Cleveland Indians' fans are undoubtedly disappointed at not landing Bryce Harper. Rumors abounded that the Washington Nationals were making their franchise player available before the trade deadline. But this did not come to pass. So the Tribe settled for obtaining Leonys Martin from the Detroit Tigers to assist their beleagured outfield.
But who knows? Maybe Martin could hit a home run that's even bigger than the one hit by his teammate Rajai Davis in the 2016 World Series.
A year ago, the Los Angeles Angels traded Cameron Maybin to the Houston Astros. He earned a World Series ring. This year, the Miami Marlins have traded Maybin to the Seattle Mariners. Can lightning strike twice?
What does one make of the Tampa Bay Rays? They trade their ace Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates and their catcher Wilson Ramos to the Philadelphia Phillies, but then turn around and acquire Tommy Pham from the St. Louis Cardinals. However, the Rays have Pham under contract through 2021. So this move could pay dividends down the road. But so could have keeping Archer and Ramos.
The Atlanta Braves' pitching staff has a strong Baltimore Orioles flavor with the additions of Kevin Gausman, Darren O'Day and Brad Brach. It remains to be seen if they will have the same kind of success that former Oriole Nick Markakis has had in Atlanta. The Braves also added Reds' power hitter Adam Duvall.
Second basemen were also a valuable commodity today with the O's trading Jonathan Schoop to the Milwaukee Brewers for infielder Jonathan Villar and two prospects. In a deal two years in the making, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally landed the power hitting bat of Brian Dozier from the Minnesota Twins.
Most of the other deals involved the bullpen. The Dodgers added veteran reliever John Axford from the Toronto Blue Jays. Their NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks countered with reacquiring ex-D'Back Brad Ziegler from the Marlins as well as Jake Diekman from the Texas Rangers. Diekman's former Ranger teammate Keone Kela has landed in Pittsburgh. The Chicago Cubs have acquired Brandon Kintzler from the Washington Nationals. You will recall that the Nats obtained him from the Twins a year ago.
Of course, MLB clubs can continue to make deals. But now other clubs can block deals by making a waiver claim. In which case we can expect Bryce Harper to remain in D.C. for the rest of 2018.
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