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Friday August 3rd, 2012

Bernie Olshansky:  Now that the trade deadline is over, teams will have a harder time making trades, but they can still be made through waivers. Over the past few hours, a couple trades have been made.

Joe Blanton to the Dodgers

The Dodgers claimed Blanton off waivers and decided to trade for him. They offered to pay the rest of his contract–$2.9 million, and send a player to be named later. After failing to land a big-name starter like Ryan Dempster or James Shields, the Dodgers went after Blanton. Blanton will bring his 8-9 record and 4.59 ERA to Los Angeles for the stretch-run this season. His best season ERA-wise was his rookie year in 2005 with the A’s when he went 12-12 with a 3.53 ERA. Since then, his lowest ERA has been 3.95. Before the 2010 season, he signed a three-year $24 million dollar contract with the Phillies—I think they overpaid. In those three years, Blanton has gone 18-17. He should give the Dodgers a slight boost, but this move isn’t a season-changer.

After signing Hamels to his contract, the Phillies needed to make some room. They traded Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence, getting rid of the rest of Pence and Victorino’s contracts. Pence becomes eligible for arbitration next year, and the Phillies didn’t want to deal with that when they already have Hamels signed through 2018 for $153 million, and Cliff Lee signed through 2015 for $120 million. Keeping Pence and/or Victorino could have been an option if the Phillies were able to trade Lee before the deadline. The only way the Phillies would have done this is if they had gotten a prospect in return and convinced the other team to take on Lee’s full contract. Lee was claimed off waivers today by the Dodgers, but he most likely won’t be traded. The two teams have three days to work out a deal, and if the trade isn’t made, Lee will be taken off waivers and will not be traded for the rest of the season.

Kurt Suzuki to the Nationals

The A’s traded Suzuki to the Nationals for minor league catcher David Freitas. The Nationals will pick up most of Suzuki’s 2012 salary and some of next year’s. He makes $5 million this year and will make $6.45 million next year. Suzuki has hit just .218 with one home run this year. He will be reunited with former Oakland Athletic Gio Gonzalez. With Suzuki, the A’s had three major league catchers in Derek Norris and newly-acquired George Kottaras. Moving Suzuki will give Norris more playing time, and take most of his contract off of the A’s. Now, Oakland could hope to make a waiver deal for a shortstop or third baseman to help shore up the left side of the infield. With the Nationals, Suzuki will play every day—he hadn’t done that this season while with the A’s.

We’re starting to see more trades due to a team’s financial situation, rather than based on a player’s talent. This is exemplified by the Phillies—they didn’t have any reason to trade Victorino and Pence other than to make room for other contracts. The business of baseball is certainly a powerful one.

***Today’s feature was prepared by Bernie Olshansky, Baseball Writer & Facebook Administrator.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Bernie on Twitter (@BernieOlshansky)***

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