WSOU

AL West Weekly No. 3

Date: August 4, 2021

By: Ryan Henry

An Oakland Athletics player slides into second base to try and steal on the Los Angeles Angels.

MLBStats via Twitter

WHAT A TRADE DEADLINE! Moves were made left and right, and when it seemed like it couldn’t get better, another blockbuster trade happened. So how did this year’s trade deadline affect the AL West?

 

Let’s start with the AL West leader in the Houston Astros. Just mere hours after my last article was released, the Astros and Seattle Mariners made a rare intra-divisional trade. The Mariners traded relievers Rafael Montero and Kendall Graveman, who was having an amazing year with the team, posting a 0.79 ERA in 34.1 innings pitched with career highs in WHIP, H/9, and K/9.

 

In the deal, the Mariners received utility infielder Abraham Toro and veteran reliever Joe Smith, who is struggling mightily this year after being one of the most consistent relievers for the better part of this past decade.

The Astros added another bullpen arm at the deadline, sending outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and right-hander Austin Pruitt to the Miami Marlins in exchange for Yimi Garcia. Garcia was one of the more underrated names floating around at the deadline as a veteran on a cheap contract with a career 1.024 WHIP and 3.44 ERA. This move, along with the Graveman move gives Houston two more arms that will be vital come October while also remaining under the luxury tax.

 

For a team that historically hasn’t gone after big names, it was crazy finding out that the Oakland Athletics had won the Starling Marte sweepstakes. The weakness was glaring with right fielders Stephen Piscotty and Seth Brown both batting below the Mendoza line, but to take the gamble on a rental like this isn’t very “Moneyball-esque.” Also, factor into account that the Athletics gave up Jesus Luzardo in the deal, an once top-15 prospect in all of baseball who is still only 23-years-old, and this move has potential disaster written all over it.

 

Marte is a great player no doubt, batting over .300 with an .859 OPS and 136 OPS+ while also giving you great value in the field, but the money Marte will garner in the open market is something the Athletics will not be able to afford. The A’s pitching staff should be fine without Luzardo, but I’m not really sure this puts Oakland over Houston.

The Mariners played this deadline very unusually as they were both buyers and sellers. The Graveman trade, which I mentioned early, didn’t make sense as he was only 30-years-old and trading with rivals is usually considered a mortal sin in the sports world. But after the Graveman trade, they didn’t sell off anyone else but sought-after cheap improvements.

 

The first of these trades was for Pittsburgh Pirates starter, Tyler Anderson. Anderson had a 4.35 ERA with the Pirates with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 86/25. Then, they traded for Rays reliever Diego Castillo in exchange for reliever JT Chargois and minor leaguer Austin Shenton. The Dominican hurler Castillo was a huge part of a Rays bullpen that made it to the 2020 World Series and is having another great season. In 36.1 innings pitched for the Rays, Castillo had a 2.72 ERA, a sub-one WHIP and a 33.8 strikeout percentage. The Mariners are only three and a half games out of the second wildcard, but in a critical trade deadline, being complacent will probably hurt them in the march to October.

The key for the Los Angeles Angels this deadline was pitching, and young pitching at that. After spending all of their 20 draft picks on pitching, the Angels at the deadline targeted even more pitching prospects. The first of their two trades saw them trade 36-year-old reliever Tony Watson to the San Francisco Giants for Sam Selman, a mediocre reliever with a home run problem. But the two key pieces in this deal are Jose Martin, who is posting a 2.79 ERA in Double-A and Ivan Armstrong, who has a 1.88 ERA at the Low-A level.

 

The Angels also traded reliever Andrew Heaney to the New York Yankees for two minor leaguers in Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero. Junk and Peguero are both 4-1 in the minors this season with Junk posting a 1.78 ERA and Peguero posting a 2.23 ERA. Surely with these moves and the draft picks made, the Angels should finally get consistent pitching production, right?

The bottom-feeding Texas Rangers had a lot to offer to contending teams at the deadline. Joey Gallo is one of the best outfielders in all of baseball, Kyle Gibson is a very reliable starter and Ian Kennedy can provide bullpen help. All were rumored to be traded and all were traded at the deadline.

 

Gallo was shipped off to the “Evil Empire” along with Joely Rodriguez for a package of prospects. Yes, the Rangers weren’t in an ideal situation with Gallo, but the fact that the Rangers didn’t get a single top-10 prospect from the Yankees farm system AND had to pay the remainder of Gallo and Rodriguez’s remaining salaries is puzzling. Maybe one. Maybe one if not more of Glenn Otto, Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran and Trevor Hauver turn out to be solid major leagues, but I feel like you could’ve gotten more for a player who gives you elite power and fielding in the outfield.

As for Ian Kennedy and Gibson, they actually got traded together to the Phillies, along with No. 9 prospect Hans Crouse, in exchange for former Phillies top prospect Spencer Howard and a couple of other minor leaguers. Howard has struggled to go deep into games for the Phillies, and in his seven starts with the club, he hasn’t gone past four innings. Unless he can get back some form of stamina/confidence/control, he’ll probably transition to a multi-inning reliever. Still, for two pitchers with age and consistency concerns, getting a former top prospect can turn out to be fruitful in the long term.

Ryan Henry can be reached at ryan.henry@student.shu.edu.

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