So you thought that once Matt Holliday went to St. Louis and Cliff Lee wound up with the Phillies deadline day itself would be anticlimactic? Hardly.
Three All-Stars, including a former Rookie of the Year and Cy Young, went elsewhere on July 31, and all that happened while the biggest name on the market all month, Roy Halladay, stayed put.
No, this deadline did not disappoint. There was a flurry of activity right down to 4 PM ET and a legitimate shocker to finish it all off. What better way to wrap up all of the intrigue then with a look at the early winners and losers? Join me -- and a few other members of the MLB FanHouse crew -- as we break it all down after the jump.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Apologies for the lack of R.R. yesterday, but we're hitting you with a special extended trade edition today to make up for it. There's been a lot of activity over the past few days, especially with top pitching commodities like Cliff Lee, Jarrod Washburn and George Sherrill. We've also seen a pair of Pittsburgh starters head outta town and two prized minor-league prospects change locations. Time to break it all down from a fantasy perspective.
The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.
The Nationals made it official Thursday, inking slugger Adam Dunn to a two-year, $20 million deal and introducing him in Washington. Dunn fills a glaring need for the Nats -- left-handed power -- but he also creates a roster crunch that general manager Jim Bowden will have to clear up before the team heads north for the start of the season.
Of course, Washington isn't the only club with a bit of a logjam heading into Spring Training. Here are a look at five rosters that will need to be un-cluttered in the coming six weeks, and how they might be.
Wondering which young players could have an impact in the majors this year? Let MLB FanHouse guide the way in Better Know a Prospect. In this edition we look at three players from the vibrant Boston system. Michael Bowden, SP: More pitching? The Red Sox hardly need it, but that's just what they've got. Just 22, Bowden made his big league debut last year, spot starting once down the stretch. He has excelled at every level in the minors, posting a career 3.15 ERA over four minor league seasons and striking out almost four times as many hitters as he has walked. Bowden probably won't be a top-of-the-rotation hurler because of an average fastball, but he mixes it well with a changeup and a curveball. He won't break camp with a major league job, but even with Boston's absurdly deep rotation, he'll be in the mix should injuries arise.
The Red Sox have been among the most active teams in free agency since the calendar turned to 2009, inking the likes of Takashi Saito, John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay to deals in the new year. Those are good signings for an organization as deep as the Red Sox, but a major hole at catcher remains on the big league roster.
Boston has already signed Josh Bard to a non-guaranteed deal this winter, but unless it is willing to hand a significant portion of the catching duties to an untested backstop like Dusty Brown or George Kottaras, it is going to need another catcher.
Longtime backstop and team captain Jason Varitek is still a free agent, but, at least for now, the Red Sox seemed resolved to pursue other options in an effort to get younger behind the dish.
With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.
- Champs Getting Stronger: The Red Sox have suddenly opened up a sizable four-game edge in the wild-card race after winning Tuesday while the White Sox and Twins lost. The news gets even better when you consider that Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett are set to return on Friday, with J.D. Drew and pitcher Bartolo Colon possibly returning next week.
It's easy to compare the 2008 Sox to the last Boston team that defended a title. Like this year's version, the 2005 team was ravaged by injuries to key players. There's one major difference, though, and that's the depth in the organization. GM Theo Epstein's vision of making the Red Sox a nine-figure player development machine has bloomed fully, and because of it Boston has a very real chance to repeat.
Their minor league system is among the most robust in the game, far different from the Dan Duquette era, and it's enabled the Red Sox to plug many of the holes they've had over the course of a trying season.
When Julio Lugo went down, Jed Lowrie came up and improved the team. When the team needed a spot starter for Josh Beckett, they turned to pitching prospect Michael Bowden. When the team needed another outfielder because of Drew's injury, they were able to deal a prospect with good upside for Mark Kotsay because of their minor league depth.
They're called the dog days of August for a reason. With the trade deadline in the books, major league teams are, barring a waiver trade, stuck with what they've got on the roster for the duration of the regular season. That means injuries, like the one suffered by Arizona's Orlando Hudson in the photo to the right, will shape the pennant races much more than they have over the last four months.
Five teams in the hunt for a playoff spot got bad injury news in the last 24 hours. Here's a look at who's hurt and how each team will cope with the absence of a key player over the final seven weeks.
- Carl Crawford, LF, Rays: The speedy Tampa Bay outfielder injured a tendon in his right middle finger on a check swing last night and was placed on the 15-day DL. The Rays are unsure how much time he'll miss, but a Seattle trainer told him he could miss six-to-eight weeks. If he's out that long, it could be devastating to their chances of holding off Boston in the AL East.
It wouldn't be the dog days of summer without a good old fashioned panic attack in the Northeast, where baseball fans live and die with the outcome of each night's game. In almost perfect symmetry, the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets all got bad news on the injury front Wednesday.
Considering where the big three sit in the standings, fans in New York and Boston have plenty to be concerned about. Let's look at each team's situation and try to assess how bad things are right now and how bleak they could get.
Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz has already missed almost two months this season with a torn tendon sheath in his wrist. Now the slugger is reporting that he's hearing a "clicking" sound in the wrist he injured back on May 31 in Baltimore. The good news for Boston fans is that, on its own, the clicking sound isn't a concern. Indeed, Ortiz was back in the lineup for Wednesday night's game against the Royals.
However, as injury guru Will Carroll points out, the problem could be more mental than anything. If Ortiz's swing gets less violent and vicious because he is afraid of getting injured, it could hurt his productivity -- a frightening proposition for Boston in the wake of the Manny Ramirez trade.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
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Wondering which young players could have an impact in the majors this year? Let MLB FanHouse guide the way in 
The Red Sox have been among the most active teams in free agency since the calendar turned to 2009, inking the likes of 
With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in 
They're called the dog days of August for a reason. With the trade deadline in the books, major league teams are, barring a waiver trade, stuck with what they've got on the roster for the duration of the regular season. That means injuries, like the one suffered by Arizona's Orlando Hudson in the photo to the right, will shape the pennant races much more than they have over the last four months.
