July 31st is always a great day for me because I get to see players move around like someone is playing speed chess.
Best part of it all? Seeing who, in the flurry of Activity, put their team in a better or worse position. One such team that might have (inadvertently) put themselves in a better position are the Boston Red Sox. By trading away Jon Lackey (Cardinals) and Jon Lester (Athletics) they were able to get back hitters with pop AND who are younger (Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig). Both Craig and Cespedes are sign-able players for the Red Sox after 2014, and their right-handed bats should play extremely well in Boston with the “Green Monster.” (not to mention Cespedes and Ortiz should make quite the dynamic duo)
So what of the A’s?
Well I liked their initial move when they were able to bring Jeff Samardzija into the fold to go along with Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir; moving Cespedes for Jon Lester, to me, is a little bit of overkill on the part of Beane. Don’t get me wrong, adding a pitcher the caliber of Jon Lester isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just don’t think a team with the fourth ranked pitching in all of baseball needed to trade one of their key offensive cogs. Especially to a team like Boston with the resources to re-sign Cespedes AND Lester in the offseason. If the A’s were going to deal more, why not find a deal that supplements the offense? While most see this as a move that makes the A’s the favorites to win the American League, don’t forget something very important:
Dave Dombrowski of the Detroit Tigers has gotten very good at the art of the deal.
Detroit made the move of the day when they acquired David Price in a three-team deal with the Rays and Mariners. Consider me among those who were stunned when I heard the Tampa Bay Rays (who have been scorching hot of late) moved their best pitcher to a World Series contender. But others in the American League sit with a very frightening reality: The Detroit Tigers now have the Cy Young Award winners from 2011-2013 in their rotation. David Price, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer trumps any rotation you can name off the top of your head. “Throw in” Anibal Sanchez and that’s checkmate, folks. Period. Of course games still need to be played, but if anyone came out as true contenders from the day’s trade activity it was Detroit.
Tigers fans rejoice.
