Trade report

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The baseball trade report
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
BY DAN GRAZIANO
Star-Ledger Staff
The final July trade winds have blown. Certainly, there are more deals
to come in August, as players and teams navigate the waiver process and
try to fill the final holes. But for now, the game will take a breath,
everybody can start going to bed at reasonable hours again and we at
The Star-Ledger present to you our 2006 Trade Deadline Roundup:

WINNERS

1. The Yankees. They got the outfielder they wanted, plus a No. 5
starter, without giving up a single player of consequence -- just
money, of which they have a limitless supply. Then yesterday, they
tricked Pittsburgh into giving them an actual, living, breathing human
-- Craig Wilson -- for Shawn Chacon.

2. The Rangers. Some will say they needed more pitching help than Kip
Wells can offer, but the fact is it just wasn't out there. Texas beefed
up its lineup with Carlos Lee and Matt Stairs and should be able to
hang in the very average AL West.

3. Lastings Milledge. Duaner Sanchez's shoulder injury means Xavier
Nady is gone and Milledge gets to play zero-pressure games in the Mets'
outfield for the rest of the regular-season.

LOSERS

1. Jim Bowden. The Washington Nationals GM worked so hard to find the
right deal for left fielder Alfonso Soriano that he wasn't able to
unload any of the starting pitchers he wanted to move. And what's
worse, he didn't even trade Soriano! Now, he has to sign Soriano to a
long-term deal, or lose him to free agency at the end of the year.

2. The Red Sox. They worked on getting Andruw Jones from Atlanta and
Kip Wells from Pittsburgh and countless other, more creative scenarios.
But in the end, Boston's big deadline acquisition is reliever Brian
Corey. And now, with the Yankees much stronger and right on their
tails, they're in huge trouble.

3.The Orioles. They had teams offering insanely good player/prospect
packages for shortstop Miguel Tejada, who's a great player but not one
who's helping them win, and they turned them down.

TRADES THAT WEREN'T MADE

1. The Nationals' Alfonso Soriano to ... anyone. In the day's most
stunning development, last-place Washington failed to trade its
high-priced left fielder despite interest from the Twins, A's, Marlins,
Tigers, Red Sox and other teams.

2. Baltimore's Miguel Tejada to Houston, Texas, Angels or Dodgers. The
Astros got the closest, offering a package that featured Roy Oswalt
early Sunday. But the Orioles pulled out.

3. Giants ace Jason Schmidt to the Mets for Aaron Heilman and
prospects. This was one of several big deals the Mets were working on
before the Duaner Sanchez injury forced them to focus on bullpen help.
They also had been talking to the Astros about Brad Lidge, but they
decided, with Sanchez hurt, that they couldn't deal Heilman, so several
things fizzled.

4. Andruw Jones to the Red Sox for Coco Crisp, Craig Hansen and Jon
Lester. The Sox were ready to do it with just Crisp, Hansen and a
prospect. But when the Braves insisted on Lester, Boston made it a
no-go.

5. Barry Zito to the Mets for Lastings Milledge. Now it's the Mets vs.
the Yankees for free agent Zito this winter.

METS ROUNDUP

Mets GM Omar Minaya said he was working on some seriously big stuff
(Schmidt, Lidge, etc.) on Sunday. But when he got the news that setup
star Duaner Sanchez had injured his shoulder in a car accident and
might be out for the year, he stepped up his discussions with the
Pirates about Roberto Hernandez. The Mets ended up dealing their
starting right fielder for the 41-year-old Hernandez and Oliver Perez,
a struggling, once-great lefty about whom the best thing we can say is
that he's 24 and might figure things out. Losing Sanchez took Aaron
Heilman off the table, and trading Nady meant they couldn't move
Lastings Milledge (he now has to play right field). The Mets tried to
flip Perez to San Diego for setup man Scott Linebrink, but they
couldn't do that deal in time to beat the deadline.

So now, they are worse off in the bullpen, even if Hernandez pitches as
well for them as he did last year. And they didn't get the starting
pitcher they sought. Some of the pitchers (Livan Hernandez, Tony Armas
Jr., Jon Lieber) they'd been pursuing still could clear waivers in
August and become available to them, so they still could add to the
rotation. But there won't be a huge deal that makes them a better
playoff team.

YANKEES ROUNDUP

The Yankees didn't get the reliever they wanted. They thought they
could snag Roberto Hernandez from Pittsburgh, but ultimately the Mets
offered more because they needed him more. The Yankees did, however,
get Craig Wilson, who's an upgrade at first base over Andy Phillips.
And, of course, they made their big Bobby Abreu move on Sunday.

With the Red Sox, White Sox and Twins all stagnant, the Yankees were
the American League's deadline stars. And moving forward, they're also
the favorites to run away with the AL East. Their pitching is better
than Boston's (and much better than Toronto's), and Abreu upgrades an
offense that already ranked second in the league in scoring despite
injuries to their monster corner outfielders. Everything's gone wrong
for the Yankees and much has gone right for the Red Sox, and they're
right there together in the standings. Once Boston starts to tail off
(and they will, unless David Wells is the answer), the Yankees should
pull comfortably ahead and roll to a ninth straight division crown.

BEST TRADE

Yankees get Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle from Phillies for four
minor-leaguers. Hate to harp on this, but the Yankees got exactly the
deal they wanted, and all the Phillies got was some salary relief for
2007.

WORST TRADE

Dodgers get Greg Maddux for Cesar Izturis. Maddux appears to be done,
and just wanted to finish out his career in SoCal. Izturis was part of
the Dodgers' proposal to get Miguel Tejada from the Orioles. How did he
fall so far in just one day?

.

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