Questions on playoff push answered
The Major League Baseball trade deadline was absolutely breathtaking with 29 teams making deals, including the seismic eight-player Juan Soto swap between the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals.
Now that the smoke has cleared, it’s time to officially end any concerns that an expanded postseason would ruin the trade deadline.
Remember the talk during the collective bargaining agreement negotiations that if the postseason was expanded from 10 teams to 12, the best teams may not be incentivized to make improvements?
Try telling that to the New York Yankees, who are sitting with the best record in the American League and went into Saturday with a 10 1⁄2-game lead in the East and acquired ace Frankie Montas, outfielder Andrew Benintendi and relievers Lou Trivino and Scott Effross.
Or the Houston Astros, who picked up outfielder Trey Mancini, catcher Christian Vazquez and veteran reliever Will Smith, even with a 12 1⁄2-game lead in the AL West.
These two powerhouses have got bigger things in mind for October than simply making the playoffs, knowing the importance of seeding and home-field advantage.
In fact, we also saw aggressiveness from teams that are already all but mathematically eliminated in their division races.
How else do you explain the Padres’ actions? They are 13 1⁄2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and no one made more improvements, acquiring Soto, All-Star closer Josh Hader, first baseman Josh Bell and third baseman Brandon Drury. You think it’s important to them to earn their first playoff berth since 2006 in a non-COVID-19 shortened season?
Or the Seattle Mariners, who are 12 1⁄2 games back and still sent three of their top prospects packing to the Cincinnati Reds for ace Luis Castillo, the best starter on the market. Yeah, they’re not about to let that 21-year playoff drought go one more season.
The Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays, who are all out of their respective division races, were buyers, too. They may not have taken that risk under the old system. Now, with the best-of-three wild-card format, and the chance to host all three games, teams were all-in.
Seventeen teams entered Saturday within 2 1⁄2 games of a playoff berth, which would have been only 12 teams if the old system was in place.
No wonder it was the most active 48hour trade deadline in the last five years.
But while the trade deadline brought clarity in some markets, there also was plenty of confusion, with plenty of questions that still remain, and we’ve come with answers.
Did the Angels actually consider trading Shohei Ohtani?
No. No. No. No. No.
It was a joke among baseball executives and the Angels front office, too, that his name even surfaced in rumors.
The Angels never were going to trade Ohtani and did nothing more than amuse themselves with several teams mentioning what they might be willing to give up to get the modern-day Babe Ruth.
Now, this winter could be a different story.
If Ohtani tells the Angels he won’t sign a contract extension with them, no matter how much they offer, they’ve got to strongly consider moving him knowing he can walk away as a free agent after the 2023 season.
The Angels’ most shrewd move might be sending Anthony Rendon’s atrocious contract with Ohtani.
Rendon, 32, who has not played more than 58 games in a season since signing his seven-year, $245 million contract and has missed 221 games since the 2020 shortened year, still has $152 million left on the contract.
The Angels, who have made it a tradition to release players with big money left on their deals (Albert Pujols, Justin Upton, Josh Hamilton), will make it a Mount Rushmore of contracts gone bad if they ultimate do the same with Rendon.
Why in the world did the Milwaukee Brewers trade away the best closer in baseball?
We tried to warn you in this space a month ago that the Brewers were listening to offers for Josh Hader, but now they actually did it, much to the chagrin of every Brewers fan (and player).
The Brewers simply had no intention of keeping Hader past this season, unwilling to pay him about $16 million in salary arbitration. They believed they had enough in the bullpen, anchored by All-Star Devin Williams, to withstand the loss.
What they never imagined was the outcry not only by the Brewers’ faithful, but by their own players, including Williams, with the team losing four consecutive games to enhance the anger.
What made it even worse was that one of the pitchers they received in the trade, Dinelson Lamet, who finished fourth in the 2020 Cy Young balloting, was immediately put on waivers where the Colorado Rockies astutely grabbed him.
“A lot of things that don’t really make sense,” Williams told Milwaukee reporters. “I don’t know. I want to win. That’s the biggest thing to me. I don’t really have much to say about it.”
The Brewers tried to soften the blow by issuing a lengthy explanatory reason on their social media account, and then had owner Mark Attanasio and president David Stearns have individual press conferences.
“We are trying to avoid the boom-orbust cycle,” Stearns said. “We want this organization this year, next year, three years from now, five years from now, seven years from now that, when fans come and watch a Brewers game, they are watching a meaningful game. They are watching a team that can and does go to the playoffs and a team that has a legitimate chance to win a World Series.”
Well, if they miss out on the playoffs, the Hader trade will haunt them until at least spring training.
Is Orioles GM Mike Elias actually rooting for his team to now lose?
Absolutely. He just will never admit it.
Elias gave up on his team at the trade deadline and sent outfielder Trey Mancini and All-Star closer Jorge Lopez for prospects, only to see the Orioles go 4-0 since the moves. They have the secondbest record in the AL since June 12 (3016), and entered Saturday just 1 1⁄2 games out of a wild-card spot.
Can you imagine the embarrassment if the Orioles miss out on a playoff berth by just a couple of games?
Well, at least Elias can come back and stand on the strangest quote at the trade deadline: “We have a shot at a wild-card right now,” he said, “but it is not a probability that we’re going to win a wild card.”
Knute Rockne, he ain’t.
Is it time for Mets fans to apologize to Brodie Van Wagenen?
Well, either that, or their former GM better make sure he gets a World Series ring if the Mets win it all.
