Baseball

What would a trade deadline be without the New York Yankees getting involved?

After kicking the tires on pitchers Cliff Lee and Dan Haren, the Yankees decided to go in a different direction on Friday by adding some offense. The Yankees on Friday acquired 1B Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros for Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes. Then they traded for OF Austin Kearns for the ever-so-popular player to be named later, or PTBNL, as all the cool kids say.

First, let’s talk about the Berkman move because that is the more significant move.

With the minutes ticking away toward the 2010 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline, fans saw the typically violent flurry of activity as general mangers hustled to smooth out the rough edges. Some of the moves look brilliant while others seem to stink of acquisition for acquisition's sake.

Take a gander at the maneuvering that started way back at the beginning of July and decide for yourself:

July 9th —Texas Rangers acquire RHP Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners for 1B Justin Smoak, RHP Blake Beavan, RHP Josh Leuke, and INF Matt Lawson.

The Yankees scored two runs in the first inning yesterday, but failed to tack on any more runs as they lost to the Rays 3-2 when Phil Hughes gave up a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

Here are some notes:

Another year and another trade deadline dominated by the Philadelphia Phillies quest to acquire a starting pitcher. Last year the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee near the trade deadline, and this year they have acquired another front-line starter.

The Phillies acquired Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros for JA Happ and minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar. The Astros will pick up $11 million on Oswalt’s contract and the Phillies will not pick up Oswalt’s 2012 option, which was a sticking point for a while.

According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, who’s on fire today breaking two trades, the Yankees acquired outfielder Austin Kearns from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later.

Josh Tomlin, an Indians pitcher making his Major League debut, held the Yankees hitless through the first three innings, faced the minimum through six, and beat the Yankees 4-1, all while holding Alex Rodriguez at 599 home runs.

Here are some notes:

The Seattle Mariners already pulled off the one big deal they had planned to make leading up to Major League Baseball's trading deadline.  The Mariners traded away Cliff Lee for one of the best offensive prospects in the game in Justin Smoak (plus other prospects).

Despite being seven games behind the first place Texas Rangers in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are not going down without a fight. Earlier in the week, they acquired Alberto Callaspo from the Kansas City Royals and now they have perhaps acquired the best pitcher left on the trade market.

The Angels have acquired RHP Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for LHP Joe Saunders and minor leaguers Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez, and Tyler Skaggs.

The Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen is a good example of why MLB teams like guys with tools. 

Jansen is a big (6’6″ and 220 pound) 22-year-old right-hander from Curacao (Andruw Jones’ birthplace) who just got called up to take Justin Miller’s place on the Dodgers’ major league roster.

Jansen started his professional career as a catcher, but after more than 1,000 plate appearances at or below the Class A+ level, Jansen proved he just can’t hit (.647 career minor league OPS).

1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. Angel Pagan, RF
4. David Wright, 3B
5. Carlos Beltran, CF
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Jason Bay, LF
8. Henry Blanco, C
9. Johan Santana, LHP

This is the Mets' best chance to turn this slump around. Johan Santana is 2-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his last four starts.

This is a good lineup no matter what anybody says, and they should be able to score enough runs to win every time Santana starts.