Trade Winds Subside But Not Comments
PLUS: MANY STARS EXPECTING TO GET TRADED WEREN'T
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Reader Reacts
ON GUIDRY
Recalling that George Steinbrenner had about given up on Guidry in 1976: makes you wonder if Charlie Finley's "sale" of Vida Blue to the Yankees in June '76 had not been canceled by Bowie Kuhn, if Guidry would've ever been heard from again.
— Scott Lehotsky
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
The given name Ryan is in its third generation; Ryne Sandberg was named after Ryne Duren and Ryne Stanek is named after Ryne Sandberg — even though the Stanek family are Cardinals fans from St. Louis . . .
Stanek, traded to the Mets on his birthday, gave up a home run to the first batter he faced with his new team, light-hitting Atlanta shortstop Orlando Arcia . . .
In 2020, Atlanta right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach called his college coach at Nebraska and suggested serving as the team's closer the following year. After signing with the Braves, he switched to starting but the 16 starts he made in 2023 between Single-A Augusta and Rome were the first he made since high school. Last Saturday, he fanned 11 while holding the Mets to two hits and no runs without yielding a walk in front of a hostile crowd at CitiField in New York . . .
In 72 games through Flag Day, the Yankees were 50-22 with a best-in-baseball 2.77 ERA — but posted a worst-in-baseball 6.08 ERA over the next 34 games . . .
First-year Yankee Marcus Stroman has been particularly brutal, failing to finish six innings seven times in eight starts . . .
Even defending Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole struggled, going 0-2 with an 11.17 ERA in two starts against the crosstown Mets . . .
Rookie first baseman Ben Rice had a three-homer game July 6 but hit .087 over his next 13 games.
Leading Off
Talk of the Trades . . .
or, Who Put the Zonks Into The Deadline?
By Jeff Kallman
Sometimes, you’d think the only thing missing from any annual run-up to baseball’s official trade deadline is Monty Hall brought back from the dead to moderate. That, of course, begs the question of whom among baseball’s big dealers comes out with the big deal(s) and whom, with zonks.
Herewith, some observations:
Big Dealers: The Dodgers. Let’s face it. Love them or loathe them, the Dodgers bringing in resurgent pitcher Jack Flaherty plus fellow veterans Tommy Edman, Kevin Kiermaier, Michael Kopech, and Amed Rosario wasn’t exactly missing the Amazon Prime Day sales and settling for the Dollar Tree bargain bins.
The moves fortify the Dodger rotation and (perhaps more importantly) bench. The sleeper could be Kiermaier, who’s announced his intent to retire after the season but who just might go out with a post-season highlight-reel play or three. Or, Flaherty, if it’s true that the Southern California native’s heart was with the Dodgers enough that they sneak him into a sensible contract extension before he hits this winter’s market.
[Editor’s Note: With Flaherty joining fellow local Freddie Freeman in L.A., will free agent Max Fried be far behind? The odds have just increased.]
Big Zonks: The Braves. Yes, they look this year the way the Yankees did the past few years: the New England Journal of Medicine could be the Braves’ yearbook. But reuniting with 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler doesn’t look as bright as one might think. And, unlike 2021, they didn’t quite compensate for losing Ronald Acuña, Jr. that sharply.
They’re still leading the wild-card groupings, though. They could surprise. Or, the surprise could be on them.
Big Dealers: The Mets. You don’t have to be as spotlight-blasting as the Dodgers to deal big. You also don’t need to do it with glitter. Over three weeks up to and including deadline day, the Mets—whose surge beginning late May was almost the talk of the game—added decidedly non-headline harvesting but depth-to-burn veterans Paul Blackburn, Huascar Brazobán, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, Jesse Winker, and Tyler Zuber [plus late-signing free agent J.D. Martinez before them].
This year’s Mets went for depth from the moment new president David Stearns took office. After an early-season stumbling, they’ve been resembling geniuses. Deep geniuses. Let’s see how long that holds, which should be full distance. But these are the Mets, of course, perhaps the you-never-know franchise in the sport.
Big Zonks: The White Sox. Maybe this is a little unfair, considering the White Sox season was already threatening to make the 1962 Mets resemble the 2001 Mariners. But they could have gained a lot more than they did in unloading Kopech and Erick Fedde. Maybe even more in unloading Tanner Banks, Paul DeJong, and Eloy Jimenez. It’s enough to make you think that being a White Sox fan should merit compensation pay.
Big Dealers: The Yankees. Maybe not as big as (a) they could have gone or (b) Yankee fans would prefer. (Please. Yankee fans expect incoming Hall of Famers at every deadline and firing squads after every game loss.) But you can’t exactly argue with landing Jazz Chisholm, Jr. for some infield-outfield defensive versatility to accompany his speed and live bat. Or, with Mark Leiter, Jr., which only makes the Yankee bullpen deeper.
At minimum, those moves quell the usual demands for eternal general manager Brian Cashman’s summary execution . . . for about a week.
Big Zonks: The Red Sox. Their season may be a bit of a surprise, but I still can’t help thinking they could have brought more aboard other than James Paxton for the rotation and Luis Garcia for the bullpen. They didn’t do terribly, really, but failing to do better with their resources gets them on the zonk parade.
