MLB Trade Deadline Madness Update

Are you sick of MLB trade deadline deals?!  Well, shut up.  Because the world is on fire and there’s still over an hour to burn.

Strap in and let’s catch up on the madness.  The teams in high profile focus this afternoon are the Dodgers, Phillies, and Cubs, and by 4pm, we will see three very different-looking clubs.

Ryan Dempster:  Wanted Man

Let’s start easy, with Dempster, the guy whose narrative is moving at about 2 mph.  It’s been weeks since we first heard about any sort of deal with him, mainly because he keeps refusing to be traded.

The Cubs have made it clear and it has basically become a human reality that Dempster is no longer with the team, and that he will either go to L.A. to hang out with Ted Lilly, or to New York to assimilate with the amorphous mass’ of Yankee-flesh spreading across the second half, or to the Rangers, if only because it’s one of the only teams Dempster has said the would not veto a trade to.

If anything, the Dempster line has gone stale–he’s going somewhere, just wait a second.  We need to spark a few new rumors just to make up for this boring one.

Felix Hernandez to the Mets for R.A. Dickey and Tim Tebow!

Okay there we go.

Philled Out

Shane Victorino was the Phillie everyone was certain would be gone, but little did they know… yes, he actually would be.  This morning, Victorino went to the Dodgers for Josh Lindblom, minor league pitcher Ethan Martin, and a Player to Be Named Later or cash.

After giving fans a few minutes to digest the departure of a core player, the Phillies announced those Hunter Pence-to-the-Giants rumors of yesterday morning were totally bonafide and he was actually on his way out the door in exchange for Nate Schierholtz, catching prospect Tommy Joseph, and a pitcher of some kind.

Which doesn’t exactly jive with future Phillies plans.

The Diamondbacks were rumored to be poking at Cliff Lee, until their managing partner Ken Kendrick said Arizona would not pursue a guy owed as much money as Lee is, especially at 37 years old.

NOTE:  Cliff Lee is 33 years old.

The Phillies are reinvigorating talks with the Orioles about Joe Blanton, but can’t agree how much money he isn’t worth.

Geovany Soto and Reed Johnson

Soto and Johnson both trotted down the steps at Wrigley Field into the home dugout, greeted by the handshakes and hugs that await men on the move.

Johnson is on his way to Atlanta with Paul Maholm for a pair of minor league right-handers (From the Braves farm system, that could be a peachy haul.  One of the hurlers in the deal, Arodys Vizcaino, was the Braves #3 prospect, but is recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Soto took off for Texas, getting out of Chicago’s basement for a deluxe suite in the AL West for young pitcher Jake Brigham.

Dodgers Hardly Dodging

The Dodgers, barring some 11th hour trick shot, will be widely considered the winners of the deadline.  Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, possibly Dempster–we knew they had money, we knew they would spend it.  They did.

And, as we all know, assembling all the best players onto one team automatically guarantees you success.

Cubs and Phillies will look like completely different teams, but no contrast is steeper than Philadelphia’s.  They are still technically defending the divisional flag, and are now without one of their core players, and two of their outfielders.  Sure, it made it dramatic when Victorino and Pence both said they wanted to stay. And yes, Victorino’s history goes something like this:

• Drafted by Dodgers
• Given up in Rule 5 draft to Philly
• Beats Dodgers twice on way to World Series
• L.A. fans deem him “rat face”
• Acquired by Dodgers

Now the Dodgers can look forward to an outfield of Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Shane Victorino.  Yikes.  The way Ruben Amaro played the two NL West rivals off each other was nothing short of diabolical.

But they’re a franchise in transit, and besides, in Philly, we’ve got some pretty serious outside issues to worry about.