The non-waiver trade deadline is today a 4pm. Undoubtedly, there will be a flurry of trades by teams looking to bolster their playoff chances late in the game of pick up some prospects to make a run at it next year or the year after. For weeks baseball analysts and “experts” have been projecting who will go where and why and that’s what made yesterday so much fun. A bunch of teams moved quickly with deals, I can’t remember so many the day before in many other years, and a lot of them came out of nowhere:
- Texas Rangers send Tommy Hunter and Chris Davis to the Baltimore Orioles for Koji Uehara:
This one is surprising for a few reasons. First, for the last couple weeks, ESPN’s Buster Olney has been saying that Uehara would most likely stay in Baltimore. This seemed to make perfect sense. Even if you’ve never heard of him and he’s flown under the radar, Uehara has been great again this year. In 43 games he’s got an ERA of 1.72 and a WHIP of 0.70. Usually, stats that good on a team as bad as the Orioles would basically guarantee a trade but the trade market has been filled with right handed relievers this year. The Texas Rangers themselves have spent the better part of this week trying to get Heath Bell away from San Diego. Uehara is making $3million this season which isn’t bad for his numbers so it seemed to make sense for Baltimore to hang on to him rather than sell low right now.
But, I think they made out like bandits in this deal and that’s the other surprising part. Relievers haven’t been very important in Baltimore the last few years because they haven’t had starters that can give them the ball with anything resembling a lead. Tommy Hunter happens to be a decent starting pitcher. Hunter is only 23 years old and was 13-4 last season in 22 starts. He also went 0- 2in three postseason starts. This year, he’s spent more time in the minors than the majors for some reason (injury maybe, I couldn’t figure out why his first game was in July and he hasn’t made a start( yup, it was a groin injury and he missed the first 82 games)) and is pitching out of the bullpen but has a 2.93 ERA and a WHIP just over 1.1. Good pick up for Baltimore who needed it badly.
- Colorado Rockies send Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians for 4 minor league players who are all good but none great.
Ubaldo was traded. But not to the Yankees or the Red Sox. To Cleveland! I’m floored. This deal sets the Indians up for the next three seasons. I’m not as high on Ubaldo as everyone else is, I have serious questions about where his 100 mph fastball is hiding, Cleveland now has a legitimate guy to match up against Justin Verlander in the race for the Central Division crown. Assuming Jimenez retains the ability to pitch, there is absolutely no downside to this deal for the Indians. They’re better than they thought they would be this season and the trade is the ultimate push for the playoffs now. If they stay this good the have Ubaldo on the cheap for the next two years but, if they come back to earth at any point, they could trade him at a future deadline and net a huge return. This deal makes Cleveland a player now and for the life of this incredibly team friendly contract.
Other trades that I could have written entire paragraphs about:
- Doug Fister and David Pauley to the Detroit Tigers (great trade for Detroit)
- Pittsburgh Pirates get Derek Lee (disappointing move for the Pirates)
- The almost trade that would have sent Rich Harden to Boston for Lars Anderson (would have been the single stupidest personnel decision in Theo Epstein’s career. As a fan I’m glad it fell through. As a Yankee fan, I’m sorely disappointed)
Have a fun deadline day.
-Max Frankel
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