Who Won and Lost During Trading Season?

Take a deep breath, baseball fans. The dust has settled after another trading deadline, and what a deadline it was. Three future Hall of Famers were moved. So was a reigning Cy Young winner and two former All-Stars. And we haven't talked about Rich Harden yet. Undoubtedly, 2008 was the most entertaining trading season in recent memory for baseball fans.


Truth be told, it will take years before we know who helped themselves or hurt themselves at the 2008 trade deadline. That's just the way it is when boom-or-bust prospects are involved. But here's an educated (and roughly ordered) guess anyway at which teams won and which teams lost now that the July 31 deadline has come and gone.

Winners

Angels: With a double-digit lead in the AL West, the Angels didn't need to do anything to get to October. They went out and got slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira anyway, and it's nothing short of a coup. For all the praise heaped upon Mike Scioscia's throwback run-at-all costs strategy, it hasn't done much for Los Angeles in the postseason. The Halos have scored 17 runs in their last eight postseason games dating back to 2005, and they don't have single regular slugging over .500 this year. They needed a bat to go all the way in October, and that's just what they got in Teixeira.

Brewers: Way back on July 7, GM Doug Melvin acquired reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia from the Indians. With a single move, Milwaukee changed the complexion of the NL playoff races, jumping to the front of the line for the wild card and putting pressure on the Cubs in the Central. Part of what makes this move so great is that Sabathia made five starts before July 31, essentially impacting an extra month of the Brewers' season than your average deadline deal. Most of what makes it great is that Sabathia is one of the 10 best pitchers in the game. In those five turns, he's 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA and three complete games. Milwaukee might miss top prospect Matt LaPorta, who was sent to Cleveland in the deal, if they actually had a place to play him.

Yankees: New York might still fall short of a playoff berth for the first time since the 1990s, but GM Brian Cashman did about everything he could to make his club better. He got Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady for three middling prospects and the enigmatic Jose Tabata. Marte turned out to be the best reliever dealt before the deadline and Nady is a nice complementary bat, who can platoon with Johnny Damon in left field and spell Jason Giambi at first. Days later, Cashman traded for Ivan Rodriguez to fill the gaping void left by injured catcher Jorge Posada. Pudge isn't the MVP candidate he was in the late-1990s, but he's a big improvement on the offensively challenged Jose Molina. The Yankees still need a starter, but could easily acquire one in August.

Cubs: Chicago answered Milwaukee's acquisition of Sabathia appropriately by adding Rich Harden. Harden is a gamble because of his checkered injury history, but the Cubs have a deep rotation and also got reliever Chad Gaudin in the deal to take some pressure off of a taxed bullpen.

Red Sox: It's easy to bemoan the loss of a Hall of Fame hitter, but Manny Ramirez isn't that guy anymore, and he hasn't been for more than a year. Jason Bay's offensive production figures to suffer as he switches to the tougher American League, but he could easily equal Ramirez's overall value with superior defense and baserunning. Boston also gets a player who is guaranteed to be in the lineup every single day and gets rid of one who clearly seems to have disrupted clubhouse harmony. Like the Yankees, the Red Sox could miss the playoffs and it might not have anything to do with losing Ramirez (the bullpen is still a major source of concern).

One way or another, they can do it in peace now, to borrow one of Manny's enigmatic statements as this whole drama played out. I don't generally buy into "clubhouse chemistry" being a major factor, and the last time I was in the Boston clubhouse (at the end of May), Ramirez was jovial and didn't seem to be causing problems at all. Something changed, though. A cloud has been lifted on the Red Sox. Again, they might finish in third place, but there's no shame in doing that this year in the AL East.

Pirates: Neal Huntington turned the Bucs from losers into winners minutes before the deadline by deciding to deal Jason Bay. The return for Nady and Marte wasn't impressive, particularly considering what he might have gotten had he split the pair up. The return on Jason Bay made up for all that. Andy LaRoche is a legitimate middle-of-the-order hitter. Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss should play right away in Pittsburgh and Hansen has the potential to close. Bryan Morris is a nice low-level pitching prospect, who's coming off Tommy John surgery. Bay is a very good player, but the simple fact is, he wasn't going to be on the team if and when Pittsburgh is ready to contend again. The four players the Pirates received in exchange for him could be.

White Sox: Ken Griffey Jr. isn't going to blow anyone away at 38, but Kenny Williams got him for money and marginal prospects. It's an upgrade, if only a slight one.

Losers

Mariners: The M's got a nice return for Arthur Rhodes (Gaby Hernandez). They are losers for what they didn't do at the deadline. Raul Ibanez, at minimum, should have been out the door with J.J. Putz, Jarrod Washburn and others following him. Seattle isn't going to be a factor in the AL West for several years. It's time to go back to the drawing board.

Braves: Casey Kotchman and a decent relief prospect is all Atlanta has to show after two years of playing around with Mark Teixeira. What did the team lose? Teixeira himself, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and two players who will certainly be Top 50 prospects next season -- Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz (and another decent pitching prospect in Matt Harrison). The Braves have some serious rebuilding ahead of them.

Marlins: Florida was either jerked around or not a serious player in the Manny Ramirez talks. Either way, all the Fish have to show for this year's deadline is Arthur Rhodes. Considering they did nothing to shore up their abysmal catching situation, that's probably not going to be enough in the NL East.

Dodgers: Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake will help the Dodgers this season. Considering how much Ramirez should do for one of the poorer offenses in baseball, Los Angeles might even be the favorite in the NL West right now. But the Dodgers surrendered three of their top 12 prospects -- Andy LaRoche, Jonathan Meloan and Bryan Morris -- as well as one of the better hitting catchers in the low minors. Blake and Ramirez will depart after this season, meaning unless L.A. makes a very deep playoff run, this trade deadline probably won't be remembered fondly years from now in Chavez Ravine.

Mets: As with the Mariners, it's what New York didn't do. The Mets still have a great shot at making the playoffs, but the failure to add any sort of outfield bat (Ibanez? Brian Giles?) leaves them vulnerable.

Phillies: Joe Blanton isn't the answer in a tiny ballpark and in front of a mediocre defensive team and GM Pat Gillick did nothing for a bullpen that can't possibly be as good over the final two months as it was in the first four.

Astros: Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins are not difference-makers if you're six games out of a playoff spot. They might not even be difference-makers when your team is three games out of the playoffs. They certainly aren't difference-makers when you're 9 1/2 games out of the wild card as Houston is on this July 31.