Breaking Down the Last Minute Deals

I’ll provide write ups on some of the trades that occurred before Saturday’s trade deadline. I’ll be providing updates on this page, so check back often.

ALSO SEE – Dan Haren to the Angels: Trade Breakdown and Trade Round Up

Update #3 — I really like what the Rangers did in turning Jarrod Saltalamacchia into first base prospect Chris McGuiness and pitching prospect Roman Mendez. McGuiness has been an on-base machine in Single-A, walking almost as much as he’s struck out. He doesn’t have huge power, but he does have some and while the Rangers farm system is pretty stacked, an area where the team is lacking prospects at the lower levels is first base. McGuiness helps address that area of weakness.

In Mendez, the Rangers get another high upside arm to add into their inventory of pitching prospects. He’s struggled this year, but his raw stuff is excellent. Mendez has a fastball that reaches the mid-90′s and while his breaking ball and change-up aren’t quite as developed as I heard they were last year, each pitch still has above average potential.

The Red Sox have some issues at catcher that go beyond this year and acquiring Saltalamacchia helps shore up the position…maybe. There is no guarantee Saltalamacchia will hit as much as the Red Sox would like nor is it certain that he’s fully overcome his case of the yips.

Overall, a job well done by the Rangers’ front office. They added some immediate help for the team’s run at the pennant by acquiring Cliff Lee and Christian Guzman and they didn’t neglect the future while doing it in their acquisition of McGuiness and Mendez.

Update #2 — Breaking Down Lance Berkman to the Yankees

Update #1 — Good move for the Royals to get Tim Collins for two players who have no real future with the team. He should reach the Majors by the middle of next year and eventually lock down a spot in Kansas City’s bullpen for a number of years.

Ryan Ludwick to the Padres, Jake Westbrook and Nick Greenwood to the Cardinals, and Corey Kluber to the Indians

A good deal for both the Padres and Cardinals. The Padres get a power hitter to bolster their offense and replace what has been a black hole of offensive production in left field. Ludwick is not a big OBP guy, but his power will still play in Petco.

All the Padres had to give up was left handed pitching prospect Nick Greenwood, who will head to St. Louis and Corey Kluber, who will go to Cleveland. Not sure if Kluber is great value for Westbrook, but the left handed pitcher does add depth to Cleveland’s system and there is a chance he can become a back of the rotation starter or a be a productive member of the team’s bullpen at some point in the next couple of years.

The Cardinals get a really good fourth starter to slot into their rotation behind Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jaime Garcia. Westbrook is healthy this season and has been his usual strike throwing, ground ball inducing self. Now the team can discard Jeff Suppan from their rotation, while they’ll live with Blake Hawksworth and company as the team’s No. 5 starter.

The Cardinals do lose some offensive punch from their line-up. Jon Jay will hold down the everyday job for now. He’s been fantastic so far this year, but don’t expect him to keep it up. The Cardinals do have some options if Jay does begin to falter and that includes Allen Craig down in Triple-A.

Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers for Brett Wallach, Kyle Smit, and Blake DeWitt

Ted Lilly is a good get for the Dodgers. He’s an underrated pitcher because he doesn’t have explosive stuff, but he consistently puts up ERAs worthy of a No. 2 starter. So I’d expect a little more to be coming back in return for Lilly, especially when the Dodgers could get a couple of draft picks next year by offering Lilly arbitration.

This is the rare Dodger trade it seems, where the club doesn’t massively overpay with prospects. For Lilly, the club sends back a right handed pitching prospect in Brett Wallach who I labeled a sleeper heading into this season. Wallach is a good athlete who offers some projection, but suffers from inconsistent command/control. His fastball has just average velocity though the life on the pitch is good and his change-up and curveball can both be above average pitches at times though they are too inconsistent.

The Cubs also received left handed pitching prospect Kyle Smit, who throws strikes and keeps the ball and the ground and Blake DeWitt, who offers a little more offensive punch than Theriot, but also gives you less speed and defense in terms of versatility and ability. DeWitt probably doesn’t have the bat to be a true everyday player.

The Dodgers also made another deal to bolster their bullpen…

Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers from the Pirates for Andrew Lambo and James McDonald

Dotel is a well traveled reliever that continues to miss bats at a high rate. The high strikeouts are accompanied by plenty of free passes as well.

The price the Dodgers paid for Dotel is a little steep. They traded the team’s No. 2 and No. 3 prospects entering the 2009 season to get this deal done. Both players have had their stock drop pretty significantly since then, however. Lambo I rated as the 11th best Dodger prospect coming into this season, while McDonald has struggled to adjust to Major League hitters and the Dodgers have yet to find a steady role to use McDonald in.

It’s not McDonald’s stuff that is an issue. It’s that his command has been very erratic at the MLB level. Hopefully the Pirates will place him in a role and allow him to stick with it for a while, even if he struggles a bit because he does have the ability to pitch at the highest level of baseball. But he needs to be given time to adjust to the better level of hitting.

As for Lambo, he was suspended for 50 games this season for failing a second drug test and has a history of off the field problems. The unfortunate thing for Lambo was the timing of the suspension. He was pretty locked in at the time and he has yet to reclaim that stroke since returning from his suspension.

Lambo offers a pretty left handed swing, but questionable discipline and he may not have enough power for first base or a corner outfield spot. Still, Lambo is young enough and talented enough to be an average – above average offensive player in left field when all is said and done.