The trade deadline is on Saturday, (day after my birthday!) and moves are being made and speculation is occurring on moves to be made. The biggest name out there is Roy Oswalt. Oswalt is that top of the line pitcher, unless you already have Roy Halladay, making Oswalt second in line; who is trapped on a terrible team, the Houston Astros. He wants out badly but has so many stipulations that the deal to the Philadelphia Phillies, pending Oswalt's approval, may not happen. The Mets and Braves should be praying that it falls through.
With Oswalt, the Phils would have two shutdown pitchers for a few seasons. Combine that with the top/middle of their lineup, the Phils would clearly be the favorite to win the division. They, like the Boston Red Sox, have been depleted by injuries; mostly to their key players, Chase Utley and Dustin Pedroia to name a couple, but are still in the Wild Card and Divisional races. This trade shouldn't have been discussed though, if they were smart and kept Cliff Lee. Cliff Lee>Roy Oswalt.
The Mets seem to settle for mediocrity every season. They have starpower in David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, and Fransisco Rodriguez; and a future in Ike Davis and Mike Pelfrey. After that though, they have average talent. Where is their fight for Oswalt? Adding him to Santana and Pelfrey (if he can pitch like he was in the beginning of the season), would have them contending, instead of settling. Besides Santana, the Mets always seem to settle for the 2nd or 3rd best free agents and trades.
The guys on ESPN Radio were discussing an article written on ESPN NY concerning the Mets signing Joe Torre in the offseason to bring championship caliber talent to the team and give it one last chance with their core of Wright and Reyes. Why not just trade for Oswalt now? Bringing him to the team would surely have them contending for at least the Wild Card.
The other big name in the trade talks is a big man, Adam Dunn. He would be a perfect fit for many American League teams, most notably the NY Yankees and Chicago White Sox. Add that bat as DH to those lineups, specifically the Yanks, and opposing pitchers would see their knees shaking. GM Brian Cashman seems reluctant to make trades before this deadline though, so if Dunn goes anywhere, it will be to the South Side. However, Dunn wants to stay in Washington. I guess he sees hope for the future. Or maybe he just really likes Obama.
The Dodgers traded for Scott Posednik which will help them greatly. The Angels tried to trade for Derrek Lee and the Astros tried trading Carlos Lee, but both Lees want to stay in their respected cities. LeBron take note.
It is sad to see the same teams every year having to trade their best players because they aren't close to competing and won't for years, so they have to gamble on prospects. The trade deadline is definitely exciting for the teams on the bubble, but for the losing teams, they just lose a little more.
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