Big market clubs in LA, New York dominate trade deadline day
Here’s the answer — you supply the question: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
Your question might have been: What are the four largest cities in the United States?
Or…
Your question might have been: Which four cities provided final four teams of last year’s postseason.
By an — ahem — amazing coincidence, the same four cities pop up as the answer to both questions.
Now, guess which teams made the greatest haul during the July trading period?
New York, Los Angeles…
I think you’ve got the picture.
I remember a college professor who taught the class the Golden Rule of Politics:
He who has the gold, rules.
That should be the golden rule in baseball as well. Some franchises have more money to spend than others and those franchises are usually found in the largest cities. One way or another those franchises usually wind up with the best players.
Certainly nobody had a better month on the trading market than the Dodgers. The defending National League champions entered the month desperately needing help in the middle of the infield. They used six players at second base during last year’s World Series and that position has continued to be a revolving door this season. Shortstop became an even bigger problem after Corey Seager underwent Tommy John surgery in May and was lost for the season.
Well, Los Angeles, meet your new double play combination — Manny Machado and Brian Dozier. Between them they drove in 188 runs last year. Both are former All-Stars. Both are former Gold Glove winners. Both became Dodgers during the past month.
The Yankees started a bit early when they acquired slugger Giancarlo Stanton during the offseason, but they were, nevertheless, busy in July. They needed to add depth to their pitching rotation and to their bullpen, and that’s what they did. They acquired veterans J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn — both former All-Stars — for the rotation and hauled in Zach Britton (139 career saves) to anchor the bullpen. Yankees haters are cursing today.
Okay, okay. The Astros and Cubs weren’t quite as splashy. At least not this time.
Last year the Astros pulled a major coup when they reeled in pitcher Justin Verlander in August after he cleared waivers. Verlander went 5-0 with a 1.06 earned run average after joining the Houston team and he’s already won 10 games this year. He’s also let it be known that he has reservations about this year’s major acquisition — reliever Roberto Osuna — who is currently serving a 75-game suspension for domestic abuse and still faces possible legal consequences for his actions.
The Cubs also have made greater deadline hauls in recent years than they did this time when the headliner was pitcher Cole Hamels, who, at the age of 34, appears to be past his prime. Even so he is likely an improvement over Tyler Chatwood, who has been a very soft spot in the rotation. Overall, the Cubs might have helped themselves even more with the acquisitions of Jesse Chavez and Brandon Kintzler, both journeyman relievers who will provide needed depth to the bullpen.
Some other teams, especially the Diamondbacks and the Phillies, appear to have improved their clubs. Others are puzzling. The Brewers needed pitching so they added infielders. The Mets dealt their closer but hung onto all their starters, perhaps because the front office is now run by a troika and it’s almost impossible to get three people to agree on anything with a deadline bearing down. The Nationals, according to reports, thought about tearing down an underachieving team even though they were only 5½ games out of first place in a less-than-imposing division. They ended up moving Kintzler but keeping everybody else. The players celebrated that night by scoring 25 runs against the Mets.
Most intriguing of all might be the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that doesn’t have the gold and definitely doesn’t rule, but also doesn’t seem to be boxed in by a comparatively small market. The Rays unloaded two of their three best pitchers, plus their starting catcher, but wound up with two young outfielders — Tommy Pham and Austin Meadows — who can step into their lineup immediately, plus a very promising young pitcher in Tyler Glasnow.
That’s July, folks. Now come the dog days of the pennant race.
After 104 interleague games in AL parks, AL designated hitters have driven in 45 runs. NL DHs have knocked in 50…Reds pitcher
has pinch hit nine times and homered twice…Twenty-one of the 30 teams have seen their attendance drop over last season. Overall crowds are down about 1600 fans per game… The are 31-15 against teams in their own division. They’re 27-33 against everybody else…Aaron of the Yankees is batting .375 with 18 home runs in Yankee Stadium. On the road he is hitting .204 with eight homers…
of the Phillies has 11 saves — the most by any rookie… American League pitchers have issued 5,060 walks, which is considerably fewer than the 5,454 given up by NL hurlers…
of the Brewers and of the Reds share the lead in outfield assists with 10 each…Mike
of the Angels has received 20 intentional walks, which is eight more than any other player…The are 46-20 in night games but only 17-27 in the daytime.
Lorenzen Indians Seranthony Dominguez Lorenzo Cain Hamilton Trout Michael Judge Billy Brewers
Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 50 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com