The last ten days have featured dozens of trades, and most of baseball’s 30 teams were responsible for a share of the action. But four clubs — the Orioles, Nationals, Mets and Padres — decided not to make trades. The Orioles (starting pitching, third base), Nationals (bench depth, starting pitching) and Mets (bullpen help) considered upgrades with 2012 in mind, while the Padres considered trading established players such as Chase Headley. In each case the clubs ultimately decided against making major trades.
Which of these teams, if any, should have made a move?
mike melusky
Orioles. I wish Dan Duquette would have pulled off the trade for Chase Headley. Not only would we have him this year, but also in 2013 and 2014.
jill
I picked the Mets because their bullpen has been so bad. I can’t really fault them if they didn’t make a deal. Anyone they brought in would have to be able to stick around next year and beyond and doesn’t look like too many players like that got moved.
Now, they should just look to the waiver wire and see if they can get some use from a second chance pitcher or two. Or five.
thesultanofswingandmiss
They should have gotten Breslow. He would have probably helped them in mid Relief.
jill
Maybe they tried. Breslow was traded for an okay relief pitcher and a 4th outfielder on the major league roster. If that was the price, the Mets really didn’t have equivalent players to send to Arizona.
Phil Curtolo
Very well said, but Met fans shouldn’t be surprised. Alderson said 3 weeks ago that his trade deadline activity would be based on how the team performed after the All-Star Break. (Now we could argue that Sandy should’ve pushed harder for bullpen help earlier in the season when they were costing the team wins every other game, but that’s another story altogether.)
East Coast Bias
To justify…
Orioles – Blanton is not going to put you over the top.
Mets – Reality is they’re not going to make the playoffs, so why give up pieces for BP help?
Padres – They can still trade Headley in the offseason.
Nats – Lannan, currently in the minors, can take the place of Stras when he gets shut down.
User 4245925809
Blanton could have sure buried them however. Duquette is smart enough to realize Blanton is a back end SP at best where he is…In the NL.. He isn’t going to get any better, but would get worse facing more tougher lineups on a consistent basis in the AL East.
dino marconi 2
If Lannan is their only hope, then they’re in trouble.
James Coughlin
Twins should have unloaded Willingham. No need for him because they’re not going anywhere for 5 years. His value will never be higher.
thesultanofswingandmiss
I agree 100% Trade him for some good prospects down in AA.
OrangeCards
I agree with the Twins … They had a number of pieces to sell and could have seriously jump started a rebuild.
Bernaldo
No, they shouldn’t have! You don’t “unload” your most productive hitter in the first year of a 3-year deal unless another team steps up and makes a worthwhile offer. No competent GM would “unload” Willingham! Ryan listened to offers but obviously, no team made an offer that gave adequate value back to the Twins.
Other posters said they should trade Willingham for “some good prospects” which is fine; however, if the other team isn’t willing to give up its “good prospects” you don’t make a deal.
No one on this site can say for certain what the Pirates or any other team offered for Willingham or even what the Twins demanded in return but given that there was no trade, we can conclude that the Twins didn’t like what they were getting in return and decided to keep Willingham.
T-Town Tiger Blog
Tigers should’ve made one. This team is way to inconsistent to win anything.
Taylor Baybutt
Red Sox, their trades don’t count
rickjimbo
Yeah, I hear that. They basically shuffled some scrap around but I do like the Breslow move. Right on time too as now Morales and plug back into the rotation with Beckett hurt
MaineSox
Finally dumping Albers, and using a guy they got for essentially nothing to pick up a quality pitcher in Breslow, while simultaneously opening up the possibility of Morales going back to the rotation was an outstanding move in my opinion.
Enrique Munoz
Athletics
OaktownMook
Where’s the A’s on this list? They desperately need a short stop
bucsws2014
Mets probably should’ve tried harder to move Hairston. They were asking too much, but could’ve received something very useful for next year/future regardless.
Taylor Haberle
Twins?
Kyle MacGregor
A’s should have went after Headley.
Snoochies8
Not at his price, no
2 years of Headley < 6 years of Straily, Choice, whatever other prospect, AND 4 or 5 years of Sizemore
SublimeOne
The Mets should have made trades a month ago, at the deadline there was no point…..they’re out of contention. Nothing to sell and no point in buying.
attgig
Orioles and Mets should’ve all made trades.
O’s needed a pitcher, and slightly less so, a LF’er.
Met’s should’ve moved Hairston and not demanded so much for him, OR have gotten relief help before they went on the big slide.
the_show
I picked the Orioles
They said they are in it to win now yet they didn’t make a move…Contenders make moves
not_brooks
The O’s are surprise fringe contenders with a 28-35 record since May 20.
They have one, maybe two reliable starting pitchers (Chen, maybe Tillman), as well as massive holes at first base, second base, third base and left field.
Selling major pieces from a weak farm system for a shot at a one game playoff makes no sense when you have that many holes on your big league roster.
