Welcome to the wild final day of trading for the season! We're going to present these from the point of view of the contenders, with teams examined in order of their winning percentage so far this season.
Look for roster moves and implications in the next installments of TWIWBL. With 3/4 of the league making at least one deal, the impacts should be felt for a while ...
Baltimore Black Sox
Baltimore got their hands on one of the best arms available, bringing in
Connie Johnson from
Kansas City. The Monarchs added a 5th round pick, receiving 2 prospects (OF
Merv Rettenmund and RP
Gene Garber) and a 2nd round pick for the 33 year-old hurler.
Grade: A. Johnson looks to be the real deal and should help the Black Sox withstand the recent rash of injuries.
Portland Sea Dogs
The
Sea Dogs keep tweaking, sending 3 prospects--CF
Kirby Puckett, RP
Jim Kern, and SP
Rick Wise--to
Houston, with
Trevor Hoffman and
Mark Melancon coming back. Hoffman may compete with
Elmer Brown for the closer role for Portland. The teams also traded some draft picks, with Houston sending a 4th to Portland in exchange for a 3rd and a 5th.
They also picked up perhaps the best OF available, as highly touted prospect
Harmon Killebrew and a 1st round pick netted
Gavvy Cravath and a 2nd round pick from
Philadelphia, with the Stars also picking up most of Cravath's salary for the rest of the season.
Grade: B. If they make the playoffs, sure, it makes sense. But Cravath is old, and Killebrew and Puckett are a lot of talent to give up (although both are pretty blocked by existing WBL talent).
New York Gothams
The
Gothams were clearly trying to bolster their pitching, and pulled off a minor deal, sending prospects
Travis Bowyer and
Mike Shannon along with a 4th round pick to
Homestead for
Vean Gregg and a 5th rounder. They also added
Steve Howe to their bullpen, sending the disgruntled
Jeremy Affeldt and prospect
Bob Moose to
Ottawa.
And then they pulled off a bit of a blockbuster, as discussions with
Miami surrounding
Rube Waddell quickly spiraled out of control, with heavy drink most likely being involved. The Gothams sent
Freddie Fitzsimmons,
Cookie Rojas,
Yasiel Puig, and a 2nd round pick to the Cuban Giants, receiving Waddell,
Pete Runnels, and
Will Clark in return.
Finally, as they now needed more depth they hit redial on their rotary phone and got in touch with Ottawa again, sending prospects
George Burns and
Art Devlin along with a 3rd round pick to the Mounties for
George Van Haltren and two mid round picks (a 5th and a 6th).
Grade: C. It just seems like a lot of wheel-spinning. Is having Waddell and Gregg in the rotation really all that different than Moose and Fitzsimmons? Clark has been mediocre at best with Miami, and Rojas is a real loss.
Chicago American Giants
Chicago bolstered their pitching, picking up
David Price from
Indianapolis.
Jorge Orta also goes to Chicago, with the American Giants sending prize prospect
Robin Ventura, RP
Tyler Clippard, and 2 draft picks (a 4th and a 5th) to the ABC's.
Grade: A. Price may help compensate for the deeply flawed acquisition of
Don Newcombe earlier in the summer.
Cleveland Spiders
The
Spiders paid pretty dearly to upgrade the one slot in their lineup crying out for it, sending prized prospect
Nap Lajoie, RP
Arodys Vizcaíno, and a 1st round pick to Homestead for SS
Arky Vaughan, SP
Stan Bahnsen, and a 3rd rounder.
Grade: B. It all makes sense: Vaughan fills a need, Bahnsen has been solid at the WBL level and while Lajoie clearly is talented, for a team that has a shot at a championship this year, it works.
Detroit Wolverines
Especially with the loss of
Whit Wyatt to injury, if
Detroit is to make a move this year, they need pitching. So they sent quite a package of potential--2B
Charlie Gehringer, 3B
Bill Sweeney, SP
Red Ehret, and a 4th Round Pick--to
San Francisco for
Charlie Root and
Chad Bradford. It's a lot, and the loss of Gehringer may hurt, but Detroit is really in win-now mode.
Grade: B. Root is excellent, and while they paid a little dearly, this year really looks to be the Wolverines' best chance.
Birmingham Black Barons
Birmingham is unsure if its streak can continue, but an upgrade at C can't hurt, so the Black Barons sent 2 IF prospects (SS
Woody English and 3B
Candy Jim Taylor) to
Memphis for
Jim Pagliaroni and a 4th round pick.
Then, late in the day, the pulled the trigger on a bit of a blockbuster, adding
Andy Pettitte from Kansas City to their rotation. It cost quite a bit: C
Dale Murphy (still a prospect despite his miserable WBL debut earlier in the season), P
A. Rube Foster, a 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick. It was quite a declaration of intent by the Black Barons, we'll see if it pans out.
Grade: A. Suddenly, Birmingham has a shot at the playoffs. Pettitte immediately becomes their #2 starter, and while they gave up some good talent, neither Murphy nor Foster look like world-burners at this point.
Wandering House of David
The
House of David can still get lucky this year, so it moved to shore up a weak spot, sending prospects
Bert Campaneris and
Jeff Heathcock and a 3rd round pick to Miami for
Ed Bauta and 2 later round picks (a 6th and a 7th).
Grade: C. Meh.
New York Black Yankees
The Black Yankees are desperate for bullpen help. They started to address the need picking up
Aroldis Chapman from Miami, sending back
Cole Hamels and
Smoky Burgess, with Miami adding a 3rd round pick. With Bauta and Hoffman off the market, New York was forced to look at names further down their list.
They brought in
Dick Tidrow from the House of David (who also threw in a 7th round pick), giving up a 2nd rounder and 2 prospects: SP
Jim Clinton and 3B
Chris Brown and then sent a similar package (
LaTroy Hawkins,
Fritz Coumbe,
Mike Bordick, and a 3rd round pick) to Philadelphia for
Rheal Cormier and a 4th rounder.
Grade: C. Overpaid on all fronts. Understandable, given the totally shambolic nature of the Black Yankees' bullpen, but the loss of Hamels may hurt for many years, and Tidrow is little more than a fill-in.