquired about Dan Haren. No deal. I was surprised we didn't hear of the Tigers wanting to add outfield depth with the recent injury to Magglio Ordonez. Imagine Adam Dunn in the same lineup with Miguel Cabrera. Scary, I know.

West
Texas Rangers

The Rangers didn't go into this looking to just win their division (They currently have an 8.5 game lead on second place Oakland). They looked at winning the whole deal. They wanted a right-handed hitting first baseman. Poof! Jorge Cantu. They wanted a reliable "stand-in" for Ian Kinsler. Poof! There's Christian Guzman. They wanted an ace. Poof! Cliff Lee. They needed stability at the catching position. Poof! It's Bengie Molina.

Rich Harden was just activated off the DL, too. Offensively, this team is pretty scary. Rangers fans might still be worried about the starting rotation.

National League
East
Atlanta Braves

The NL East leaders didn't make a move until yesterday when they acquired OF Rick Ankiel and RP Kyle Farnsworth from the Kansas City Royals. Fansworth's name had been linked to a few teams and he will add to an already impressive bullpen. Braves starters only need to go 6 innings now. Farnsworth, Takashi Saito and Bill Wagner could be the most potent bullpen trio in the NL.

It's Ankiel that I find a bit intriguing. The Braves already had a decent outfield (Eric Hinske, Matt Diaz, Melky Cabrera, Jason Wayward) even with sending Nate McLouth to the minors. Ankiel will give Atlanta more pop which they really need. They currently sit 11th in the NL in home runs and 10th in slugging percentage. Those numbers should improve a bit.

Philadelphia Phillies

Everyone made a big deal about the Roy Oswalt trade. I wasn't one. His "secondary" numbers were great. I don't think those numbers will win you games. Oswalt was 6-12 with an ERA of 3.42 when he was acquired. His first start was not enjoyable as the Washington Nationals, yes, the Nats, got to Oswalt for 5 runs in 6 innings. He'll get another win or so and we all know that Oswalt is as fierce a competitor there is. I'm reserving judgement here. I realize that GM Ruben Amaro swallowed a tremendous amount of pride in making this deal. It was an admission of that trading Cliff Lee to Seattle was a major miscue. I still think it was a huge mistake without looking in the rear view mirror.

Rumors of Jason Werth going to Tampa Bay were just that, rumors. When Shane Victorino headed to the DL, keeping Werth became a priority despite the fact the he will be a free agent at the end of this season. He's now their best outfielder. Not bad really. Actually, a lot of teams might be in the wings for Werth's services on down the line.

Central
St. Louis Cardinals

I'm kind of on the fence with the Cards. I love the move in getting Jake Westbrook from the Cleveland Indians. He's a sinker baller and adds to an already great staff of Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Jaime Garcia. Westbrook has no pressure here. He's in a win-win situation.

I don't like losing Ryan Ludwick. The Cardinals have problems scoring (10th in the NL in runs scored) and even with Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, they are only 7th in home runs (103) and 9th in RBI (438). The most surprising stat is that St. Louis is 3rd in batting (.263). Outside of Pujols, Holliday and maybe Colby Rasmus, who else is going to help drive in runs?

Cincinnati Reds

Didn't it seem weird that Reds GM Waly Jocketty was quiet? In fact, the Reds didn't make a single move, which was a bit of a disappointment considering the Reds have a glaring need at the leadoff spot. Jocketty said a couple of deals fell through. Maybe no news is good news. Not buying it here.

West
San Diego Padres

I love the acquisition of OF Ryan Ludwick in an otherwise run scoring challenged Padres lineup. I can't really same the same about getting Miguel Tejada. In other words, I'm lukewarm on the Padres overall trading performance. I understand getting Tejada. His numbers are down all across the stat columns. Maybe being shifted to a winning team is all he needs to get his bat going.

I was a bit shocked the Padres didn't make a move in the starting rotation only from the viewpoint of acquiring a veteran arm. This pitching staff as a whole has been phenomenal this year. It only lacks experience in crunch time.

San Francisco Giants

I thought GM Brian Sabean wanted a bat? So does Ramon Ramirez hit as well as pitch? With another offensively challenged team in the NL West, pitching looks to be the key. But the Giants severely need a big bat. Not just any bat, a BIG bat.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Did GM Ned Colletti look at his team and honestly say they needed pitching and nothing else?

They acquired Ted Lilly (Cubs) and Octavio Dotel (Pirates) which are good moves, but where's the bat for a team that ranks 10th in runs, 14th in home runs, 11th in RBI and 12th in slugging. Not liking it.

So who did the best. I think the Texas Rangers (by far) came out on top. The worst, I'm looking at the Chicago White Sox. Needed a bat, didn't get it AND you wanted Manny?