Van Wagenen was lambasted when he traded top prospect Jared Kelenic to the Mariners to get All-Star closer Edwin Diaz and second baseman Robinson Cano.
Well, take a look now.
While Cano may be gone, Diaz is the Mets’ most valuable player and in the Cy Young conversation while Kelenic is hitting .130 with a .490 OPS since his latest call-up.
Diaz, who has 25 saves, has been nearly unhittable. He leads all relievers with 88 strikeouts, and his 52.1% strikeout rate was the highest by a reliever through 43 appearances in baseball history. Entering Saturday, 33 of his last 45 outs had been by a strikeout.
He’s a huge reason why the Mets have been alone atop the NL East since April 12, 121 days and counting. Take a bow, Brodie, and keep your voicemail free for all those apologies rolling in.
What were the Dodgers thinking acquiring Joey Gallo?
Well, Los Angeles may be the secondlargest market in the country, but it pales in comparison to the media onslaught and pressure of New York.
Besides, they merely needed an upgrade over Jake Lamb, and Gallo has two Gold Gloves on his resume. The Dodgers believe he just needed to get out of New York where his Yankee career was a .159 batting average, 25 homers, 77 walks and 194 strikeouts with a .600 OPS. He was a colossal bust. “Clearly,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “this place had an adverse effect on Joey.”
Gallo emptied his soul to NJ.com before his departure: “I went through a lot of adversity and I really had to question myself a lot. My confidence suffered. I would say I hit rock bottom for the big leagues. … I learned a lot about myself, I guess. Baseball is a tough game. But it definitely made me stronger because not many people have gone through what I’ve gone through.”
Will MLB’s dream Yankees vs. Dodgers World Series happen?
No.
These two teams may be regular-season beauties, but come October, some of their blemishes could suddenly look more glaring.
The Yankees will go with ace Gerrit Cole in Game 1, Frankie Montas in Game 2, and will have to rely on an assortment of Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes, Domingo German and Luis Severino to round out the postseason rotation. They tried to grab Pablo Lopez of the Marlins, Carlos Rodon of the Giants and Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, only to fall short.
Montas could be valuable in a matchup against the Astros, yielding a 2.70 ERA in his last seven starts against the Astros with 42 strikeouts in 36 2⁄3 innings. In 13 starts against the Astros since 2018, he has permitted two or fewer runs in 11 of them.
The Yankees’ vaunted bullpen with All-Star closer Clay Holmes may be a bigger concern. They did pick up Trivino and Effross, but is it enough?
The Yankees were 53-0 on July 9 when having a lead in the eighth inning or later but since have gone just 7-4 with an eighth-inning lead.
The Dodgers, with Clayton Kershaw returning to the injured list with back pain, creates a lot of concern. Kershaw was on the injured list once in the first eight years but has now been on the IL 10 times since 2016.
The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and may still be the team to beat on paper, but is there any starter who is considered an ace when the postseason rolls around? Walker Buehler is expected to return in September, but they will be careful with him. Tony Gonsolin, their No. 1 starter with a 13-1 record and 2.30 ERA, has pitched only 13 1⁄3 innings in the postseason with a 9.45 ERA.
The Padres were the runaway winners at the trade deadline. Could they scare the Dodgers?
This is a team that got Soto, Bell and Drury; the Dodgers got Gallo. The Padres got Hader; the Dodgers got middle reliever Chris Martin.
But have they closed the gap? While they are awfully dangerous with Fernando Tatis expected to return to the lineup in a couple of weeks, with Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell atop the rotation, the Dodgers still have their number.
Heading into Saturday, the Dodgers were 6-2 against the Padres this season, going 13-1 since last year at Dodger Stadium, and haven’t lost a season series to them since 2011, going 136-70 in the process.
“I don’t like talking about the Dodgers,” Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar told reporters before their 8-1 loss Friday.
Can you blame him?
Why would the Angels trade closer Raisel Iglesias just eight months after signing him to a four-year, $58 million contract?
Money.
The way the Angels see it, there was no need to have a great closer if there are no games to save. So they will have the extra money to get much-needed pitching help.
“I think it opens things up,” Angels GM Perry Minasian told reporters, “it opens us up a little bit for possibilities in the future. … I need to build a better roster. There’s no doubt about it. I think the locker room is very talented. There’s talent in there. There’s obviously established players, superstar players. And we’ve got to build a better supporting cast around them.”
What in the world were the Cubs doing?
They set up the emotional farewell, with All-Star catcher Willson Contreras crying and hugging Ian Happ in the dugout after what appeared to be their final games at Wrigley Field.
Only now for the two to be welcomed back.
So instead of getting top prospects, they will get only a draft pick for Contreras and will put Happ back on the trade market this winter.
Rival executives say the Cubs had far too high of a price tag on Contreras, with the Mets backing away, the Astros instead grabbing Christian Vazquez of the Red Sox and the Padres no longer interested after acquiring Soto.
Why did the Yankees trade dependable starter Jordan Montgomery for an outfielder (Harrison Bader) on the injured list?
Well, because the Yankees already have the AL East wrapped up, and this was a trade designed for October.
They came to the conclusion that Montgomery wouldn’t be needed in the playoffs and they could use the St. Louis Cardinals Gold Glove center fielder in October and beyond – even though he’s out until September with plantar fasciitis.
Come Bader’s return, the Yankees will be able to move Aaron Judge from center field back to right, Giancarlo Stanton to an everyday DH role and struggling outfielder Aaron Hicks to the bench.
At the very least, Bader will be a valuable defensive replacement or pinchrunner.