{"id":11136,"date":"2015-08-04T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T14:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11136"},"modified":"2015-08-04T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2015-08-04T14:28:18","slug":"mlb-trade-deadline-2015-who-improved-their-rotation-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11136","title":{"rendered":"MLB Trade Deadline 2015: who improved their rotation the most?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He looks pretty good in Canadian blue. Photo via ctvnews.ca<\/p><\/div>\n

It was by most accounts the busiest trade deadline ever.\u00a0 Lots of high impact players moved.\u00a0 And we were worried that the 2nd wild card would curtail the trade market!<\/p>\n

Here’s a couple of good summary links: a division-by-division overview<\/a> of teams post-deadline, BaseballAmerica.com’s Trade Central<\/a>, with a review of every 2015 trade, and a nice trade-by-trade grade<\/a> at Minorleagueball.com.<\/p>\n

Lets look at those teams that altered their rotations and talk about how much they improved.\u00a0 In order of perceived impact:<\/p>\n

1. Los Angeles<\/span><\/strong>: added Mat Latos<\/strong> and Alex Wood<\/strong>, replacing two placeholders who had taken over for the injured Brandon McCarthy<\/strong> and Hyun-Jin Ryu<\/strong>.\u00a0 Add Latos and Wood to what the Dodgers were already rolling out and I feel like they have become the new team to beat in the NL.<\/p>\n

2. Toronto<\/span><\/strong>: adds the best pitcher on the market David Price<\/strong> to a team that really, really needed a bump in their pitching.\u00a0 Price is used to the AL East and gives Toronto (coupled with their big Troy Tulowitzki<\/strong> move) a leg up on their divisional rivals.\u00a0 The rest of the division mostly stood pat in terms of the trade deadline, and the division is there for the taking.\u00a0 I believe Toronto can catch the Yankees; they’ve been incredibly unlucky by RS\/RA and should regress upwards.<\/p>\n

3. Kansas City<\/strong><\/span>: Johnny Cueto<\/strong> immediately replaces the injured Jason Vargas<\/strong> in a “nice timing” move, and KC solidifies its grip on the division.\u00a0 This move wasn’t about getting to the post season as much as it was about winning once they get there.\u00a0 Cueto is their 2015 version of James Shields<\/strong>; the workhorse who they can lean on in the 5- and 7-game series.<\/p>\n

4. Houston<\/strong><\/span>: added Scott Kazmir<\/strong> and Mike Fiers<\/strong>, who will slide in to the 4th and 5th spots and supplant the under performing Scott Feldman<\/strong> and others who need more time in AAA.\u00a0 While not as flashy as some other teams’ moves, this makes the back of Houston’s rotation stronger.\u00a0 And, it should be noted, Houston’s main AL West rival (Los Angeles) not only didn’t make a move but just lost one its key starters to injury (C.J. Wilson<\/strong>).\u00a0 Houston’s rebuilding plan looks like its at least a year ahead of schedule and coupled with serious injury issues to their competitors look like the favorite in the AL West.<\/p>\n

5. Texas<\/strong><\/span>: adds Cole Hamels<\/strong>, who Philadelphia *finally* moved after sitting on the pot for 2 years.\u00a0 I think this move is more about 2016; I don’t really see Texas making a move in 2015.\u00a0 But it is a significant move: Hamels could give Texas one of the best AL 1-2 punches when Yu Darvish<\/strong> comes back, and then they have a nice collection of arms to choose from to fill out the rotation (Gallardo, Holland, Perez, Lewis, Martinez<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

6. San Francisco<\/strong> <\/span>adds the underrated Mike Leake<\/strong>, who slides into the #3 spot, prevents the Giants from even considering using Tim Lincecum<\/strong> in the rotation any longer, and certainly gives them an upgrade over what they were getting from Tim Hudson<\/strong>.\u00a0 SF isn’t *that* far back from LA in the division … but more importantly is working hard to secure a WC spot.<\/p>\n

7. Pittsburgh<\/strong> <\/span>makes a minor move in adding J.A. Happ<\/strong>, who slides nicely and fortuitously into the spot that A.J. <\/strong>Burnett<\/strong> may be giving up to injury.<\/p>\n

