Some of the most noteworthy trades include Cliff Lee going to Philadelphia, Victor Martinez going to Boston, and Jerrod Washburn moving to Detroit.  But there were some trades that caught my eye that don’t make complete sense to me.  Tops on that list is the Reds picking up Scott Rolen.

A few years back, I considered Rolen a superstar and sure-fire Hall of Famer.  But several injuries later, the luster is gone and Rolen is a good, but not great third baseman.  He’s also a rather expensive third baseman.  He’s signed through 2010 at $11 million per year, plus a $4 million bonus scheduled to be paid in 2010.  That means that the Reds will be on the hook for $15 million for Rolen in 2010, more than they pay any other player on the team.

Truthfully, Rolen is a nice fit on the Reds.  His resurgent hitting will help a club that doesn’t have a lot of offense, and his glove, while no longer top notch, is an upgrade over what they had.  Even so, he is an extremely expensive addition for a team that has a very limited budget and a lot of needs.

According to Jay Fay at the Cincinnati Enquirer, to obtain Rolen, the Reds gave up Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart.  Stewart in particular is a highly regarded prospect.  As one commenter on Fay’s story said, if the Reds win the World Series in 2010, this is a good deal.  Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.

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The White Sox picked up Jake Peavy today from the Padres.  Or maybe I should say that Peavy finally agreed to be traded to the White Sox.  As you may recall, the White Sox made a deal to acquire Peavy earlier in the year, but Peavy nixed the deal.

At the moment, Peavy is on the DL and there’s some thought that he may not pitch again this year.  Of course, Peavy is signed through 2012 with a club option for 2013.  He’s a hell of a pitcher, but the White Sox will be paying plenty for him.  In 2009 he is owed $8 million, $15 million in 2010, $16 million in 2011, and $17 million in 2012.  If the team picks up Peavy’s 2013 option, they’ll be on the hook for $22 million.  That’s a lot of money for a team that has cried poor on more than one occassion recently.

Even so, I think this trade makes sense for the White Sox.  It’s very likely that they will be losing ace Mark Buerhle to free agency at the end of the year.  So rather than wait to replace Buerhle, GM Kenny Williams replaced him now.  Not a bad strategy.

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Toronto didn’t trade Roy Halladay, and Blue Jay’s GM JP Ricciardi is saying that he hopes teams will come with better offers if they want Halladay in the off season.  I’m not an MLB GM, but it seems to me that Halladay’s trade value was as high as it’s ever going to be during this past week.  If teams weren’t willing to pay Ricciardi’s price now, why would they pay more after the season?

It seems to me that Ricciardi is a bit deluded.  True, Halladay is arguably the best pitcher in baseball, but teams showed that they are not willing to trade away their best prospects to acquire him.  They were willing to trade some of their prospects, but not all of them.  Ricciardi wanted all of them.

Fair enough.  Ricciardi had his price and he wasn’t going to budge.  But the fact that all of the other GMs in baseball refused to meet his price should make Ricciardi realize he’s asking for too much.  Instead, it seems like he’s digging in his heels, which will only reduce the chance of him getting some value for Halladay.

Let me put it this way: Would Toronto be better off with Halladay as their ace in 2010 when they again don’t contend, or would they be better off with a boatload of prospects that can help them win sometime after 2010?  The answer should be obvious.  I assume it is obvious to everyone but Ricciardi.

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The Brewers didn’t make a deal, unless you want to consider the acqusition of Claudio Vargas worthy of the term “deal.”  They wanted a starter to help solidify their rotation.  When Jeff Suppan went down with an injury, they needed a starter to keep their heads above water.  The trade deadline has come and gone, but they didn’t get a starter.

Part of the problem may have been the self-imposed constraints GM Doug Melvin was working under.  In an article by Tom Hardicourt in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,  Melvin said: 

“You look at most of these deals for pitchers and there were young pitchers in return,” said Melvin. “We’re thin in pitching in the system, so we didn’t have pitching to give back. Our strength is in other players.”

