Cashman fails to find biggest need while ’Stros win deadline
It is neither surprising nor consequential that MLB is on pace to shatter by over 600 the single-season home run record of 6,105 set in 2017. By now we have become numbed to the dizzying rate baseballs are flying out of the ballparks.
But as the trade deadline clearly illustrated, it is still pitching, pitching, pitching that is the most coveted commodity in baseball; pitching, pitching, pitching that will still be the difference maker as to which teams will ultimately be facing off in the World Series.
Just about every contending team went into the deadline seeking pitching in one form or another. Beginning with the Red Sox’s acquisition of backend starter Andrew Cashner from the Orioles on July 13, of the 55 trades consummated up to the deadline, 40 of them included 68 different pitchers, and in the frantic last 24 hours a total of 28 pitchers were moved.
The Yankees, their rotation battered in Boston last weekend, went into the deadline with perhaps the biggest need of any team for a starting pitcher and came up empty. The Mets, by contrast, went into the deadline with a wealth of starting pitching and added to it by trading for Marcus Stroman, but did nothing in regard to their bigger need of back-end relief help. Then there was their head-scratching trade of Jason Vargas to the Phillies for a fringe prospect in 26-year-old Austin Bossart, a Double-A catcher whose greatest claim to fame is apparently having once been a college teammate of Jeff Wilpon’s son, Bradley, at Penn.
While Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen deserves credit for electing to go for it and holding on to Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler in the absence of blow-away offers for both, the trade of Vargas — to one of the teams ahead
of him in his own division! — was completely counterproductive to what he is hoping to accomplish, which was a late drive to a wild card. His ugly altercation with the reporter from Newsday aside, Vargas, a reliable left-handed starting pitcher, had value. But the Mets were obviously only interested in saving $2 million on him.
In his talks with other teams about Syndergaard, Van Wagenen let it be known he wanted major league players back, in particular a center fielder and a catcher, as well as a starting pitcher. The Padres came the closest to meeting those needs but while the Mets liked catcher Austin Hedges a little, they were not overly impressed with talented but underperforming center fielder Manuel Margot, so those talks stalled.
Van Wagenen’s acquisition of Stroman from the Blue Jays was a bit of a shocker until it became obvious he wasn’t going to move Syndergaard and was instead focusing on contending both now and next year with a quality, deep rotation. The Yankees, however, did not view Stroman as a difference-making starter, any more than they did Arizona’s Robbie Ray, and were not prepared to give up any top prospects for either. Once it became clear the Giants weren’t moving Madison Bumgarner, the Yankees’ prime target was the Indians’ Trevor Bauer. They talked to the Indians about Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier, but the Indians needed two bona fide power hitting outfielders in order to part with Bauer. Miraculously, they were able to get them in the three-team trade, Yasiel Puig from Cincinnati and Franmil Reyes from the Padres. Between them, Puig and Reyes had 49 homers and 107 RBI.
As the Yankees’ Brian Cashman pointed out, in the end there just wasn’t a whole lot of
Ron Swoboda
frontline starting pitching to be had at the deadline. The one big fish, Zack Greinke, was never going to approve a deal to the Yankees, but credit Astros owner Jim Crane for giving the go-ahead to his GM, Jeff Luhnow, to take on $53 million of Greinke’s contract, and give Luhnow credit for holding firm and still being able to make the deal without including either of his top two prospects, outfielder Kyle Tucker or righty starter Forrest Whitley. In landing Greinke (who is getting very close to first ballot Hall of Fame numbers) and Aaron Sanchez from the Blue Jays, Luhnow also protected himself from the probable free agent defection of Gerrit Cole in the offseason.
The aggressive Astros were without question the biggest winners at the deadline, especially since no one else was able to adequately address their primary needs.
As for the biggest losers, you’d have to say the Dodgers and the Red Sox for different reasons. The Dodgers may have the best overall team in baseball but they know they aren’t going to win the World Series with Kenley Jansen as their primary closer.
The Red Sox, as much as the Yankees and Rays in the AL East, needed pitching, starters and relievers. Dombrowski thought he’d improved his rotation with the addition of Cashner. But he’s so far been horrible (1-3, 7.33 ERA) and, with the Red Sox continuing to flounder, Dombrowski had to ask himself whether it was worth it to sacrifice more prospects on a so-so reliever on the outside chance of securing a wild card. Combined with the fact the Red Sox have scant wiggle room for again going over the highest level of the competitive balance tax threshold, it’s understandable why Dombrowski, much to the dismay of Red Sox Nation, opted to stand pat.