Running in Place: No Moves on Trade Deadline Day


MLB Trade Deadline Day happened yesterday, and it was a busy one.

Boston off loaded pretty much everyone (they've traded away 4 of 5 of their Opening Day starters, leaving Clay Buchholz the last man standing.)

Jon Lester and Johnny Gomes were traded to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes.
John Lackey was traded to St.Louis for Allan Craig and Joe Kelly.
Andrew Miller went to the Orioles from the Red Sox.

Stephen Drew was switched from Boston for Kelly Johnson from New York (first time those two teams have traded with each other since 1997.)

Yankees also picked up our old buddy Esmil Rogers off of waivers from the Jays.

And David Price went from Tampa to the Tigers in a three way trade also involving the Mariners.

All this happened, and some Blue Jays fans were wondering "What about us?" It turns out, so were some Blue Jays players, as both Casey Janssen and Jose Bautista were vocal about their disappointment. And a few anonymously agreed.


"Obviously, we value our prospects, we value our players, I'm sure the other teams do as well. Maybe they just value the player or the opportunity to get into the playoffs more, "said Bautista. "It takes something to get something, and congratulations to those teams that got those guys."

“You don’t make a move just to make a move, if it’s not going to help your team at all, but at the same time, doing something — even if it’s a small improvement — I think it gives the [clubhouse] some excitement that hey, they’ve got our backs, they’re trying hard, they’re doing everything possible to make this club better,” Janssen said, referring to management and ownership.

I understand the frustration, but the price for the big fish, I can almost guarantee, was Stroman and/or Sanchez, who are currently contributing to the big club.

There was also some talk on Twitter that they were less ornery about Lester and Price, and more about Martin Prado. It was at that point that I wanted to fly to Houston, and yell at them.

Fellas? You have Martin Prado. Except you don't have to pay him as much (saving money for Melky) and he'd prefer if you call him "Danny."

Meet him here.
Nice teeth, Danny.

I mean, seriously. As pointed out by "Chris" in the DJF comments yesterday:

Prado splits
2014 — 270/317/370
2014 (vs LHP) — 338/381/500
Valencia splits
2014 — 277/322/375
2014 (vs LHP) — 343/375/478

Prado is 30 and costs $22 million in the next two seasons
Valencia is 29 and has three arbitration years coming up.

What do they expect to do with Prado when Lawrie comes off the DL?


I agree the Tigers and A's look very scary with their rotations. But they also looked very scary three days ago. Super rotations are often the difference, but not always. The Cardinals and Tigers both had great rotations last year, but fell short of the ultimate prize. As did the 2010 Phillies.  So often the playoffs are about who gets there and then gets hot. Nothing is guaranteed.

What I suggest for all involved: Anthopoulos tries to pick up another starter to bolster the rotation (I'm thinking maybe Cole Hamels, from an oddly silent Phillies) and the players focus on winning the division and become a well-oiled winning machine. The reinforcements came in Stroman, Sanchez, Reimold and Valencia. More are coming when Encarnacion, Lind and Lawrie come off the DL.

Stop wondering "why?" and focus forward.





Pedro was candid, funny and very honest. I want him to adopt Marcus Stroman, and teach him how to be small and nasty. An excerpt:

"Jonah Keri: One [thing] I want to ask you about is, you were talking about the injuries, and pretty much from ’99 on, having to go through that. Take me through a little bit of what you had to do. What were the remedies? How long were you icing your arm? What steps did you have to take to be able to go back on the field every five days?

Pedro Martinez: If you recall, sometimes someone was calling me a prima donna, saying that I was in my own program, saying that I was different. Some media members sometimes come in and see you doing something different that the other guys don’t do. It was working for me, the way I went about my program. At the same time, nobody was my size, nobody was my height, nobody was Pedro Martinez. I’m going to tell you this, because a lot of people sometimes make the wrong judgment, because they don’t understand: The routine I had would take me from five to seven hours daily to actually keep this small-frame body for 18 years live and kicking. It’s not that easy.

I would say, with all due respect to everybody in baseball, to my understanding, this is my own words: Nobody worked harder in this body, to maintain this body for 18 years that I played the game, than I did. I am the one that felt how I worked, I am the one who went to the rehabs I had to do, I was also the one that felt how my body felt. To me, it was the toughest thing to ever do, showing up every day and putting that amount of work on my body in order for me to hold. I wouldn't suggest to anybody my height or my size, or with more abilities, to pick pitching for their career. If you can hit 30 jacks and hit .280, take that road. Don’t go to pitching; it’s really hard to do at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds. It’s really hard to do, to maintain that for eight, nine months, sometimes, including the playoffs and World Series. It’s not easy year after year with the routine, with the plane ride, with the bad food, and being a bad eater. I was a picky eater, so I had to get milk and cookies sometimes between games and all that. It’s not an easy task."