Projo Fantasy Sports Blog

By Michael Salfino

The trade deadline has passed and, for the second year in a row, activity was greater than most expected.

Last year, 17 teams were either leading their division or within seven games of the wild card. This year, 16 teams fit that description. While that means more potential buyers, it severely constricts the pool of sellers.

Of the 14 teams reasonably out of it, only the Pirates, the A's, the Reds, the Braves and the Indians seemed inclined to rebuild. Of course, many bad teams (like the Nationals) are bad because they don't have players that contending teams desire. Or their good players are young and inexpensive enough to be part of any future turnaround, and thus are not on the block.

The major buyers were the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Angels and the White Sox. The Marlins were rumored to be in the Manny Ramirez mix, but that was all smoke and no fire. Florida's young starters are all about to hit an innings wall and Ramirez would have done nothing to assuage that.

Interestingly, 1B Mark Teixeira (Angels) was traded near the deadline for the second year in a row -- something I can't recall happening to any other player of his stature. In the past two seasons, he's been shipped for disappointing catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who can't adequately defend), rapidly ascending pitching prospect Neftali Perez, Futures Game shortstop and speed-meister Elvis Andrus, punch-and-judy 1B Casey Kotchman and low-grade closer prospect Stephen Marek, who is about to turn 25 in Double A.

Another trade broke the deadline mode as it involved two teams trying to stay in the wild-card race: the Yankees and the Tigers. In a straight-up challenge deal, the Yankees imported Ivan Rodriguez to replace the injured Jorge Posada at catcher while shipping out Kyle Farnsworth to be part of a closer committee or at least a highly leveraged reliever for Detroit. That trade is working out badly thus far for the Tigers, as Farnsworth has already spit the late-inning bit twice. This should not surprise anyone. Farnsworth has pitched up to the level of his radar-gun readings only for intermittent periods throughout his career, though one of those was for Detroit.

Let's try to project other players now toiling in new playing environments.

Buy

Manny Ramirez, OF, Dodgers: He's been on the warpath since LA acquired him, which should not surprise anyone given that he's arguably the best right-handed hitter of his generation. The power was intact in Boston and won't be hurt as much as many suspect by the move, given how Fenway tends to hurt power -- even from righties, given the height of the Green Monster.

Andy LaRoche, 3B, Pirates: Stat guys love him because of his plate discipline (37 walks, 14 Ks in 123 Triple-A at bats this year) and power potential. He'll get the chance to play every day in Pittsburgh, where he joins brother Adam. Expect the power to translate better then it did for the Dodgers, who yanked him in and out of the lineup.

John Meloan, P, Indians: Came over from the Dodgers in the trade for mediocre Casey Blake. Meloan's numbers this year are deceiving, as the Dodgers chose to have him start so he could work on his pitches. In 2007, he was a dominating closer-in-waiting (66 innings, 36 hits, 91 Ks). He's back in relief at Triple-A Buffalo and could be closing by the end of the month in Cleveland.

Hold

Ivan Rodriguez, C, Yankees: He'd declining offensively and defensively, but had been at such heights in both areas that he's still useful. Given that Jorge Posada was unable to throw even before returning and reinjuring his shoulder, the Yankees are stronger now at catcher than they have been all year.

Craig Hansen, P, Pirates: As we noted last week, he has a big-time heater. The results have badly lagged, though. His closing prospects appear dim given that Matt Capps is scheduled to return to the Pirates and handle the ninth inning within two weeks. But Capps not only had bursitis, but "internal rotation deficit," which sounds terrible even if it happened to your car, never mind your shoulder. If Capps lands back on the lift in the shop, don't be shocked.

Sell

Ken Griffey Jr., OF, White Sox: Chicago is crazy to live with his declining defense in center, as he wasn't even an average corner outfielder anymore. He's coming from a great park, so we can't boost his expected power, which has declined three straight years (measured by the percentage of fly balls that become homers).

Xavier Nady, OF, Yankees: Continues to live a charmed existence (.365 average on balls in play, average is .300 -- a figure he's bested in his career only once). In situations like this, I always look for a correction, at least to historic levels factoring in his new park, unkind to righty power hitters.

 Tags  Andy LaRoche baseball Baseball by the Numbers Craig Hansen Ivan Rodriguez John Meloan Ken Griffey Jr. Manny Ramirez Michael Salfino Xavier Nady

---