In a shocking development literally all of the players that I had projected to be moving by the July 31 trade deadline actually occurred. Granted those players did not go to the teams I projected, not to mention that anyone could see the swiftness of the Cincinnati fire sale coming a mile away (at least as soon as the GM and manager got fired, which was the Reds version of the cow kicking over the lantern).
What was surprising was that there was not more movement than I anticipated, moves that no one saw coming � but then again July 31 isn�t the hard deadline that it once was. All that needs to be done for a trade to occur in August would be for the players involved to clear waivers. Many teams used to claim players on waivers simply to �block� trades � but that practice is being curtailed due to incidences from recent years. Most notable was the San Diego Padres infamous claiming of Randy Myers in 1998 to keep him from landing with the Atlanta Braves. The Padres wound up stuck with Myers along with a staggering contract, and worse yet was that there was no role for Myers to fill due to the emergence that year of Trevor Hoffman.
The Padres did end up beating the Braves in the League Championship Series that year, so claiming Myers simply to keep him away from the bad guys actually helped in the short terms, but the long range ramifications proved to be just as significant. Getting back to this year Rafael Palmeiro to the Cubs and Juan Gonzalez and/or Kevin Appier to the Royals remain possibilities. That�s if Juan and Rafael can possibly put going away from Texas out of their minds. (It wouldn�t have anything to do with State Income Tax would it???
Jose Guillen from Cincinnati to Oakland � From a fantasy standpoint this is not quite as bad as being dealt to Seattle. At least by being traded to the A�s Guillen will not have to worry about ever facing the Oakland pitching staff � which takes care of four of the top ten AL hurlers. But gone forever will be the favorable hitting park at home, as well as feasting on less than formable NL Central pitching. In return the Reds get SP Aaron Harang, who has potential but was simply squeezed out by Rich Harden and Ted Lilly along with a pair of prospects.
Aaron Boone from Cincinnati to NY Yankees � Again Seattle gets left at the altar, and it didn�t make any sense that they failed to make a move here � especially against a very possible playoff opponent. From a fantasy prospective, Boone�s arrival in the Bronx became much more tolerable when the Yankees turned around and traded Robin Ventura hours later. Boone will be down in the order and will get a ton of RBI opportunities. The Reds get a couple of top pitching prospects in this one including Brandon Claussen, which could bite the Yankees as soon as next year when they try to replace Clemens and David Wells. But of course the boss has zero patience and can always pluck a couple of more proven commodities off the free agent market. Also on the Cincinnati front Brandon Larson now gets another shot after a false start early on in the season. Larson hit .324 with 72 RBI in just 69 games at AAA.
Sidney Ponson from Baltimore to San Francisco � Not quite as good as going to Atlanta (where Ponson was speculated has heading), but still lands in one of the best pitching parks in baseball. His value booms for the remainder of this year and thereafter should Ponson re-sign during the winter (although the Yankees could open their checkbooks here). Baltimore comes off very well in the exchange gaining three pitchers, including a proven (although sometimes erratic) starter in Damien Moss, plus a rookie with a ton of potential in Kurt Ainsworth (currently out with a broken shoulder blade).
Robin Ventura from NY Yankees to Los Angeles � NYY opens the way for Boone to be the undisputed starter by finding a taker for Ventura. Trade makes absolutely no sense from the LA side as Ventura is simply another veteran way past his prime.
Jeff Suppan from Pittsburgh to Boston � Suppan is having a career year with a 10-7 slate along with a career best 3.57 ERA. It was yet another great move by Red Sox GM Theo Epstein as Suppan should fit in well in the Red Sox�s pennant quest. Meanwhile you can�t fault Pittsburgh much neither as Suppan�s value will never be higher.
