A cost controlled, major league ready second baseman with power potential and a left-handed starter? Seems like a pretty good deal for everyone. I'm definitely excited.

"They've won like 10 out of their last 12 games and have their pitching back."
Right, records with an arbitrary end point are a great way to evaluate a team that has to play 162 games a season. Are you being typically contrary or do you actually believe they're the best team in baseball?

So Price went to the Tigers. I'm a little surprised it wasn't the Dodgers. Corey Seager and Joc Pederson (one or the other) are both much better prospects than Nick Franklin. Drew Smyly isn't worth much. I'm a little bummed that that's all they got, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Mariners will love Austin Jackson too.

Chris Denorfia too. Nice job.

It's just as arbitrary as anything you come up with. They went thought to be one of the best teams going into the season and now they're playing up to their potential.

The Dodgers weren't willing to trade Seager or Pederson, and Franklin's ready now, which is not something that can be said of either of them. He's struggled, and he was never a prospect on their level, but he was a top 100 guy, he's really young, and he showed the ability to mash for a while last year. The Rays still expect to win this year, as is evidenced by their reneging on a Zobrist deal with the Mariners, so this trade gives them payroll flexibility and a return for Price that they wouldn't have gotten had they kept him while not hurting the team as much in the short term.

Fair points.

The AL East is still wide open and the Rays have as good a shot to win it as anyone, definitely better than the Yankees and Sox, although Baltimore and Toronto are going to have to stumble pretty hard to make up 8 games, although stranger things have happened and we still have two whole months before the playoffs.

On a side note, the Yankees went and traded a light hitting veteran utility infielder and picked up some light hitting veteran utility infielders to compliment their roster of veteran light hitting utility infielders.

Having Prado gives them a reasonable utility option, especially since Ellsbury and Beltran are bound to get hurt sooner or later, and Stephen Drew gives them the option to give Jeter some games at the DH. Tex is healthy so Johnson wasn't needed at first anymore, and McCann and Cervelli can pick that up too if necessary. They didn't sell out, which I half expected them to, but they made a number of safe trades that aren't going to hurt them. I'm surprised anyone was kind enough to take Prado's bloated contract off the D-Back's hands, though.

I don't want the DH in the NL...ever.

Baseball's fine with it split, to be honest--AL baseball and NL baseball are actually distinct from one another stylistically because of the DH, it's good to see that variation...but if I had to choose one or the other, I'd choose against the DH every time.

Well, no Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzales, my Mets stood pat at the trade deadline...

deGrom's been good this year, though...a rotation of Harvey/Wheeler/deGrom/Niese/Gee (with Syndergaard maybe coming up to take one of those spots eventually) looks like a good 2015 rotation.

Duda's got some power and finally consistency at 1st, Murphy's an All-Star at 2nd, Wright at 3rd, d'Arnaud at the plate...get a good shortstop and a couple of outfielders, and maybe, just maybe, 2015 can be the year they try for a Wild Card.

"Maybe next year" is the Mets' main marketing slogan, Obi

That's true of every bad team, but the Mets are in a similar position the Mariners were in once they signed Cano and they're making a WC push now.

Yeah, then who is going to play Cano for them? Who are they going to blow their payroll on for five years after he started considering retirement?

The Mariners have plenty of money, Cano isn't going to hurt that much. And Wright is their Cano.

If Wright is their Cano then why hasn't that led to anything? They clearly need a lot more than they have.

Yeah, Cano alone wasn't enough, the Mariners needed breakout performances from Seager and Elias and a resurgence from Chris Young to this point and mprobably need both of their new outfielders just to sustain it. If the Mets' pitching can live up to some of the hype and they can fill a hole or two (OF, SS), they can be pretty good.

I think the Mets are still a ways away. Bartolo Colon isn't going to last forever, first of all, so they need to replace him. There's plenty of pitching in that organization but how much of it will turn out is another question. Only time will tell there. David Wright can't carry the load on his own, and Granderson hasn't helped. Murphy will do a bit but still not enough. I think they need another signing or two to have a shot, but if they get the pieces necessary, they'll contest for that division.

By the way, while I'm in the NL East, why wasn't Cole Hamels moved, or Ryan Howard, though I doubt anyone wanted him. Chase Utley or Jimmy Rollins even? That team is aging, needs to rebuild, and needs prospects. They could have had a big haul I think.

And now that they have Austin Jackson, who I thoroughly believe can be an impactful player with his speed even if he only hits .250, as well as Chris Denorfia, who couldn't be much worse in the AL than he was in the NL. Also they have Kendrys Morales back to DH in the middle of the order, and Felix looking as good as ever. Overall, I'd say things are up for the Mariners, but I really do feel bad for you all when five years down the road, Cano starts to tank it a little and you still have to pay him for it.

