Paul and I make our podcast return tomorrow morning. After a week off for vacation, we're back at it weekly for the rest of the season. Tonight, we'll discuss the trade deadline, Red Sox mess, and which active players will make their way to Cooperstown. You can subscribe here.
Today was the trade deadline. Behind Opening Day, it's always one of the best days of the regular season. Consider this your trade deadline timehop for the last decade.
2007
Braves: Mark Teixeira, Ron Mahay
Rangers: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison
Teixeira was traded again at the 2008 deadline. The Rangers got good depth back, while the Braves missed the playoffs by five games.
2008
Dodgers: Manny Ramirez
Red Sox: Jason Bay
Pirates: Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Bryan Morris
With the help of some needles and pills, Manny put up a crazy run in LA in 2008: .369/.489/.743 in 53 games (17 HR, 53 RBI). He also hit four homers in eight playoff games. Bay's run in Boston is underrated. In 200 games, he hit 45 homers, 41 doubles, and had a .380 OBP (7.1 WAR).
2009
Phillies: Cliff Lee, Ben Francisco
Indians: Carlos Carrasco, Jason Kanpp, Lou Marson, Jason Donald
Despite being a great pitcher, Lee was traded an insane amount of times in his career. In 2002, he was part of the Bartolo Colon trade to the Expos. In 2009, he was traded to the Phillies; after losing the World Series, he was dealt to the Mariners. And then the Mariners traded him to the Rangers at the 2010 deadline. A wild ride.
2010
Padres: Ryan Ludwick
Cardinals: Jake Westbrook
Indians: Corey Kluber
Ouch, San Diego.
2011
Indians: Ubaldo Jimenez
Rockies: Drew Pomeranz, Joe Gardner, Matt McBride, Alex White
Another weak deadline. Jimenez never found his groove outside of Denver (5.10 ERA in 65.1 IP for Cleveland in 2011), but they didn't give up much in the end. Pomeranz turned into the best player, but even he bounced around a bit before developing in San Diego.
2012
Angels: Zack Greinke
Brewers: Jean Segura, John Hellweg, Ariel Pena
In Trout's rookie year, the Angels went for it. Greinke pitched fine, but the Angels missed the playoffs by four games.
2013
Red Sox: Jake Peavy, Brayan Villarreal
White Sox: Avisail Garcia, Frankie Montas
Tigers: Jose Iglesias
I think you'd have to say the White Sox won this deal. Garcia has turned out to be better than Iglesias and Montas was a trade chip that landed Todd Frazier. The Red Sox did win the World Series in 2013, but that was in spite of Peavy's efforts (12.2 postseason IP, 10 ER)
2014
Tigers: David Price
Mariners: Austin Jackson
Rays: Nick Franklin, Drew Smyly, Willy Adames
2014 was huge. The A's made deals for Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester, giving up Yoenis Cespedes and Addison Russell. The Orioles traded for Andrew Miller. And there was also the weird John Lackey for Joe Kelley and Allen Craig heist by the Cardinals.
2015
Blue Jays: Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins
Rockies: Jose Reyes, Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, Jesus Tinoco
Another monster deadline. The Royals picked up Cueto and Zobrist as pieces to their World Series team. Price was dealt again, this time to the Tigers. The same thing for Cespedes, who went to the Mets for Michael Fulmer. Cole Hamels went to Texas from Philly.
2016
Cubs: Aroldis Chapman
Yankees: Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney, Rashad Crawford
The Cubs and Indians both made big trades that paid off in the short-term, making it all the way to the World Series behind Chapman and Andrew Miller. The trades—especially Chapman—need more time to play out before judging in full. Torres and Clint Frazier appear to be future studs.
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.