This season, the MLB said goodbye to the dual trade deadline system and hello to the single deadline, July 31 at 4:00 pm. The move was made with hopes that it would be add drama and excitement to a sport that is hard to get excited about for a great deal of people. The MLB’s counterparts like the NBA and the NFL have so much drama, they are arguably the two greatest reality television shows out there. So, the MLB wanted drama and excitement and that is what they got. It was a quiet day until around 2:00 when moves just started coming across everyone’s social media and sports apps. Players all across the star power spectrum were announced to be on the move, and it was all capped off by the biggest trade of the day.
Zach Greinke was traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Houston Astros. The Houston Astros were already loaded and looked at by some as the best team in the American League, no matter what the records of other teams ever were. They have a complete lineup and now they have a big three starting rotation that they can roll out in the playoffs. Verlander, Cole, Greinke. That just does not seem fair; the trio are all in the top five in WHIP this season. For those who do not know that basically means they do not allow a whole lot of baserunners, which in turn means they do not let up a whole lot of runs. It is tough to lose when you don’t allow runs and that is a problem opposing teams will have to deal with for the rest of the regular season and into the postseason. Greinke’s post season struggles have been documented but so has the Astros developmental success. I think Greinke will find the secret ingredient in Houston, stay dominant in the regular season and carry it over to the postseason. The Astros certainly did not get him for free from Arizona. The Diamondbacks received three of Houston’s best prospects from their highly touted farm system. The Astros did what many Yankee fans expected their team to do in trading these prospects for a difference making starting pitcher, to make a move that says, “Come get us.”
That is where I want to head next. The battle between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. All season long I have said it is going to come down to the Astros and the Yankees; and on the day that Greinke is pitching in Yankee Stadium, the Astros swoop in and give the Diamondbacks an offer they could not refuse for the 35-year-old. The Yankees did virtually nothing besides acquiring a single A pitcher who was not even in the top 30 of the Rockies’ farm system. The Astros got better, and the Yankees decided to stay pact and rely on the potential return of Severino and Betances to serve as their trade deadline acquisitions, as well as all the other players they have on the IL. This is an extremely bold move by Brian Cashman that has the fan base up in arms; I was red hot after I came to grips with the fact that I was not going to get an alert after 4:00 saying that the Yankees made a trade. Cashman is obsessed with the depth he built in the Yankees farm system; it is the same depth that has allowed the Yankees to survive all the injuries after all.
I digressed a little, but regardless the point is the ALCS will be the Yankees and the Astros. The Astros made themselves better and the Yankees, their chief competition, did nothing of the sort. Are the Astros guaranteed to make and win the World Series? No. Are they more likely than they were at the start of Wednesday? Yes, very much so.