Besides the trades of Raul Mondesi and Scott Williamson which I reported last week, that was about it. As I said last week look for Brian Giles and Jason Kendall to be dealt in the off season. Besides for home towns sake, it turns out that the new park in San Diego will have a short porch in right � making Giles a prime target. It is now also possible that Alex Rodriguez could be dealt, as Arod expressed himself as being open to a trade this past week. It is the opinion of many (and I think there are some cynics in this group) that the Yankees will make a play on Arod. Although that is indeed possible, I will again say that the Yankees will target pitching in the off-season, unless they get Arod then trade Jeter (just the thought of which seems sac-religious.
However I have a different team in mind. The Dodgers will have a new owner in the off-season who will be looking to make a big splash, and I feel Arod would be just the ticket if the team is just willing to assume the salary. If that�s the case look for the Rangers to deal him for prospects. Arod would then be moving from one of the best offensive parks to perhaps the worst, but Alex is one of those who will perform anywhere so don�t look for it to be a big factor. Other possibilities mentioned include San Diego (although Giles and Kendall are better possibilities) and Baltimore (which has the Ripken connections), I consider those both as long shots. And you can forget about the Mets, it made sense three years ago but now they are in the same shape as the Rangers.Now for some developments even bigger than Aramis Ramirez actually making a huge play at third base�
Carl Crawford � A perfect illustration on why sometimes it pays to be patient with a young player. Crawford saw himself on plenty of CDM rosters with his cheap salary at the outset of the season, only for many to drop him due to his early struggles and benchings. But Crawford has picked it up playing every game since late June, hitting .313 and more impressively stealing 11 bases in a recent 12 game stretch, quickly turning Crawford into the biggest SB threat this side of Juan Pierre.
Mark Teixeira � Another speculative cheap pick from the outset of the season who struggled early on, but has hit .290 with 29 runs, 10 HR and 28 RBI in his last 49 games. Conservatively pencil in in .300/100/30/100 campaign for next season.
Luis Castillo � What the hell happened??? Having a nice season in the BA department hitting .319, but only has 16 SB�s on the year, including just four since May 22. It looks like Pierre is the only one getting the green light leading off with Jack McKeon around.
Derek Jeter � SB production is way down, but has hit over .400 since Mid-June, perhaps the best stretch yet in his eight year Yankee career.
Most of the big guns were firing on Tuesday night. Both Jason Schmidt (seven shutout innings) as well as Mark Prior (six shutout racks) both prove that they are indeed back, making two of the six CDM SP slots easy to fill again. Jamie Moyer (3 hits, 1 BB, 1 ER over seven innings) Kevin Brown (2 ER), Estaban Loaiza (2 ER), and Rich Harden (2 ER) also ring the bell with wins. Even Brett Myers allows only two ER�s in seven innings earning a win at Coors Field. Randy Johsnon gets touched up for five ER�s in 5 2/3 IP but gets a win, while Woody Williams is touched for four runs in a loss. All in all, a very fun night for pitching.
The trades did a lot to spice up the variety regarding adds/drops in CDM this week, which is as follows�
ADDS
This week it�s back to the NL teams home in the east, with the AL games out west. PHI, PIT, FL, MTL, CIN, NYM, ATL, CHC, TB, TX, KC, ANH, OAK will be at home all week while MN and BAL will split the week between home and road, everyone else is on the road all seek. Everyone in the AL will play seven games except KC and TB who play six. In the NL, STL, PIT, LA, FL, HOU, and CHC play seven, everyone else six. It will be another huge week for pitching, with Dontrelle Willis, Tim Hudson, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Kerry Wood, Barry Zito, Mike Mussina, Hideo Nomo, Roy Halladay, Odalis Perez and possibly Kevin Millwood going twice. Word of warning regarding Halladay and Pedro, they both have tough road starts in Oakland and Seattle, although they are nice pitchers parks. In fact Boston in particular for the next moth, playing the A�s and M�s home and road, followed by six games v. NYY the following two weekends.
In case you haven�t used them all up yet, here is the CDM Free Agent list