MLB trade deadline is more like Christmas in August
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:34am
The MLB Trade Deadline has come and gone. For baseball fanatics it is Christmas in August. The baseball world goes into a frenzy with contending clubs trying to out do their closest competitor(s) for a stretch run into the playoffs and what all hope to be eventually a winning combination to the World Series.
For the Bay Area teams it was much of the same as it as been in recent seasons. San Francisco buys, and Oakland sells.
Although, some may say the Giants sold a little bit of their future today to win now and keep with the "even year" theme.
Oakland sold a big chunk by trading away Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers (Dodgers are 2 games back of the Giants for the NL West lead)
More on this situation later....
Meanwhile, the West Bay made a big (and somewhat shocking) splash yesterday by trading away Matt Duffy their starting third baseman to the Tampa Bay Rays for a much needed starting pitcher in the left handed throwing Matt Moore.
Moore so far this season with the lowly Rays has compiled a 7-7 record with a 4.08 ERA. While his numbers don't jump out he does provide something the Giants desperately need and that's a pitcher who can eat up some innings.
The Giants also gave up Lucius Fox (no not Batman's Lucius Fox). Fox, a bright young international star from the Bahamas is only 18 and could provide the Rays with a bright future.
Before the all too painful Duffy trade to a lot of Giants fans, San Francisco made another move to bring much needed reenforcement to the bullpen by trading for Will Smith (no, not that one either). The Giants traded away a well-known catching prospect in Andrew Susac and their highly touted young prospect in Phil Bickford to get Smith.
Smith, the southpaw, comes from the Milwaukee Brewers has compiled a 1-3 record with a 3.68 ERA out of the bullpen of what can only be described as a glorified AAA team in the Brewers playing at the major league level.
Smith and Moore are great moves for the Giants to make the stretch run and in what hopes to continue the "even year" pattern the Giants have been rolling on.
Now, back to the Dodgers situation. After the Reddick/Hill trade to LA it was reported by MSM that Yasiel Puig, the dimming star of the Dodgers outfield, "stormed off" when he was supposedly told he was being traded or demoted. While the traded or demoted part was true, the "storming off" part was not.
Puig was actually told by the organization earlier in the day to not come to the stadium to travel with the team to Colorado because he was either going to be traded or demoted to the minor leagues.
MSM once again jumped the gun in trying to break the story first as juicy as possible.
Overall, the MLB Trade Deadline did not disappoint. A lot of moves by contenders to try their best to either stay ahead of the pack or try to chase down those who are. I cannot wait to see what these last two months of the regular season has in store!
