Stock Up, Stock Down After The MLB Trade Deadline

As last week’s trade deadline came and went, contending teams made moves to secure their playoff positions and cellar dwellers sold their goods with hopes of contending sometime in the near future. (In the Pirates case, maybe sometime in the next decade.) Here’s a look at who’s rising and who’s falling after MLB’s trade deadline.

Stock Up

Boston Red Sox

It was a foregone conclusion that the Red Sox were going to have to part with a few of their young mound masters (Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden, Daniel Bard, Nick Hagadone, Stolmy Pimentel, Casey Kelly) if they wanted to make a big splash in the open market this summer. While an offer to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay (Bucholz, Bard and Ryan Westmoreland for Halladay) never came to fruition, the Sox were able to give up the two quality pitchers in their system that have the lowest ceiling, Hagadone and Masterson, to Cleveland for C/1B/DH Victor Martinez. The Red Sox are a lot like the New England Patriots. If we were GMs, we would never make trades with them because deep down we realize that we’re probably getting hosed.

Chicago White Sox

They did give up their top pitching prospect and another lefty who throws in the low-90s for Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, but they are one of the few franchises that don’t over-value their prospects. While LHPs Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard will be in major league rotations for a long time, GM Kenny Williams realizes that the chances of either being a Cy Young-level ace is slim to none. While this trade has more to do with next season than this year, if Peavy can return from the DL in late August he can make a substantial difference on the White Sox playoff hopes. If not, you go into 2010 with Mark Buehrle and Jake Peavy at the top of the rotation that will be filled out by John Danks, Gavin Floyd and an off-season acquisition. Even after this trade, Chicago will find a way to be sideshows in the Roy Halladay Circus this winter.

Philadelphia Phillies

Philly fans definitely had their heart set on acquiring Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays and they can’t blame the front office for not trying. They put together as good of an offer as anybody for Doc but J.P. Ricciardi wasn’t eager to trade his franchise player. Instead, the Phillies went out and got last year’s AL Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee, and look primed to make a run at back-to-back World Series titles. With Lee and Cole Hamels at the front of the rotation, teams in the NL will be hard pressed to match up with Philly on the mound. Oh, and those four players (J.A Happ, Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor) that Toronto wanted in exchange for Halladay? GM Ruben Amaro Jr. was able to keep all of them just in case the Phillies want to bend for Doc this winter. Halladay, Hamels and Lee at the top of a rotation in the NL is a scary thought.

Stock Down

Pittsburgh Pirates

We understand what they are trying to do. Nobody is going to win with Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez as their two best players, but the Pirates are just accumulating more and more Triple A-level ball players each year. Prospects are fantastic when you add them to a team with some stars on it but even if all these players reach the majors quickly, who is going to lead them and be the veteran voice of reason in the clubhouse. I guess they can wish that three of these guys are solid Major League players and that they can trade the rest for some veteran bats when the time comes but for now, Pittsburgh has a lot of minor leaguers trying to contend in a division with guys like Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.

Toronto Blue Jays

GM J.P. Ricciardi had multiple opportunities to land future starters and some much needed athleticism to their farm system but instead decided to hold on to their ace, Roy Halladay, and see what they can do over the winter. Again, we can understand what they are trying to do. More teams are going to think they have a shot at contending over the winter but Halladay’s stock will never be higher than what it was for the last month and a half. Philly should have been willing to give up Kyle Drabek in their deal to sweeten the pot, so you can’t blame the Blue Jays for that one. But nobody would have blamed Toronto for taking Bowden, Buchholz and Westmoreland from Boston. If they pushed, they probably could have gotten Masterson, Brad Penny or another prospect from the Sox but they drove such a hard bargain that teams seemed unwilling to make legit bids. In a market like Toronto, it’s so important to sell high and they missed the boat on this one.

New York Mets

Maybe GM Omar Minaya is afraid to do anything right now considering the hot seat he is in, but the Mets were only about 6 games back in the wild card race and could have moved a couple pieces to get a much needed bat in the lineup. After acquiring Jeff Francoeur, the Mets weren’t a factor in any talks. They can’t possibly have an ‘untouchable’ prospect in the farm system, because that player would have been called up and be contributing with the big club at this point. It speaks volumes about where the Mets are as a franchise right now.