Sports are centered around the clear-cut notion that at the end of every game, match, or event, there will be a winner and a loser (save soccer. Curse their 90-minute stalemates).
With that in mind, most know that Major League Baseball’s Non-Waiver Trade Deadline has recently passed us by. Today, we’ll dive into a couple of winners as the clock ticked down on America’s favorite “Race Against the Clock”.
Teams make the decision to be buyers or sellers at the deadline and one team that stood out significantly as “winners” of the frenzy were the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers entered Deadline Eve a game above the .500 mark, at 52-51. However, with the talent in the AL East, they sat in fourth place in the division and were 6.5 games back from the then-division leading Toronto Blue Jays.
With the Yankees getting nothing but older and more fragile, Brian Cashman, the General Manager of the Yanks knew the only answer was to begin the rebuilding process in the Bronx. This was a real changing of the guard for Yankee fans everywhere, as this marked the first Trade Deadline since 1989 that the team deemed themselves as “sellers”. Their first move included sending the Cuban missile, Aroldis Chapman to the north side of Chicago to be a Cub. Different pinstripes, different situations. Chapman will ultimately help the Cubs for another playoff run if all goes well.
The Yankees, in return, received the Cubs’ number one overall prospect, shortstop Gleyber Torres. Torres is a part of the MLB’s top 100 Prospects List (24) and has a ton of upside on both sides of the scorecard. Scouts predict that he could break on the scene quickly and produce up to 15-20 home runs when brought up. With Didi Gregorius looking like he will be the long-term shortstop, Torres could possibly shift to third base and be the third baseman of the future.
On the 31st, the Yankees dealt fireman reliever Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for four-prospect haul. The headlining player in this deal was outfielder Clint Frazier, who is now listed as the Yanks’ number one prospect. Frazier is a potential five tool player in the Bigs. In AAA, he’s batting .276 with 13 home runs and 48 RBI while also swiping 13 bags. Frazier goes slips right into the mix along with the current slew of outfield prospects the Yankees own, joining Aaron Judge and Ben Gamel. Justus Sheffield came to the Bronx along with Frazier. The southpaw from Tennessee was committed to play at Vanderbilt however, he was drafted by the Tribe out of high school and chose to sign. He is undersized for a pitcher standing at 5’10” but sits around 92-94 MPH. He has lively off-speed and is predicted to be a number two or three starter in the future.
Minutes before the deadline, Carlos Beltran was shipped to Arlington, Texas to play for the Rangers. In return for Beltran, the Yankees received yet another bundle of prospects, with headliner Dillon Tate. Tate was the third selection in the 2015 draft with a fastball ranging from 92-98 MPH with a sharp slider. Tate was also Texas’ fourth ranked prospect in the pre-season.
The fountain of youth will soon be located in the Bronx. With Mark Teixeira retiring following the 2016 season, a hole will open up at first base. This will most likely give Greg Bird the starting job who is also young and filled with potential to be a star. With other prospects like Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge inching their way closer to the show, expect a lineup filled with young talent by the end of 2016 and at the start of 2017. The Yankees have been loaded with older players in the past with a weaker farm system and relied on free agency to improve. Brian Cashman made the decision to rebuild and they now have seven prospects on MLB’s top 100 list which is tied for the most in the MLB. The future is now three trades brighter for the Bronx Bombers as the team now looks forward in an effort to find a new age of consistency left vacant by yesteryear’s “Core Four”.
Our second big winner of the 2016 Trade Deadline can be found shooing away an in-state foe in the standings. The Texas Rangers fumbled and stumbled through July with an unreliable, fatigued pitching staff and a poor offensive duo of catchers that left something to be desired both in the lineup and on the defense. In fact, Texas endured a stretch from late June to mid-July in which 0 -- that’s right, ZERO of their starting pitchers not named Cole Hamels recorded a win. Meanwhile, the tandem of Robinson Chirinos and Bobby Wilson, to date, had proudly represented Rangers’ catchers in the bottom five of most offensive and defensive categories, including WaR (Wins above Replacement), OPS (On Base Percentage plus Slugging Percentage), and Runners Caught Stealing.
Unlike the Yankees, Texas is a team in heavy contention for a World Series berth as 2016 rolls on. Their version of Deadline “winning” included drastic improvements in both the relief department and behind the dish. The Rangers’ bullpen woes can not be entirely blamed on, but definitely can stem to closer Shawn Tolleson’s April struggles. Tolleson broke out as a ninth-inning stopper on-the-rise in 2015, but regressed mightily to kick off his sophomore year in the same role. His earned run average sat near 9 after a month’s worth of games and left the Rangers’ higher management with no choice but to demote him to the Minor Leagues. As all could figure, the loss of a man who was expected to hold down a crucial role in a bullpen unravels a domino effect among the remaining arms in the ‘pen.
Enter: Milwaukee Brewers. We in the baseball world call this type of trade, “a match made in heaven.” The Rangers, a team in the hunt, had young prospects to give, while the Brewers, a team looking to rise again one day soon, had proven, big league talent to sell off in return for players of the future. On August 1, hours before the Deadline came to a close, the two teams hooked up for a five-player trade that sent Milwaukee closer Jeremy Jeffress and catcher Jonathan Lucroy to the Lone Star State; in return, prospects Lewis Brinson, Luis Ortiz, and the infamous “player to be named later” headed North to become Wisconsin’s newest Cheeseheads.
Jeffress brings over a 2.22 ERA, 27 saves and a durable right arm which possesses a wicked fastball-slider combination. While he will not close full-time for Texas, he will become an integral cog in the bullpen machine who can also provide occasional relief to first-year closer Sam Dyson.
Lucroy, meanwhile, will assume immediate everyday catching duties for the Ranger’ pitching staff. The offense he brings is secondary at this point, as his main job for the remainder of the season is as a durable mainstay behind the plate who will control the running game and continue to frame borderline pitches for strikes at an elite rate.
He is no slouch with the lumber in his hand, however. Lucroy packed up his bags and left the National League as its second-most RBI-getter among catchers, as his 50 only trailed Washington Nationals’ breakout backstop Wilson Ramos.
The upgrades came at a price, as they always seem to. But that’s the risks you take to compete for a title. Lewis Brinson ranked as Texas’ #2 prospect entering 2016 and has made great strides in his offensive game. In 2015 he finished second in the minor leagues with 191 strikeouts but so far this year has registered only 68. He projects as an eventual 30 homer, 30 steal talent.
Texas’ #5 prospect Luis Ortiz jumps right into Milwaukee’s top 5 as well, as a change in location won’t affect his status as a star on the rise. Ortiz, a starting pitcher by trade, possesses a fastball that has topped out 97 miles per hour in the minors with a low-80s slider. Scouts project him as an eventual number 2 starter in a Major League rotation, thanks in part to his repertoire and larger body frame (6’3”, 230 lbs.).
As all trades involving prospects go, the real “winner” of the deal will be determined down the road. Texas is the initial winner, going all in on a chance at their first World Series crown in franchise history. However, as years pass, the Brewers will need to do their part to make their end of the bargain hold up as their job now is to develop the talents they received into competent Major League products so as to continue on as their ride along Rebuild Road takes another step in the right direction for a franchise desperate for a change of fortune.
As for the Yanks, only time will tell if the rebuild will pay off. They are a team with such great history that one can easily see a fairytale ending. The young talent that the Yankees now posses puts them in a great position for the future. They may not look like winners when looking at the standings at the end of 2016, but for a team playing for the future, they were winners at this year’s deadline. There is light at the end of the tunnel Yankee fans, just make your way through that dark tunnel lighting the way with those bright and shiny 27 World Series rings!