Big Dealers: The Nationals. They deepened their system this time around while continuing to make their parent roster younger and younger. Impressively. Enough so that you might believe the next generation of Nats contenders is sneaking around the corner or in from the outbacks. Might.
Big Zonks: The Angels. But of course. A team who needed to offload and re-construct did just about the opposite, even if they did get a serviceable return for Luis Garcia and Carlos Estevez. The Angels need a serious organizational boost and didn’t get it. Do they think Tyler Anderson is going to yank them anywhere no matter how good he is this year?
With Mike Trout’s health a continuing and sad concern, the Angels’ annual failure to reset reasonably becomes a lot more glaring. They’ve wasted the Hall of Famer-in-waiting’s career the way an ancient group of Cubs wasted that of Ernie Banks. And that was true before Trout’s injury bug became a swarm.
Jeff Kallman is an IBWAA Life Member who writes Throneberry Fields Forever. He has written for the Society for American Baseball Research, The Hardball Times, Sports-Central, and other publications. He has lived in Las Vegas since 2007, where he plays the guitar and writes music when not writing baseball. He remains a Met fan since the day they were born.
Cleaning Up
Why Did Trade Frenzy Bypass Biggest Names?
By Dan Schlossberg
And how about the dozens of top names who weren’t traded?
Exorbitant prices, coupled with unrealistic postseason postures, convinced countless clubs to sit tight — as the Angels did with Shohei Ohtani last summer.
That’s why the trade deadline lacked the star-power names most experts expected.
Just look at the players who weren’t moved: Garrett Crochet, Luis Robert, Jr., Javy Baez, Tarik Skubal, Brent Rooker, Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon, Blake Snell, Gleyber Torres, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Michael Conforto, Mike Yastrzemski, Tyler Anderson, Taylor Ward, Luis Rengifo, Max Scherzer, Kyle Finnegan, Charlie Blackmon, Elias Diaz, Cal Quantrill, Mason Miller, etc.
Contenders either weren’t willing to add payroll — even for a pro-rated two-month rental — or wouldn’t submit to the economic blackmail of ridiculous demands by sellers (we’re looking at you, Chicago teams).
I’m willing to bet virtually all of the players on this list will be wearing different uniforms in 2025.
Some, like Bellinger and Snell, can opt out of their contracts and test free agency.
Others, like Crochet and Robert, will move when their current employers auction them off after difficult seasons (the Chisox are on pace to exceed the 1962 Mets in futility). Crochet complicated his own situation by foolishly stating he wouldn’t pitch in October without a contract extension. Bill Veeck must be rolling over in his grave.
And then there are those, like Bichette and Guerrero, Jr., who are fan favorites kept in place because their teams wanted a king’s ransom in exchange.
Speaking of money, there are 258 prospective free agents who will be competing for big bucks on their own unless they sign in the next few months.
That list is long and impressive, with star pitchers Max Fried and Corbin Burnes at the top, possibly joined by Gerrit Cole if he opts out of his contract with the Yankees.
Along with Bellinger, a former MVP likely to opt out of his Cubs contract, Houston third baseman Alex Bregman figures to be one of the most coveted position players this fall. And let’s not forget Jack Flaherty, just traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers after the Yankees questioned his medical reports.
Waiver trades, once permitted in August, are no longer in play but former major-leaguers who have spent the whole year in the minors can still be moved. One of those is former batting champion Yuli Gurriel, mired at Triple-A Gwinnett because Matt Olson is married to the first base bag in Atlanta (he has the longest consecutive games playing streak of any active player).
With both division and wild-card spots up for grabs, all six title chases could change hands several times during the Dog Days of August. And all of the wild-card spots will move like the contents of a snow globe — count on it.
Consider the NL East for example: the Mets and Phillies are starting tough road trips, while the Braves are starting the easiest part of their schedule. Just look back to 2021, when Atlanta was under .500 when August began but wound up as world champions.
The Braves have already shaved four games off Philadelphia’s lead in the NL East and are determined to extend its best-in-baseball division title streak of six straight.
It’s going to be an interesting stretch drive. You heard it here first.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, and other outlets. He’s promoting his newest biography, Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: The Worst Baseball Teams Ever
The Chicago White Sox are the first team in American League history (and first since the 1935 Boston Braves) to have multiple losing streaks of at least 14 games in the same season . . .
The Sox are on pace to post the worst record since the expansion era began, topping the 120-loss season of the 1962 New York Mets . . .
Chicago’s sad-sack season is not quite as bad as the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, a National League franchise that finished 20-134 for a .130 “winning percentage” . . .
Another NL team, the 1909 Boston Doves, holds the dubious record of finishing a whopping 65 1/2 games behind after posting a 45-106 mark and .294 percentage . . .
Thanks to two rainouts that were mercifully cancelled, the original Mets finished 60.5 games out of first place . . .
The worst winning percentage of the modern era that began with the advent of the American League in 1901 was the .235 mark of Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, finishing 36-117 after he sold his stars during the Federal League years . . .
A last-week revival helped the 2003 Detroit Tigers avoid passing the original Mets in ignominy as they wound up 43-119 (.265, 47 games behind) . . .
The longest losing streak? The 1899 Spiders lost 24 in a row, though the 1909 Washington Senators — even with Walter Johnson on their pitching staff — had a 5-29 mark for the month of July.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.