Saturday, August 31, 2013

Keeping Up With The Teams In Front Of Us


The August trade deadline is today and I wanted to take the opportunity to look at what the teams we are chasing in the AL East and both wild card races are doing to improve while we are seemingly standing pat again. Now obviously we can make trades all the way through the end of the season but no one acquired after August 31st is eligible for the post season. With that said let's take a look at how the teams in front of us are stacking their rosters before it's too late.

The Cleveland Indians have traded for Jason Kubel after the Arizona Diamondbacks designated him for assignment. Cleveland just gave up a player to be named later in exchange for Kubel after he and his production fell off the table this season. Kubel fell off so much the D Backs are going to pay roughly $2,000,000 of his $2,270,000 left on his contract for this season.

The Oakland Athletics acquired catcher, and former A's player, Kurt Suzuki from the Washington Nationals to bolster their back stops. 

The Baltimore Orioles finally got their designated hitter when they acquired Mike Morse for Xavier Avery from the Seattle Mariners yesterday. They also claimed Josh Willingham, Kendrys Morales, and signed Dan Johnson from the Yankees. 

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired both Wesley Wright, Delmon Young, and David DeJesus in separate waiver deals this August. 

The Kansas City Royals and the Boston Red Sox swapped Quinton Berry to Boston for Clayton Mortenson to KC. The Red Sox did not have to do much anyway to stay on top of the division. 

The Yankees lost first base depth in Dan Johnson, lost infield depth while releasing Luis Cruz, lost outfield depth when they let Thomas Neal walk, and swapped power for average, defense, and more strike outs when they signed Mark Reynolds. It seems like all the teams ahead of the Yankees are looking to improve and give their team the best shot to make the playoffs where the Yankees are simply making the same mistake twice by standing pat with what we have. We quickly learned this season that this was not the best decision we made in the off season and it seems like we may be making the same mistake twice and I cannot say that I agree with it.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)