But he did make it rain, if we may borrow a phrase from once-Cowboy big spender Pacman Jones.
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Though Texas drafted him out of college, he’s fairly raw as a starter, as he only pitched as a starter in his final season at UC Santa Barbara, and it showed in his time with low-A Hickory. As GM of the Tigers, Dombrowski traded Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth before the trade deadline in 2008 and also helped orchestrate the three-team deal that sent Curtis Granderson to New York, Austin Jackson to Detroit and Edwin Jackson to the Diamondbacks prior to the 2010 season. He adds depth to the Texas outfield, but will likely spend most of his time as the DH. Harrell came along with Dario Alvarez in exchange for Travis Demeritte. The Rangers dealt outfielder Lewis Brinson and right-hander Luis Ortiz to the Brewers.
There’s about two months left in the regular season, so anything can happen, but no team made a statement louder than Texas and the organization did it without gutting its farm system. Moore was traded to the Giants for Matt Duffy, Liriano was sent to the Blue Jays and Smith will now pitch from the Cubs’ bullpen. The only thing that could be done is to find a right fielder, move Bryce Harper to center and let Trea Turner, a recent catalyst at the top of the order, sit.
Almost two-thirds of team were active ahead of the 4 p.m. EST cutoff, and many had reason to be. They gave up a lot and got back a lot too.
Like the Padres, the Milwaukee Brewers sold off a few guys and pulled off excellent returns. They gave up a pair of pitching prospects, neither considered among their best, and no longer have the unpredictable Jonathan Papelbon (4.28 ERA) pitching for the biggest outs. Most scouts think he can remain a starter because he’s so athletic, which helps him throw strikes and should allow him to stay healthy and smooth out his delivery. A player to be named later will eventually go to the Brewers, as well. They also added Joe Smith from the Angels, which was a bit of an under-the-radar move. Chapman goes to the Cubs and instantly bolsters their bullpen.
With the Crawdads Swanson appeared in 7 games, striking out ten batters in 12 1/3 innings but his season would end after suffering a forearm flexor strain. For a franchise that has prided itself on investing in “good guys” this was a questionable move.
For the time being, I consider Tate more of a lottery ticket pickup than a bonafide top prospect. He is still at least two more years away from the majors, but if he pans out, the Yankees clearly win this deal.
The Mets acquired All-Star outfielder Jay Bruce from the Reds for infielder Dilson Herrera and minor league left-hander Max Wotell. An earlier version of the deal had the Reds receiving former first-round pick Brandon Nimmo, but a reported medical issue wound up derailing the first version of the deal. He has also had a power surge, hitting two home runs in the last seven games. “I can’t wait to join the hunt with them”.
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Tampa Bay secured the services of minor-league catcher Jonah Heim for Pearce, who batted.258 with 43 homers and 116 RBIs in parts of four seasons with Baltimore. In seventeen years as a full-time player, Beltran has only been below average offensively four times, and in three of those seasons he was pretty close. By hitting the open market he could have raked in the dough in a weak catching market this offseason. Aside from division leaders, 13 clubs are within seven games of a wild card slots; six teams are within one of a play-in game. But the starting pitching available this summer was historically very bad, in the eyes of a lot of executives, leaving the Rangers a choice: overpay for pitchers better suited for the back end of their rotation, or find other avenues to improve. The Astros had holes to fill and didn’t do it.
