MLB Bullets makes a deal

There are a lot of trades and I can’t do them all justice. None of them really qualify as “major,” but a lot of them are significant. I’ll try to do my best but if I don’t mention your favorite, feel free to talk about it in the comments.

• The biggest deal yesterday (and apologizes to the Cubs and Cole Hamels) was probably the Blue Jays trading J.A. Happ to the Yankees for Brandon Drury and former Cubs prospect Billy McKinney. This is the third straight even-numbered year that McKinney has been traded at the deadline. The Cubs got him in 2014 in the Jeff Samardzija deal. They traded him to the Yankees in 2016 the Aroldis Chapman trade. Now this. Yes, I can sign a two-year lease, but I won’t be renewing it.
• Tim Brown thinks that Happ gives the Yankees what they need, which is another healthy arm for their rotation.
• Coley Haney thinks that Happ’s success against the Red Sox was a big reason the Yankees made the deal.
• Dan Szymborski evaluates the Happ deal. He thinks it’s a fair deal in terms of value, but that the Blue Jays aren’t really getting the type of players they need.
• Before we move on from the Yankees, outfielder Aaron Judge will miss at least the next three weeks with a chip fracture of his right wrist.
• The Brewers bolstered their bullpen by getting Joakim Soria from the White Sox.
• Eric Longenhagen profiles the two minor leaguers that the White Sox got in the deal.
• Jon Tayler grades both the Happ and Soria deals.
• The Astros got some catching depth by picking up Martin Maldonado from the Angels.
• The Rays dealt swingman (is that still a thing?) Matt Andriese to the Diamondbacks for two minor leaguers.
• The Rays also traded Jonny Venters to the Braves, which came as news to fans who thought he was still with the Braves but on the disabled list.
• Speaking of the Braves and taking a quick detour from trade rumors, please read this profile by Wright Thompson of Braves legend Dale Murphy, who is one of the nicest guys to ever play the game. First of all, pretty much everything Thompson writes is terrific and this profile of basic human decency is a welcome piece these days. (See all the recent Fred Rogers profiles.) Murphy was a legend in the eighties and although his career came to an early end. But as Thompson asks, if we keep people out of the Hall of Fame because of their moral failures, should we not also put model players like Murphy who fall just short of Cooperstown credentials? I’m not saying I agree, but I’m not saying I don’t. I’ll consider it.
• As long as we’re on that stuff, Sam Miller semi-seriously debates himself on the Hall of Fame credentials of Bartolo Colon. Basically, like Murphy, Miller writes that it’s not about the numbers with Big Sexy.
• Back to trade stuff. Mike Axisa thinks it’s time for Rays to finally deal Chris Archer. Actually, he thinks the time was two years ago, but now is better than later.
• If the Nationals don’t show some improvement this weekend, there are reports that they might be sellers. Mostly relievers, although . . .
• Zach Kram believes the Nationals should trade Bryce Harper before he reaches free agency this offseason and he thinks the Astros would be the only team that could pull off such a deal.
• Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is back on the DL and Zach Pereies thinks it’s gut-check time in DC. Honestly, I think we’re past that. They’re seven games back of the Phillies and 4½ behind in the Wild Card, tied with two other teams and with four other teams in front of them for the second Wild Card. It seems unlikely.
• Jon Heyman laments that the Brewers and Phillies can’t keep up with the Yankees and Dodgers in the trade market. The Brewers, OK. They’re the smallest market in MLB. But when did Philadelphia become a struggling small market team? if the Phillies didn’t spend big in the international market in 2015, that’s their own fault. Not only that, but the Phillies have lots of young talent to deal. They just don’t want to.
• Travis Sawchik provides some stats and charts to show what we already knew—the gap between the good teams and bad teams in MLB is widening.
• Whitney McIntosh has four potential deals that alter some divisional races if they actually happened.
• Eric Stephen looks back at some recent blockbuster deadline deals. Well, recent if you mean “since 1993.”
• The Phillies tied a team record with seven home runs on Thursday night against the Reds.
• Red Sox manager Alex Cora is not happy when a game in which the Red Sox lead 5-0 and had hit three home runs was wiped out by rain in Baltimore in the second inning on Wednesday. To be clear, they’re upset the game was even started, not that they lost the three home runs. Although they’re not happy about that either.
• Matt Monagan looks at ten times in baseball history that home runs were wiped off the books by rain.
• Jon Heyman reports that friends of Joe Girardi say he definitely wants to manage the Cardinals more than any other team. Although, as Heyman notes, Girardi has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses of fired manager Mike Matheny. Maybe not quite as bad, but similar problems communicating with younger players.
• On that front of communications, Billy Witz writes more about the late Ken Ravizza, who was a pioneer in sports psychology and a close friend and guru to Joe Maddon.
• Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes will have that season-ending foot surgery that will likely knock him out of the beginning of next season as well. If they weren’t the Mets, I’d feel sorry for them.
• David Schoenfield outlines the Cy Young credentials of Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer.
• You’ve seen position players pitching. Now see Rays pitcher Sergio Romo playing third base! First, he’s a starting pitcher or “opener” for the first time in his career. Now he’s a corner infielder.
• The Padres have a new ticket package that encourages fans to cheer for the Friars to lose. You get five guaranteed Padres wins or you get another ticket, which is perfect for the Dodgers or Giants fan that lives in San Diego and believe me, there are a lot of those.
• Here’s a flowchart to help you determine which player your favorite team should trade for.
• And finally, Clare McNeal has a tribute to Chase Utley on the occasion of his final games in Philadelphia.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.