Houston Astros rule MLB deadline, but they had company: The week in baseball - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Here’s a look at what some teams did and didn’t do at the MLB trade deadline to improve themselves for the stretch run and beyond.

It’s hard to argue that the deadline trophy shouldn’t go to the Houston Astros. Anytime you can add Zack Greinke to a rotation that already includes Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and a resurgent Wade Miley, you’re doing OK. They also added relievers Joe Biagini and Aaron Sanchez from Toronto and catcher Martin Maldonado from the Cubs.

The Indians just got a look at Verlander and Cole last week. They combined to hold them to one run over 14 innings. The thought of possibly seeing that rotation again in the postseason, bolstered by Greinke, cannot be a pleasant one for manager Terry Francona.

The stretch run is just getting started. Let’s turn our attention to what happened in the AL Central:

* Twins: The AL Central leaders, who entered Saturday with a three-game lead over the Tribe, added relievers Sergio Romo from the Marlins and Sam Dyson from the Giants. Derek Falvey was trying to upgrade his rotation, but asking prices were high.

Greinke, for instance, cost four prospects. He also has $76 million left on his contract. Arizona will pay $24 million of that, which will give GM Mike Hazen the ability to add to his roster.

Falvey’s Twins don’t need any help on offense and his rotation has performed better than expected. In a recent interview on MLB Network, Faley said he’d take Jose Berrios against any No.1 starter the Twins might face in the postseason.

* Tribe: The Indians, outside of Grienke, probably traded the next best available starting pitcher on the market when they sent Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati. There were two surprises in the deal.

No.1: The Tribe, who pushed itself into contention with two great months of baseball, traded their best and most durable starter at the deadline. That’s a gamble.

No. 2: They traded him to a team that was on the outskirts of contention. That’s unusual, following a pattern of the deal that sent Marcus Stroman from to the Mets, who are showing signs of life.

The Reds sent the Tribe outfielder Yasiel Puig and left-hander Scott Moss, but that apparently wasn’t enough to get Bauer. So a third team, the Padres, was roped into the deal. That brought slugger Franmil Reyes, left-hander Logan Allen and infielder Victor Nova to the Tribe.

* Royals: Kansas City traded just about everyone who wasn’t nailed down. Outfielder Billy Hamilton was the only free agent in waiting who stayed. Homer Bailey, Maldonado, Terrance Gore and Jake Diekman were all shipped out.

* Tigers: GM Alex Avilla was a busy man on Wednesday’s deadline. He traded closer Shane Greene to Atlanta for prospects Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte. Then he sent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos and cash to the Cubs for Alex Lange and Paul Richan.

* White Sox: The rebuilding White Sox took the trade deadline off.

The Indians entered Saturday night’s game against the Angels with a two-game lead in the wild card standings over Tampa Bay, which owned the second wild card spot. Oakland trailed the Rays by a half game and Boston was four games out of the second spot.

Here’s what those three teams did at the deadline:

* Rays: They added infielder Eric Sogard from Toronto, first baseman-DH Jesus Aguilar from Milwaukee and right-handers Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards from Miami. Anderson is expected to help out at the back end of the pen, while Richards (3-12, 4.50) will pick up some of the innings lost when lefty Blake Snell went on the injured list.

Sogard broke up Shane Bieber’s no-hitter in Toronto. Aguilar came up through the Indians’ system before he was released and became an All-Star in 2018. He struggled this year with the Brewers.

The Rays and Indians play three more times.

* Athletics: Oakland added three pitchers before the deadline -- Bailey and Diekman from the Royals and Tanner Roark from the Reds. The A’s won the season series with the Indians, 5-1.

Bailey is 2-1 with a 6.97 ERA since joining the A’s. He has 20 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings, but he’s allowed 16 earned runs.

* Red Sox: They traded for Baltimore right-hander Andrew Cashner on July 13. He’s gone 1-3 with a 6.94 ERA in four starts since the deal. Other than that GM Dave Dombrowski does not seem overly pleased with his ballclub. He says he’s waiting for the defending World Series champs to play better.

The Indians have three games against the Red Sox at Progressive Field Aug. 12-14.

The Yankees didn’t do much at the deadline either. GM Brian Cashman spent all of July saying he was looking for starting pitching, but Bauer, Greinke and Stroman went elsewhere. Then again they didn’t need to do a lot. They own the third best record in the big leagues behind the Dodgers and Houston and they did add Edwin Encarnacion in June to fortify an already prolific offense.

The Dodgers didn’t make a big bang at the deadline, but they added reliever Adam Kolarek from the Rays along with depth players Jedd Gyorko, Kristopher Negron and Tyler White

This is the first year where there is only one trade deadline. In the past, following the July 31 deadline, teams could make deals before Aug. 31 as long as the player cleared waivers. A fork was stuck in that deadline over the winter.

When Chris Antonetti, Indians president of baseball operations, was asked how he felt about have just one trade deadline, he said, “Ask me in about two months.”

A lot of baseball executives, who waved goodbye to their last real chance to improve them club on Wednesday, are probably saying the same thing.

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https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/08/houston-astros-rule-mlb-deadline-but-they-had-company-the-week-in-baseball.html

2019-08-04 09:05:00Z
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