Manny Being Manny
Orioles. Theres no excuse to not do the Jake Arrieta/Jonathan Schoop/Nick Delmonico trade for Chase Headley. When the main guy you’re giving up is a bust pitcher, you DO IT!
not_brooks
Three things:
1. Schoop and Delmonico have more value than Arrietta.
2. In a chat yesterday, Jayson Stark shot down that package as pure speculation.
3. It’s not that easy to give up your #3 and #4 prospects when you have five or six huge holes on your big league roster and not much depth in the minors.
melonis_rex
Out of the 4 teams listed, I voted Nationals.
there is an enormous advantage to winning the division as opposed to taking a wildcard berth, and of the 4 teams only the Nats actually have a shot at winning the division. and a big division lead can slip away in a short period of time. the team gets worse when strasburg gets shut down, even if lannan takes his place.
Padres can trade Headley in the offseason, O’s have that scary bad run diff which could point to huge regression (and we don’t know what Headley cost), and you don’t drop 9.5 games in the standings without more being wrong than just a bullpen and alderson knew that.
Dylan Ramirez
Well there were reports that the Orioles refused to trade Arrieta, Jonathan Schoop and a high ceiling player at single A. I’m guessing Delmonico or Parker Bridwell.
As a Padres fan who was hell bent on getting rid of Headley at the deadline to make room for Gyorko, As soon as I heard that the Orioles had rejected that trade proposal I was hoping that the Padres would keep Headley because they were obviously not going to receive proper value in this market, try again in the off season.
Bradley Spies
The Nationals’ biggest needs can be traded for in August, though, unless you think they could have been in on any of the big starting pitchers (don’t think they’re ready to go all in on a rental though). Infield depth and a backup catcher aren’t guys you *have* to get by July 31.
mgsports
Headley can still be Traded in August to and so can Josh Willigham,A’s can still get a SS.
OrangeCards
Neither of those players are clearing waivers.
Ray Mitten
The Orioles should have signed Willingham in the off season. I actually suggested this to the “Wall To Wall” call in show on MASN in December and the “experts” shot it down in two minutes, saying Nolan Rimold was better than Willingham. How’d that work out?
OrangeCards
Yes, Nolan Reimold herniated a disk in his back after a short lived hot start to the season. Gold star for you, Ray.
melonis_rex
Headley and Willingham can’t because no way they don’t get claimed by a noncontender, but the A’s can still get an SS in August (especially if guys like Rollins are passed through waivers.)
mgsports
The noncontender’s other then Phil don’t need a controlable 3B so they would claim Headley.
OrangeCards
Regardless of need, he’s a valuable asset that could be claimed and then traded for other parts in the off season.
Every team would take a Chase Headley if he didn’t cost prospects … Now Soriano, that’s a different story.
melonis_rex
yes, yes they would.
instant offseason trade chip. and headley’s better than most 3B in the league. a smart gm like theo or jeff luhnow would absolutely claim headley either as a long term piece or an immediate offseason trade chip.
OrangeCards
I think the list is incomplete … Twins, Athletics, Rays?
melonis_rex
poll specified that it was teams that made exactly zero trades during deadline season.
twins traded liriano and the others made minor trades for mlb backup players.
OrangeCards
The Orioles traded for Omar Quintanilla from the Mets on July 20th. By the standards of the list, they shouldn’t be on it.
A much more interesting discussion would be which team should have made significant moves but did not.
basemonkey
The new CBA has changed everything when we’re talking about blockbuster trades involving top prospects. For a team still trying to build, it’s a huge risk to take that could leave you nada in the end.
OrangeCards
The Orioles traded for Omar Quintanilla from the Mets on July 20th, so why are they on the list?
Wouldn’t a much more interesting discussion be centered around which team failed to make significant moves?
Blue387
Quintanilla should have stayed with the Mets. He wouldn’t have committed that throwing error like Tejada which led to two runs in last night’s game.
Clifton
When you’re in 1st place in all of MLB, you don’t need to make a trade. Also, they have at least 3 internal options once Stras is shutdown, and they can easily make due with 4 in the post season anyway.
Blue387
Mets should have acquired a catcher. Mike Nickeas is not a major league catcher. I would have preferred Kelly Shoppach.
Ryno1984
I was torn between “none” and Baltimore. The O’s don’t need to wreck what they have for a wildcard spot. WSH probably has enough to make the playoffs (and have the same argument as the O’s). The Mets need to worry about next year, and the Pads can trade Headley later. So I can see Baltimore, but I don’t really think there were any “have to” moves to be made between these four clubs.
NatFan05
Washington didn’t get a SS/2B utility guy(still no clue when Desmond is getting back), an average catcher (Leon and Flores aren’t cutting it), or a starter (though their are options in the minor leagues such as Lannan)
Would be smart to dangle H-Rod, among others during the waiver period and see if you can fill in one of the three holes the Nationals have right now.
Paul Munz
The Indians should have been on that list too…. but I guess they didn’t have any willing dance partners yesterday… or the other teams were dancing to a different tune.