The Outs fish for fun. He doesn’t need to fish to fill his
plate or pay the bills. He just rolls out of the harbor on his All-Star yacht
and tosses a line into the salty waters to see what will nibble.
Well, on Monday, the sea was kind to him and he reeled in
the biggest fish of them all, Mike Trout.
For what? Bryce Harper, Adam Duvall and Manuel Margot.
Yeah, not what you thought Trout would go for. Harper has
shown little flashes of brilliance but at .235 — and that’s including his
incredible hot start — he really hasn’t been an impact player since Joe Maddon
walked him 13 times during that four-game series.
Duvall had the hot start, too, and hit 15 of his 25 homers
during a 32-game span, but he has also cooled down. And Margot is a prospect, not a top one.
So, an interesting deal to say the least. If Harper can
finally put it together and put up consecutive MVP-like seasons just as Trout
has, then it will at the very least be a wash depending on what Duvall and
Margot become — or turn into via future trades.
If Harper doesn’t, then the Otto Parts Bayliner will slowly
sink as the Outs hook yet another World Series title, and another, and another,
and another.
Oh, wait, he traded
for more?
Somehow, the Outs weren’t finished after grabbing Trout. A
decent trade with the Bombers got him Jacob DeGrom to help lock down a pitching
staff that was already as solid as can be.
The notable name that the Outs sent back in the deal was
Victor Robles, who has five-tool potential and certainly was in my sights as a
trade acquisition. Outs took DeGrom over my offer of Danny Duffy, and after 16
strikeouts and 8 innings of one-hit ball tonight, I’m kind of happy to still
have Duffy.
No surprise here
Choo made a pair of deadline deals.
Why? Well, because when you have one last chance to scratch
the itch, you must go for it. Now, Choo can’t look at a trade until November.
Today, he managed to haul in DJ LeMahieu, Jon Gray and
Victor Martinez for Ben Zobrist, Jeremy Hellickson and Aroldis Chapman.
Can I rate this as “Eh?” As in, who cares. Such a boring
trade. Where’s the Trout? How does Chapman get traded at the deadline by a team
competing for a World Series? If Choo loses by a save, I’ll laugh.
He wasn’t finished sending Alex Reyes for Clint Frazier to
Sam. Hard to rate this trade at this point because there’s so much upside for
both; we just know why the deal was made. Sam isn’t stupid and Choo loves the
Yankees.
The last deal of the day, coming in less than 2 minutes
before the deadline, was the Steaks just bolstering his lineup for a looming
postseason battle against Vandelay or the Outs. Marco Estrada will fill out the
rotation a little better with guys like Aaron Nola struggling, and Matt
Carpenter could provide some pop when he comes back from the DL. Sam enjoys De
Leon who is a man living out of a suitcase in the JLB.
Don’t look now, but…
The National League wild card race is now a battle between
four teams separated by 9.5 games. Both Vandelay and Otto are tied for third
with a .489 winning percentage, sitting 43.5 games behind the mighty Outs and
19.5 behind Philly Cheese. Steroid is just 2 games out of the wild card and
somehow, someway the Slammers is now just 9.5 back after sitting about 25-some
games out just a few weeks ago.
Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath with five weeks to go
and a lot of teams to leap frog.
In the American League, the Gamblers have a 3.5-game lead
over the Big League Choo who had a “firesale rebuild retool line-up bolstering”
trade deadline. Crox Sox is 23.5 out of the division lead, so a division title
is pretty much out of reach, but he has a 7-game lead over the Bombers for the
final wild card. The Sex Panthers are 11.5 games out and Country B is 14.5.
Anything can happen, but it’s really cutting it close.
All in all though, this is definitely the closest all 12
teams have been to playoff position in recent memory. For the last-place teams
in both divisions to still have a mathematical chance and a legitimate chance
to come back with some big wins is something we have not seen on Aug. 1 in
prior years.
It certainly will make the next five weeks fun to watch.
Good luck to your squads!
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