Did the Cubs Win?
Nope. Maybe they should have pinch hit a few pitchers.
Trade Deadline Update
The deadline is at 3 pm CT.
The Cubs were active yesterday. No word yet on the where Emilio Bonifacio is headed, but the Royals have been mentioned, which is almost too cruel. The Giants are also a potential destination, and have released Dan Uggla. Grant Brisbee made a joke about Kyle Crick, which didn’t endear him to Cub fans.
The A’s pulled off a shocking trade this morning, sending Yoenis Cespedes and a draft pick to the Red Sox for Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes. Billy Beane is trying to create the next best thing to Curt Schilling/Randy Johnson. Does any GM in the game have more balls than Beane? Part of the motivation for this trade is likely that Jason Hammel has been absolutely awful in his four starts with the team, posting an ERA of over 9.5 and a FIP of 7.3. It looks like the velocity of his slider has been down, but otherwise I don’t see a clear explanation for it. Must be the absence of John Baker.
To compensate for the loss of Cespedes, the A’s followed up the move by sending Tommy Milone to Minnesota in exchange for Sam Fuld, which makes me exceedingly happy. Are there still Cub fans who love Sam Fuld? If so, I am eagerly anticipating the Fuld/Tony Campana contingent name-dropping Billy Beane in lamenting all the promising young players the Cubs have given away over the years. Also, I know the Twins have been aggressively pursuing power pitchers of late, but baseball never felt right when Tommy Milone existed and didn’t play in Minneapolis.
Quick Links
- Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, and Albert Almora all homered last night.
- Josh Harrison has been on fire lately for the Pirates, homering in his last four games. He is also a magician, apparently. You may remember Harrison from such trades as the John Grabow trade.
- TOOTBLAN!
- Joe Pos looks at the demise of the Phillies
- Remember the Titans was fiction, it turns out. Very interesting read.
- Details on Alex Rodriguez‘s doping habits.