8. Chicago Cubs<\/strong> <\/span>curiously added Dan Haren<\/strong> to their rotation; adding a mediocre #5 starter to a team that plays in a hitter’s park may back fire.\u00a0 I would have thought Chicago would have been more aggressive to try to secure the 2nd wild card, but then again is it fair to say their rebuilding plan is also a year ahead of schedule right now?\u00a0 Maybe they go big in the off-season to add starters behind Lester\/Arrieta<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Sellers and the Impacts to their rotations:<\/p>\n

– Detroit<\/strong> <\/span>moved backwards, selling their ace but acquiring a good prospect in Daniel Norris<\/strong>.\u00a0 This move also lets them try out a couple of starter prospects for the rest of a season where they’re clearly not going to catch Kansas City.<\/p>\n

– Oakland<\/strong> <\/span>was a seller but didn’t augment their rotation very much, getting a #5 starter in Aaron Brooks<\/strong>.\u00a0 Oakland has been completely snake-bit this season, sporting one of the best run differentials in the game but having lost 75% of the one-run games they’ve played.\u00a0 Billy Beane<\/strong> isn’t afraid to deal though and he’s got more than enough starting pitching coming off injury to compete in 2016.<\/p>\n

– Philadelphia<\/strong> <\/span>got the rotting corpse of Matt Harrison<\/strong> in return for Hamel, along with a whole slew of players; I doubt Harrison ever pitches for them.<\/p>\n

– Cincinnati<\/strong> <\/span>sold off their two best pitchers and now are doing open auditions at the MLB level for their 2016 rotation.<\/p>\n

– Miami<\/strong> <\/span>finds themselves in a familiar place, selling off assets so as to line the pockets of their owners needlessly.\u00a0 They lose two rotation guys but augment from the D\/L and the farm system.\u00a0 They’ll regroup for 2016 and continue to challenge as the worst organization to their fan base.<\/p>\n

– Seattle<\/strong> <\/span>was sort of a seller, flipping off back of the rotation guys for spare parts.\u00a0 They did not meaningfully alter their core rotation.\u00a0 Their problem is simply under-performance.<\/p>\n

– Atlanta<\/strong> <\/span>curiously parted with one of the most valuable resources in the game; the effective MLB-minimum starter.\u00a0\u00a0 They ended up with draft picks and prospects and a Cuban wild card in Hector Olivera<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

– Milwaukee<\/strong> <\/span>parted with a 5th starter, giving those starts to their #1 prospect Taylor Jungmann<\/strong>.\u00a0 A good deal for them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was by most accounts the busiest trade deadline ever.\u00a0 Lots of high impact players moved.\u00a0 And we were worried that the 2nd wild card would curtail the trade market! Here’s a couple of good summary links: a division-by-division overview of teams post-deadline, BaseballAmerica.com’s Trade Central, with a review of every 2015 trade, and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2899,1912,212,387,53,242,247,983,2898,223,286,2900,2018,2329,49,1334,890,221,1889,586,303,1184,893,2897,305,477,1060,219,316,458,1251,300],"class_list":["post-11136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlbpitching","tag-aaron-brooks","tag-alex-wood","tag-billy-beane","tag-brandon-mccarthy","tag-cj-wilson","tag-colby-lewis","tag-cole-hamels","tag-dan-haren","tag-daniel-norris","tag-david-price","tag-derek-holland","tag-hector-olivera","tag-hyun-jin-ryu","tag-jake-arrieta","tag-james-shields","tag-jason-vargas","tag-johnny-cueto","tag-jon-lester","tag-martin-perez","tag-mat-latos","tag-matt-harrison","tag-mike-fiers","tag-mike-leake","tag-nick-martinez","tag-scott-feldman","tag-scott-kazmir","tag-taylor-jungmann","tag-tim-hudson","tag-tim-lincecum","tag-troy-tulowitzki","tag-yovani-gallardo","tag-yu-darvish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11136"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11142,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136\/revisions\/11142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}