I absolutely love what the Red Sox are doing. Trading Lester was a must - he's got too much value. I love the guy, but he wasn't likely to resign since he tabled discussions anyway. Trading Lackey surprised me, but I like what they got back, and trading Doubront also surprised me. Still, they have plenty of pitching in the minors, and now Rubby de la Rosa among others can be introduced as starters. Plus it's not like they got prospects back for Lester and Lackey, they got major-league-ready guys. The potential for an offensive breakout plus the potential to see which of the young guys in the minors are actually going to make it leads for an interesting offseason, and by tanking a bit, they all but ensure having one of the 10 worst records in the league, which means that they won't have to give up a first-round pick to get marquee free agents in the offseason (see: Max Scherzer). I didn't think it would go nearly this well for them.

Mets: Yeah they're a ways a way, but a couple of good players suddenly makes them less of a ways away. That's all I'm saying.

Phillies: Amaro's an idiot. He asked the Dodgers for Pederson, Seager, and Urias for Hamels, and apparently did something similarly ridiculous with the Mariners and Byrd. Lee was likely to be moved in a waiver trade, but he just got hurt, so that's unlikely to happen.

Mariners: CF was our biggest weakness, so Jackson is huge. Denorfia's nice too, though he'll probably be the fourth OF once Saunders gets back unless Ackley craters again. The thing with Cano is that nobody's willing to sign here. The Mariners were after Nelson Cruz all offseason and he signed with the Orioles on a one year deal for $8 million. Signing Cano is kind of like Detroit signing Pudge back when they sucked. It starts work towards a powerful core and is likely to attract other guys. Yeah, it's gonna hurt the final few years, but he's also the type of player that typically ages well and the Mariners just signed a huge TV deal and have almost no monetary commitments outside of Cano and Felix, so it's not gonna hurt as hard as, say, the Pujols contract is gonna hurt the Angels.

Red Sox: I agree. Those are some quality moves, and they're definitely in a good position for next year. I don't think they're gonna go after somebody like Scherzer in the offseason though. Haven't they stated that they won't do super long-term deals anymore?

Mets - fair.

Phillies - yes, he is. Did he really ask for all that for Cole Hamels in the back end of his career? What a [four-letter adjective of your choosing].

Mariners - I agree on what the Cano signing means, but I don't think the length was right given his age. Consider that Ichiro wasn't able to garner that kind of attention and he was the best pure hitter in the game for years after they signed him. Felix wasn't able to do it on the other side of the ball. I just don't know that Cano signing is quite the blessing given the length and the dollars. Then again, that's probably what it took, so I understand it. Still, unless they can get him to pull an A-Rod, that's a lot of money that'll go to an aging player years down the road. It's a good risk so far though.

Angels - Since you brought them up, they fucked up this deadline big time. The Mariners got better, the A's got a hell of a lot better (assume that Cespedes/Lester cancels out, they still got tons of other pieces), the Rangers aren't relevant this year so whatever, and the Astros aren't either. Still, I think that with the moves the As specifically made, the Angels might take the second-best record in the AL into the postseason and still settle for a wild card, which would suck for them.

Red Sox - Cherington doesn't like long term deals. I can't say I do either, if you can't tell. Still, you don't get away with a season like this one in Boston sports, especially as an exec. John Farrell isn't going to get the lynch; he won the World Series three times so far. If Cherington wants to be around for a long time, he'll want to make a splash, even if it's just one. I doubt Scherzer is going to demand a supermassive contract, more like a 5-ish year deal. I do hope he brings Lester back too if he can.

To add, while the short-term deals came to a title last year, they were still revolving around long-term players like Pedroia, Lester, Lackey, Ellsbury, and Ortiz, who, while signing one and two year deals is basically on a long term deal because everyone knows he's not leaving. Napoli was an excellent addition, Uehara has been spectacular, but as a whole, many of the short-term contracts busted last year.

I agree with you on most points, so I'll just point out that they couldn't really go any shorter with Cano. The Yankees were offering him 7 years at slightly ($1 million) more a year, and there were rumors that he would sign with them if they even went up to 8.

Hmm.. okay. I don't keep up with the rumors, I just wait and see who they sign with. Rumors tend to be nothing more than networks trying to fill time. If that's so, then yeah, I guess it's what they had to do. We'll find out in a decade if it was justifiable or not.

I'm wary with my rumors. I follow the better Mariner blogs and the writers usually filter out the Rosenthals and Morosis and only show me the meaningful ones. It's often a useful tactic to leak your demands to the press, so I'm often more willing to believe those.

