The Major League Baseball trade deadline is July 31st. Teams who aren’t in the playoff run shed salary. Teams who are in contention buy players for the stretch run even if they only acquire them for a few months. There have already been two deals this week.
The surprising Houston Astros, who are one game out of first place in the American League West race made a decent trade. They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2005 season when they went all the way to the World Series. The Astros completed a deal with the Oakland Athletics. Houston sent catcher Jacob Nottingham and right-handed pitcher Daniel Mengden to Oakland. Houston receives pitcher Scott Kazmir.
The Astros wanted a pitcher who knows how to pitch in the postseason. Kazmir has been there twice, 2008 with the Tampa Bay Rays and 2009 with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This trade improves the Houston starting pitching rotation. Kazmir has a 2.38 ERA. His record is only 5-5 but he has 101 strikeouts this season. That could help this team, especially if they make the postseason. Playoff games in MLB are typically low scoring so striking out batters becomes that much more important. The Astros are showing with this trade that they are serious about a postseason run.
The other trade this week involved National League Central rivals. The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired third baseman Aramis Ramirez from the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates didn’t give up that much as they gave the Brewers minor league pitcher Yhonathan Barrios. Pittsburgh sits 6 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, but right now they have one of the two Wild Card spots.
This was an enormous trade for Pittsburgh. They desperately needed infield help since third baseman Josh Harrison is on the disabled list with a thumb injury. Shortstop Jordy Mercer is sidelined with an MCL sprain from Monday when he collided with Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez.
Aramis Ramirez is a respectable player in Major League Baseball. His numbers aren’t great this year. He is hitting .247 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI’s. He is still a player who can hit home runs and gets on base. The Pirates traded for him because of what he can do on the field. He has only made five errors this season but will make plays to throw guys out at first. This is a transaction that will help the Pirates make the postseason.
These are the start of what could be a busy trade deadline. Expect more deals to happen for teams who want to make a postseason push.
What do you think is the best trade in Major League Baseball so far?
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