WINNERS
Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers may have very well of changed the length of the game from 9 innings to 6 with the additions of Mike Adams from San Diego and Koji Uehara from Baltimore.
Mike Adams is arguably the best setup man in baseball while Uehara is probably the most underrated.
Opponents of the Rangers who don’t have a lead by the 6th inning are going to be in serious trouble.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants made a huge splash with the addition of Carlos Beltran and a nice splash with the addition of Orlando Cabrera.
Beltran gives the Giants a middle of the order threat something they have been missing since losing Buster Posey to injury while Cabrera gives them experience in a post season run.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves solidified their centerfield position and leadoff position in one punch with the addition of Michael Bourn. Not to mention that they basically got him for nothing from the Astros who were really in a position to rebuild their minor league system.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers paid a hefty price for the acquisitions of starter Doug Fister and reliever David Pauley. The fact of the matter is both pitchers have very good numbers but have been the victims of a brutal Seattle lineup.
Fister should come into Detroit and solidify the hole in their starting rotation while Pauley should help lock things down in middle relief to late inning work.
Seattle Mariners
Who says we can’t get two winners from the same trade?
Seattle got three nice players in return for Fister and Pauley and will probably be getting a top three pick from 2010 as the player to be named later in the deal.
Casper Wells could turn himself into a very serviceable outfielder, lefty Charlie Furbush has been highly regarded and Francisco Martinez was a top third base prospect in the Tigers’ organization.
Philadelphia Phillies
Ruben Amaro Jr. once again struck gold with the addition of Hunter Pence.
Even though the Phillies paid a hefty price in trading away hard-throwing right-hander Jarred Cosart and slugging first baseman Jonathan Singleton the Phillies were able to get a nice right-handed offensive threat in a lefty dominated lineup.
Phillies fans shouldn’t worry too much about giving up top prospects since the organization seems to churn them out with relative ease.
Colorado Rockies
They didn’t even have to trade Jimenez, in fact I don’t think they wanted to trade him. That was until Cleveland looked like one of those suckers at a carnival that keeps spending money on games that are impossible to win.
You can probably guess that Cleveland is a loser and you will see why in just a little bit.
LOSERS
Chicago White Sox
Can someone please tell me what Kenny Williams is doing trading away Edwin Jackson when you’re four games out of the AL Central race? I get the Teahen salary dump but Zach Stewart is a back of the rotation guy and who cares if Jason Frasor can solidify the bullpen. You still need starting pitching to get to that solid bullpen.
Cleveland Indians
Surprised? I’m not. The Cleveland Indians gave up a ton. The centerpiece, Drew Pomeranz is a big left-hander who simply destroyed Class A hitting and has looked just as good in Double-A. White is no pushover himself. He put up a 3.60 ERA in three starts for the Indians before a finger injury that has kept him out since May. McBride is older but playing well at Double-A and Gardner is a ground ball machine who could start or turn into a bullpen piece.
Jimenez looks more like a flash in the pan after an unreal first half in 2010. Now he faces American League lineups.
Colorado simply robbed Cleveland.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
You seriously couldn’t do anything to offset what the Rangers did in the back-end of their bullpen. The Angels may have very well of lost the AL West on Sunday after what Texas did do and what they didn’t do.
New York Yankees
Surprisingly the Yankees were quiet on deadline day, and quite frankly they shouldn’t have been. They have serious problems in their rotation after C.C. Sabathia.
Boston Red Sox
Like their arch rival Yankees, the Red Sox have a strong starting lineup but questions surrounding their starting rotation.
So what’s their solution?
A mediocre hot head in Erik Bedard who probably won’t last in the pressure cooker that is Fenway.
Arizona Diamondbacks
I hesitated to put the Diamondbacks as losers because they simply are in a position that many thought they wouldn’t be in. However there’s not doubt they could have done better than Jason Marquis who by all accounts probably would’ve been put on waivers in August.
Bottom line is Arizona didn’t do nearly enough to offset what the Giants did.
