Winners
- Detroit Tigers: This isn't even a question. Trading away a struggling 25 year old lefty pitcher (Drew Smyly), an outfielder who is as inconsistent as they come (Austin Jackson), and an 18 year old Dominican prospect pitcher (Willy Adames), to bring back two time Cy Young award winner David Price is a no brainer. Putting him in their rotation now gives the Tigers the three most recent Cy Young award winners, in Price, Verlander, and Scherzer. Making this move will solidy them winning the AL Central, and puts them in what might be the greatest arms race in American League history with the Oakland Athletics.
- Oakland Athletics: What do you get the team that has the best record in baseball and a top notch starting rotation? How about a solidified number one starter, who is a proven October winner. Although the A's had to give up their cleanup hitter, Cespedes, in a trade to acquire Jon Lester, they also brought over Jonny Gomes and Sam Fuld, who will platoon Cespedes's outfield spot. Billy Beane has shown his cards, and they are turning out to be a World Series or bust type of season. Beane went out and got a guy that will be able to go toe-to-toe with the Verlanders and Kershaws of the postseason, a move that will turn out to be key in the Athletics' playoff run this year
- Miami Marlins: It hasn't been said in almost a decade, but the Marlins have a chance to make the playoffs this year, and a team that has the potential to do this again next year, especially with Jose Fernandez returning next year. They're seven games out of division, and five and a half of the wild card, and they needed to bring over another young, controllable starter to set themselves up for this year and the future, and they found that in Jarred Cosart (pictured below) of the Astros. Being 24, and having an ERA of 3.21 on a team like the 2014 Astros, Cosart shows a lot of promise. Being a trade deadline winner does not always mean getting the biggest name on the market, sometimes getting what you need at a decent cost is just as big of a win.
When it comes to losers, I see only two teams that fit that label, and they are the two teams involved in the Price trade that aren't located in Detroit; the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners. I believe the Mariners are losers because they didn't acquire Price. Being in the same division as the Angels and the Athletics, getting that pitcher who would separate them from the pack to tag team with Felix Hernandez and Robinson Cano to create a force in Seattle, would be huge. But they settled for giving up Nick Franklin and getting Austin Jackson. The Rays are losers because of how little they got for Price. Price was the best available arm on the market, and the haul they received was two former top prospects who had not panned out at the big league level yet, and a 18 year old pitching prospect who is far from the majors. The Red Sox were at least able to get a proven outfield power bat, their big need, for their ace. I believe this trade will turn out to bite the Rays in the behind, as I believe it ends their playoff chances this year, and the foreseeable future if they don't make another big move.
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Bennett Schiff is a sophomore in the Drexel Sport Management program, and one of the few members of the major from the powerful state of Rhode Island. He has volunteered for the U.S. Open of Squash held at Drexel as well as becoming a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. He has worked hard as member of the SMTSU, and is currently their secretary.
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