It'll almost certainly be bad at the end, but I think it provides some intangible value that'll make it worth it if he doesn't tank too hard.

""Maybe next year" is the Mets' main marketing slogan, Obi"

You're telling me. ;)

And I was really hoping they'd deal Colon...hopefully they can still get something for him down the road, anything...he's not a long-term fit with us, especially not in the pitching department.

"There's plenty of pitching in that organization but how much of it will turn out is another question."

I think that's the one spot on the team, other than Wright/Murphy (since it looks like Murphy's staying now, which is good, they should keep him) that the Mets don't have to worry about much.

Assuming Matt Harvey's Matt Harvey again, or even slightly lesser, in 2015, the Mets have their ace, and a good one.
Jacob deGrom's in the Rookie of the Year conversations...
Zach Wheeler started out badly, but has picked up...
Jon Niese is a good 3rd-5th arm in the rotation...
Dillon Gee peters out after about the 6th inning, but that's OK for a 4th/5th pitcher...

And then you still have Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero in the pipeline.

All in all, 7 possibilities there, a few proven, a few not...even if 4/7 pan out next year, that's 4/5th of a good rotation...I'll take that easily.

Duda at 1B is a career .250 hitter with a ton of power and 19 HRs this season...not an All-Star, but that's at least passable for now, given how bad the situation was earlier in the season (I still wish Ike Davis could've panned out, but he could never hit consistently, especially after he foot injury.)

Murphy at 2B, Wright at 3B, good stuff there...

d'Arnaud is hitting .272 with 3 homers in July, marked improvement from his .180s batting average earlier in the season...if he can keep that improvement up, the Mets might just have something there.

The biggest question marks are SS (Ruben Tejada I go back and forth on, but he's no big name, and who knows if Wilmer Flores can play there) and the outfield, where Juan Lagares is alright...and then the rest are all 4th OFs.

I think if they can sign a GOOD outfielder (not an aging guy like Granderson, who's never been the best averages hitter anyway) to add to that, then they might at least try to break the .500 barrier next season...and if they're still in it at the All-Star Break then, who knows.

Mets need Colon to spare the other arms over-work in September. I don't want them getting any more pitchers injured. I'm sure he won't be there next year. Mets have good prospects coming up all they need is a shortstop, really. They are competing that's all you can ask for.

The current split system with the DH system is not sustainable. The problem for the NL is that the lower leagues all operate with the DH and this isn't going to change any time soon.

I feel like it's only a matter of time, especially with the abomination that is inter-league play, before NL owners recognize they're at a competitive and economic disadvantage and cave on the DH issue.

I say all of this as someone who still roots for every NL team in the WS.

Clay Buchholz has given up a pair of 3 run leads in the first 4 2/3 innings of his outing so far...

Obi, if Travis d'Arnaud's brother is any tell, you have absolutely nothing there. Chase is worse than I am at baseball. Also, by the way, if Granderson isn't a good enough free agent signing for you when you root for a team that hasn't won anything in nearly 30 years, you're way over your head.

The DH is a mess. The way players are getting paid nowadays, there's absolutely no need to have a star pitcher swinging. There's no reason for them to have to worry about him hitting a ball off his foot or pulling something on his way to first. Hell, he could jam a thumb on a base. Could pull a Paul Goldschmidt and get his hand broken by a pitch. Pitchers get paid to pitch and they shouldn't have to deal with those.

Honestly, what's with the ball boy bringing out a jacket to the guy while he runs the bases? It's just a wasted spot in the lineup, and don't get me wrong, I'm generally an old-school traditionalist in baseball, but I don't want to see eight major league hitters and a pitcher, I want to see nine.

D'Arnaud is not a star but he's improved mightily considering he was AAA-Vegas material a few months ago.

I know the Mets aren't world beaters but they're a whole lot more likable these days than in the early/mid 2000s. They're building up their farm system nicely and the young guys are fun to watch. The new pitchers they keep producing in particular, like deGrom and Harvey, are intriguing.

Bucholz was literally too slimy for me to ever like him, but his collapse this year has been remarkable to say the least.

While it's super cool for you that you played with a marginal major leaguer's brother at some point, Travis d'Arnaud's brother's skill means next to nothing about his own skill. He's probably never going to be a star, but he's a decent defensive catcher with moderate power, above average plate discipline, and excellent framing abilities. He'll probably be an average guy with maybe a couple of pretty good seasons over his career.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the DH.

The DH was a virus that spread throughout the whole system. At this point it's terminal. The AL will forever live in infamy for screwing with the game by turning pitchers and hitters into specialists instead of baseball players.