There was a ton of news over the weekend with the trade deadline approaching and the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. I'm going to apologize now for not being able to get to it all. I'm going to skip over stuff I think most of you have already read. There was even a no-hitter over the weekend that I'm going to have to pass on covering.
- The Royals took the first big name off the trade market when they acquired Johnny Cueto from the Reds in exchange for Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed. As far as I can tell, the last time the Royals added a "big" name before the trade deadline was getting Lonnie Smith in 1985. And even then that was a full month before the trade deadline (in May. That was the last season the trade deadline was June 15).
- C. Trent Rosecrans has a good roundup of reactions to the deal.
- Keith Law (ESPN Insider Only, of course) writes that the deal seems like a fair return for two months of Cueto.
- Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs pretty much agrees. He says the return for Cueto looks light on the surface, but Lamb and Reed were players whose stock had been rising recently. But both Law and Sullivan agree that the Reds did not get a "blue chip" top prospect.
- David Brown thinks Cueto should benefit with the Royals defense, bullpen and ballpark.
- Tim Healy thinks Cueto was a good step for the Royals, but they still need another starter to have a good chance of winning the World Series.
- A smaller deal happened as the Braves sent Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe to the Mets. It's the second time Uribe's been traded this season.
- Bill Baer thinks it's a small but helpful trade for the Mets.
- Rob Neyer thinks the Mets made a good trade but it simply isn't close to enough to get the Mets into the playoffs.
- Uribe did make a big impact getting a walkoff RBI double in his second game with the Amazin's. It was against the Dodgers, the team he started the season with.
- The Mets have talked to the Rockies about acquiring Troy Tulowitzki, but the Rockies didn't seem interested.
- The Mets also talked to the Padres about Justin Upton, but the Friars wanted too much for Upton, in the Mets opinion.
- The Padres are reportedly looking to trade pretty much everyone.
- Rob Neyer doesn't understand why the Padres need to include money to trade James Shields. I'd say it's because the Padres backloaded the contract. But Neyer argues that Shields is getting paid what he's worth right now.
- The Rangers and the Dodgers have emerged as the favorites to land Cole Hamels. The Cubs, along with the Giants and Red Sox, are still in the mix, but the Rangers and Dodgers "match up" better. Which just means the Phillies like the Rangers and Dodgers offers better.
- Also, the Yankees won't part with any of their top four prospects for Hamels or anyone else.
- The Indians want to sell, but they just don't have many attractive trade pieces. Everyone is either too expensive or under team control for so long that Cleveland wants to keep them. But Matt Snyder does list a few Indians who could be leaving northern Ohio.
- Michael Klopman writes that the Orioles are thinking of selling and he thinks that's a very good idea.
- Jeff Sullivan examines why the Mariners offseason plans turned out so terribly.
- Just a few notes from Cooperstown. I really could do a separate article on the induction ceremonies, but I have to keep it short or this will go on forever. Jon Tayler calls it a "unique" group of inductees.
- Dayn Perry praises Craig Biggio's versatility.
- I guess there was a big controversy over what cap Biggio would have on his plaque, which at first doesn't make sense since he spent his whole career with the Astros. But the Astros had three different caps during Biggio's playing career. They went with the final one. It's also the first Astros cap on any Hall of Fame plaque.
- John Smoltz put on a wig during his induction speech and thanked Tommy John for his support when he needed the surgery.
- Smoltz also pleaded with parents that baseball is not a year-round sport and to protect young arms from having to have Tommy John surgery.
- Grant Brisbee has an appreciation of Randy Johnson and his career, even though most of Johnson's career was spent tormenting his beloved Giants.
- Randy Johnson won't stay in haunted hotel rooms. I guess that's kind of a no-brainer. Now whether they're actually haunted is a different matter.
- Tim Healey points out that the guy they just inducted into Cooperstown wasn't baseball's first Randy Johnson and he talks to one whose always being mistaken for the pitcher. ("Randy Johnson? Are you a former major league baseball player?" "Yes, but . . .")
- The Boston Globe has a long profile of Pedro Martinez. Did you know he once smashed the head of a mannequin with a fastball? (h/t SB Nation)
- Some highlights from Martinez's press conference before the ceremonies.
- You may notice that Martinez was asked about Colin Cowherd's comments from last week. Pedro said that "He needs to get to my level to answer him. I'm in the Hall of Fame."
- After Cowherd's explanation of his remarks on Friday, MLB issued a strongly-worded condemnation of Cowherd's remarks and demanded an apology.
- Adrian Burgos Jr. writes that Cowherd's comments still shows the kinds of prejudices that Dominicans in baseball face.
- If you don't understand why people are so upset, Jason Lisk does a good job of explaining why Cowherd's comments were so offensive.
- After Cowherd's explanation on Friday, ESPN announced that Cowherd would no longer appear anywhere on the network. Not really a big moral statement, since Cowherd had already announced he was leaving and is widely rumored to have agreed to a big deal with Fox Sports. That would be the same Fox Sports that is MLB's biggest media partner. Stay tuned.
- Zack Greinke pitched well on Sunday, but some bloop hits and an error ended his scoreless innings streak. David Schoenfield said that Greinke's luck just ran out (although he's still a great pitcher).
- Who might the next pitcher to challenge Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings record be? Well, Clayton Kershaw hasn't given up a run in 29 innings.
- Tim Hudson beat the Athletics yesterday, becoming the 15th pitcher to beat all 30 MLB teams.
- Ian Frazer has an appreciation of first-base coaches, which he argues is pretty much the most underappreciated job in baseball.
- Ben Lindbergh looks at the history of AVM Systems, the company that first tried to sell analytics and sabermetric statistics to MLB clubs that "kickstarted" the "Moneyball" revolution. Fascinating insights on MLB front offices of the 1990s.
- Is there anything Mike Trout can't do? He hit a grand slam into one fan's homemade "Trout Net."
- The Mariners turned a rare 3-6-2-2 triple play.
- A Chinese outfielder made a ridiculous juggling catch that you should check out.
- And now it's time for the cute and no-so-cute animals portion of our show. The Mets found a baby raccoon in their weight room.
- That's nothing. The Charlotte Stone Crabs found an 10-foot alligator in the visitor's dugout. Sure. It just happened to be in the visiting Daytona Tortugas clubhouse. Isn't the saying "Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. And sometimes there's a 10-foot alligator in the other team's dugout."
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.