With the trade deadline fast approaching on Thursday night, some Major League Baseball teams are in a quandary to sell off assets in order to build for the future or to buy in hopes of hanging around and maybe get hot to sneak off with a division title.


2008-07-30

With the trade deadline fast approaching on Thursday night, some Major League Baseball teams are in a quandary to sell off assets in order to build for the future or to buy in hopes of hanging around and maybe get hot to sneak off with a division title. Whichever the case, the buyers and sellers could be much different teams on Friday, both roster-wise, and psychologically. Be sure to take note before placing your wagers in the near future.

In the last few years, Houston and Colorado are two teams that literally came out of nowhere and ended up playing in World Series. Cleveland has already hung the white flag outside the tepee; here is a look at what other teams might be thinking.

Many baseball beat writers and those broadcasting games look at the standings and see Atlanta eight games back in the NL East and wonder why they are ridding themselves of talented players. This Braves team no longer has Ted Turner as Chief Wahoo and TBS network behind them. These Braves are owned by Liberty Media, who is more concerned about profit/loss spreadsheets than wins and losses. About the only thing this Atlanta team has with the past is manager Bobby Cox. With no Chipper Jones or Bob McCann in the lineup and Tim Hudson likely gone for the season, maybe Atlanta should trade for Greg Maddux and have him sit in the dugout with John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, just like a Rolling Stones reunion tour.

Atlanta – SELL

In case you haven’t noticed, the Oakland A’s have rotating banner for center field camera to pick up when showing pitcher throwing to batter – Will trade players for food. Oakland has done great work in developing pitching talent, allowing them to trade higher priced pitchers for prospects. The new batch of pitchers look pretty good, however are making youthful mistakes, as the A’s are 8-15 in July. Even with descent starters, where are the quality everyday ball players? Oakland is taking the term “small ball” to new lows. The A’s have the lowest batting average in the AL and are next to last in runs scored. Remember a prerequisite of “small ball” was hitters making contact; Oakland hitters have struck out the most in the junior circuit, averaging almost eight whiffs a game. With the new stadium seating around 32,000, where will the revenue streams come from to put better product on the field unless they charge $200 per seat a game?

Oakland– SELL

Texas has been among the four best teams in the American League the last three months and has pulled into second place in the AL West. The Rangers are not about to catch the Angels and are still in wild card contention being five games back. The Rangers are like your local softball team in first place, they just bludgeon the baseball. They lead the league in hitting and runs scored by a large margin. The problem for Texas is pitching, since they have been looking to put together even a fairly average staff, since a lame duck president used to be the majority owner. Leading winner Vincente Padilla (12-5) is available, but only for a young pitcher who can possibly start this year and must be in rotation in 2009. A pretty good short home favorite or road underdog when they are in hitting groove.

Texas – Buy

You keep waiting for Toronto to click, unfortunately every streak of three games of 10 hits or more, is immediately followed by five outings of three or fewer runs. Pitcher A.J. Burnett looks like a waiver deal in the latter part of August, as these Blue Jays never take flight unless they score four or more runs.

Toronto-Sell

The Colorado Rockies titillated fans winning 9 of 10 games, before losing series at Pittsburgh. In most normal years, a team would have given up long ago with the kind of record the Rockies have, at least to their advantage the NL West is far less dangerous than seven days of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. It might be time for a little honesty for Colorado, unless they can muster another miracle run which would lead to new phrase called “Rockies Rush” when a team wins 15-20 games in a row late in the season to steal a division title. If front-running Arizona plays .500 the rest of the season to finish 82-80, this would entail Clint Hurdle’s club to close 35-19 to steal another division crown. After last year, possible, yes; likely, no.

Colorado - Sell