“Because the Brewers had no pitching prospects to trade, Melvin said he was continually asked for either third baseman Mat Gamel or shortstop Alcides Escobar. He decided the price was too high to trade either player, especially for pitchers who could walk away after the season.”

In other words, Melvin wanted to land a big name pitcher, but he didn’t have the pitching prospects to trade and was unwilling to trade his position prospects.  Doesn’t seem like he was very commited to making a deal.

Carlos Zambrano got the start for the Cubs and pitched well, going 7.0 innings and giving up just three hits and an earned run.  He struckout four and walked four.  Wandy Rodriguez was every bit as good for the Astros, going 7.0 innings, giving up six hits and one earned run.  He struckout seven and walked two. 

Both bullpens battled it out for the next six innings.  But in the bottom of the 13th inning, Houston’s Chris Sampson faced Alfonso Soriano with the bases loaded and Soriano delivered a blast to deep center field to end the game.

Aramis Ramirez was the hitting star, going 3-for-6, including a sharply hit single that led to the Cubs eventual victory.  Ramirez is hitting .338 and has looked great since his return from the DL.  I guess his shoulder is doing okay (*knocks on wood*).

Derrek Lee was 2-for-3 with a homerun and three walks.  Milton Bradley went one-for four with two walks.  Bradley hasn’t completely turned the corner on his hitting  (he’s still hitting just .248), but he is looking better up at the plate and he is finding a way to get on base.  It’s still not enough, but it’s a start.

The series with the Astros continues tonight with Roy Oswalt (6-4) going for Houston against the fresh-off-the-DL Ryan Dempster (5-5).

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The Cardinals beat the Dodgers to keep pace with the Cubs, while the Astros lost to the Cubs and the Brewers lost to Washington.  Houston is in third place in the division, three games behind the Cubs.  The Brewers are now one game under .500 and 4.0 games back in fourth place in the division. 

With Milwaukee falling under .500 so close to the trade deadline, does that mean they may tun from being buyers into sellers?  Baseball is a game of faith, but you also need to know when to cut your losses and set your sights on next year.  If the Cubs were in the same position, I would say they should keep fighting.  But the Brewers don’t have nearly the pitching that the Cubs have and adding Jerrod Washburn (as has been rumored) won’t improve them enough.

I don’t want to write off the Brewers.  They have a tremendous offensive team, but their pitching staff needs work.  If I were either GM Doug Melvin or owner Mark Attanasio, not only would I be driving a nicer car, but I would play out the string this year and focus on making my pitching staff better in the off-season.  Or maybe a better way to say it is that I wouldn’t make any moves this year unless those moves help to make the team better in the future.  A one year rental won’t make things better in the future.

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Ted Lilly had his knee scoped yesterday and everything went well, at least that’s what Paul Sullivan with the Chicago Tribune say.  According to noted physician Lou Piniella, Lilly’s shoulder should be healed by the middle of August and his knee should be ready to go by then as well.

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Add Washington’s Joe Beimel and Pittsburgh’s John Grabow to the list of relievers the Cubs are looking at.  This, according to Bruce Miles at the Daily Herald.  George Sherrill of Baltimore seemed to be the Cubs first choice for lefty reliever, but Orioles GM Andy McPhail has placed a rather high price on his left-hander. 

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JP Ricciardi will not budge off of his price for Roy Halladay, so teams are beginning to turn their attention to Cleveland’s Cliff Lee.  I’m sure Cleveland is not going to just give Lee away, but they are in a dealing mood.  According to MLB Trade Rumors, yesterday the Indians sent outfielder Ryan Garko to San Francisco for LHP prospect Scott Barmes.  The Indians reportedly still have interest in moving Lee as well as catcher Victor Martinez.

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According to MLB Trade Rumors, East Windup Chronicle is reporting that the Cubs have signed Taiwanese pitcher Wang Tsu-an.  Tsu-an (or is it just Wang) reportedly received a $300,000 signing bonus.