The non-waiver trading deadline in baseball has come and gone. The dust has settled and I'm ready to give out my grades for the two New York teams.
Yankees: Many thought the Yankees needed to do something. Many assumed they would be able to acquire that #2 starting pitcher after Cliff Lee spurned New York dollars for Philadelphia familiarity. It didn't happen. That's not to say it was for lack of trying. The Yankees kicked the tires on former Rockie and current Indian Ubaldo Jimenez. However, the Rockies asked for Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, Jesus Montero, and Manny Banuelos, or Dellin Betances. The Yankees rightfully said no. Jimenez, according to AL scouts, is not considered #2 starter material for the AL East. He may have been an ace in Colorado but the Al East is a different beast altogether. Then there was Wandy Rodriguez, the Astros lefty who is set to make $39 million over the next few years. He isn't an ace either but he is paid like one and was treated like one by the Astros in trade talks. GM Brian Cashman could have had either of those players but he felt the Yankees young prospects and Phil Hughes were all equal or had the potential to be greater than what was offered. Kudos to Cashman for not letting himself be held hostage. After all, the Rockies got less than what they were asking for from the Yankees in their trade with the Indians despite the fact that the Indians gave up some decent talent but it was nowhere close to the level of talent Cashman was asked to part with. Many of the experts have said the Yankees are losers at this trade deadline but I couldn't disagree more. As a GM of a contending team with a strong farm system you don't go out and make trades for the sake of making trades. Sure, this is the first season since 1999 that the Yankees failed to make any deal but did they really need to? Currently they are in contention with the Boston Red Sox for the AL East crown and they currently hold a comfortable lead in the Wild Card. They have done that with this so-called makeshift rotation behind C.C. Sabathia. The truth of the matter is the talent that was out there at this deadline did not represent enough of an upgrade to deal two prospects in Baseball America's Top 30 (Montero and Banuelos). Another hold up was the denial of the Yankees request to have an MRI taken of Jimenez's shoulder. Why would the Rockies deny an exam on an arm that they wanted so much for? In fact, why would the Rockies trade their ace who is under team control for a few more years and makes less than $5 million annually? It just doesn't add up. Perhaps there is something wrong there or there is something that worried Colorado enough to trade their best starter. The truth of the matter is that this year Ubaldo's numbers have looked eerily similar to A.J. Burnett's and the Yankees already have a Burnett, why mortgage the farm for another one? The experts can call the Yankees losers at the deadline all they want but their farm system has good depth at starting pitching and it should be able to step in if something happens to Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, or Phil Hughes. Because of this I give Cashman and the Yankees an A at this deadline. Refusing to be held hostage for players that did not significantly improve their chances of winning the World Series was the right move.
Mets: The Mets have been in a quandary for most of the season. They have been playing very good baseball and weren't that far out of it. However, GM Sandy Alderson took the Mets job with a plan, to get the Mets back to contention for years, not just a season. He traded away closer Francisco Rodriguez in a salary dump move. This freed up over $15 million next year because of the games finished clause in Rodriguez's contract that he was on pace to surpass. That money can now go towards re-signing Jose Reyes or, if Reyes bolts, bringing in a decent starter like C.J. Wilson. Alderson also traded away Carlos Beltran and, although the move was unpopular with some Mets fans, it brought back Zack Wheeler who could be a potential top-of-the-rotation kind of guy. Coupled with Matt Harvey and the Mets are now looking pretty solid pitching wise for 2013 and beyond. Alderson didn't blow up the team. He could have. But those returns would have been negligible. Instead he took two players who were not part of the long-term future and turned them into financial flexibility and a potential ace. Even if Wheeler doesn't pan out he still did the right thing so this analysis will not change over the years. Going into this season everyone expected the Mets to blow up the team and trade away David Wright and Jose Reyes. That didn't happen because it didn't have to. If the Mets are able to re-sign Jose Reyes and David Wright stays healthy and they get Ike Davis back at 100% next season and Johan Santana is healthy then you have a pretty decent team capable of making a run at a wild card spot. With Johan supposedly coming back this season the Mets can always use this time as an audition for other teams and trade him for younger pitchers if they so desire. The Mets now have options, something they needed. Alderson needed flexibility going into this offseason. He needed to put a little gas in the minor league tank. He achieved all of that. The Mets get an A.
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