Two weeks have come and gone since the All Star Break in San Diego and the trade deadline is at 4:30 p.m. on this wonderful Monday. With all of that going on, it's important to catch up on things.
Who's Hot?
Chicago Cubs. The Cubbies wasted no time after the New York Yankees declared a fire sale and acquired closer Aroldis Chapman. The move looks as if it will put the already heavily favored Cubs over the top. Crazy stat of the day on the Cubs, they are 55-1 when leading after 8 innings and 53-4 when leading after 7. With Chapman on the mound it would be difficult to see the Cubs blowing any leads any time soon.
Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have done surprisingly well without ace Clayton Kershaw in their starting rotation going 15-8 since his last start. Pitchers Kenta,Maeda and Brandon McCarthy have stepped up to fill the hole left by the Dodgers lefty and the offense has surged behind third basemen Justin Turner. Los Angeles currently is trying to make a trade for Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale. If the Dodgers can get Kershaw back in time for the playoffs the starting rotation of Kershaw, Sale, Maeda and McCarthy could be a scary combination if they are all playing up to their potential come playoff time.
Who's Not?
San Francisco Giants. The Giants have been a major league worst 2-10 since the break and things don't look good moving forward. While the division rival Dodgers are surging, the Giants have to play the NL East leading Washington Nationals. The Giants very well could lose their lead to the Dodgers as well because while the Giants have tough road games coming up the Dodgers have 10 games at home against major league bottom feeders.
Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox were the feel good story of the first half. David Ortiz is having a career year, the team is young and full of personality, and it produces 10 runs a game. What's not to love? Since the break the breaks have not gone, the Red Sox way losing four straight, having very little starting pitching production and being generally sporadic. Boston is currently in third place behind Baltimore and Toronto for the AL East crown. If they don't make a move for some consistent starting pitching it looks like the sox may be on the couch come October.
Who wins the trade deadline sweepstakes?
As previously mentioned the Red Sox need to make a move for some starting pitching like there is no tomorrow, because well, there isn't. The only issue with that is starting pitching is expensive and most teams will make teams like the Red Sox or Dodgers pay king's ransom for guys with half a season left on their contracts. Both pitchers that are on the trading block in Chris Archer and Chris Sale seem to be out of reach for there Sox due to divisional ties. There's no way the division rival Rays would fork over their best pitcher to help the Red Sox. Likewise, The White Sox, if their serious about contending, wouldn't trade Chris Sale to another American League team, much less a contender. The Cleveland Indians also run into a similar problem with Sale and Archer and most likely wouldn't spend big money on guys they couldn't afford to keep.
The most Likely candidate to snag one of the aces much less hang onto one would be the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are trying to package pitcher Julio Urias and other prospects to get Sale away from the White Sox. This would almost certainly mortgage the future of the Dodgers and put things into win now mode if they weren't already there. However the team has also talked to Tampa Bay about Chris Archer. The issue with Archer is that the Dodgers would have to take the contract of Rays' third basemen Evan Longoria. While Longoria was a superstar once upon a time, his contract is a huge money tie up for a aging position player that the Dodgers don't need. This puts the Dodgers in an interesting position considering third basemen Justin Turner's contract is up at the end of this season.
What will the future hold only the baseball insiders will know.
