The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

With that AMAZING weekend of Wheeling and Dealing (and I'm sure the weekend helped push the number of deals - as did our new Slack), let the debate begin:

Which team got the most to fill their needs, prep for the post-season run, or did the most intriguing work for the future of their squad?

Well, I got two possible candidates for Hartford shortstop next year. If either of them pan out it could save me $15-20 million for a free agent SS. Sure the FA SS would perform better but I think I’d get more value upgrading my pitching in FA given what looks to be available at the moment.

The influx of new GMs have powered this trade deadline and I’m sure we’re going to have a really busy, compedative FA period this off season too. A lot of teams have had fallow years and with new hands on the tiller are keen to return to former glories

The Bears bet heavily on this season, acquiring three strong bats, including MVP candidate "Red Hook" Bothwell who comes with no guarantees of a return to Bakersfield next season.

Merlin and Red Hook have impressed in their Bears debut week, slashing a collective .364/.653/1.017 with five homers as the Bears went 4-2 and won both series. If the Bears pitching in the second half can avoid a complete meltdown after an inspired first half of the season, the Bears should be poised to make some noise in the playoffs for the first time in years.

Yuma offloaded a half million dollars that were really weighing us down and a veteran pitcher whose contract expires next year while acquiring a young pitcher, a young catcher and a draft pick! Can't beat that.

It was quiet in Toyama for a while, but we moved Clayton Lewis, who was on an expiring deal, to help make some extra money or the rest of the season. In that trade, we got a reliable albeit unspectacular Jose Castillo to fill in his role in the rotation. He's nothing special but he's affordable and can at least hold his own (2.1 WAR last season).

The Evas tried to balance WIN-NOW with rolling over non-critical assets in to future value.

Adding all 8 or so trades up, a number of objectives were checked off.

• Revitalized the Evas bullpen for 2028 & 2029 by replacing Medina, Hirai and Duffy and with Lopez, Gonzales and Thompson.
• Added a power rental bat in Jeff Pratt.
• Added a flexible corner OF option (with options) in Jim Fox.
• Wound up with about the same draft capital as we started with after the 2028 amateur draft.

The net cost was about 6 or so 2-3 star prospects. That's a significant blow to my already thin minor league system, but I think it was worthwhile to improve our chances in 2028 & 2029.

The Florida front office is over the moon about our acquisitions that have shored up some of the weak spots of our roster. Although the list sim didn't show it, we're very excited about the talent we've brought on board.

Michael Manley -- A list minute addition from Shisa and swapped for soon-to-be-ready 6'7 right handed starter Kyung-Suk Kim, Manley brings a contact-first bat and the ability to play third, short, and second. With his acquisition, we're expecting a different look to our infield as the second half goes on. While Montoya was serving admirably as a defensive specialist, the one thing for certain is that his numbers, down even from where they were historically, spelled an end to his reign as undisputed starter at short. It's undecided quite yet how all the pieces will come together, Manley will at least spell with Randy Love and David Crocker in the middle of the infield. This should supply a more readily offensive output from shortstop and take some of the pressure off our pitchers to be perfect. (Hopefully they continue to be amazing, but this should help)

Orlando Reyes -- Acquired from Crystal Lake at the end of a string of deals, Reyes brings the right field utility role which is slowly evolving to a more prominent place in the lineup with a continued slump from Miguel 'Ping' Yanez and Hinojosa's inability to hit left-handed pitching.

Paul Norris -- Acquired with a 4th round pick from the wind dancers, Norris came over with an abysmal ERA and WHIP. Picked up primarily as a lottery ticket, he has so far been the deal of the season for the F-Heads. Since coming over, Norris has pitched to a sterling 1.22 ERA while averaging well over 7 innings per start over 5 games started.

All-in-all, I'm excited about our prospects, even if last week wasn't our strongest performance. Even though we're in first place right now, I expect it to be a race to tighten up.

Aurora is pretty satisfied with the pick-ups we've made in the days leading up to the deadline. I have to say, it was fun negotiating over two oceans - and I've been in Hawaii for the past two weeks, so I've split the time zones, which helped a whole bunch.

The youngsters we've picked up earlier have done well in the minors so far, and Mike Monroe, Arturo Velasquez and Derrick Dwyer have been super solid. But, specifically regarding the deals this weekend:

Bartolo Esquivel and Bob Burns both provide us improved depth in the pitching staff for now - and we have some control with contracts so that they will help us through the transition out of the Mike Provost and (soon to be ) 'Tugboat' era. Burns sub-30 age is super nice, and when Bartolo's contract could end, he'll be 35 (as 'Tugboat' currently is).

Burns with 3 outings, 4 IP, 5 H, 4 K and a run. Bartolo had one start, 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 6 K and a BB... I'll take those numbers!

It shall be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Aside from the Desert Hills Slug fest, the SL seems to have settled on it's 5 playoff teams. The 3rd team in the wild card is 8 GB of the #2 slot. But in the IL, where divisions seem to be settling, there are 5 teams within 8 games if the #2 spot - With Arlington (1) and San Juan (3) being very close.

I didn't get the bat I wanted, but I did improve my pen and rotation. I also have some money coming to me at the EOY and maybe a pick exchange too :-).

Honestly I am very happy for Lewis, enough that I might re-sign him for what he is asking and getting Pacheo if he can stay healthy.

Was able to get younger in Crystal Lake at the deadline. 8 of 10 starting batters are now under 30 years old. 4 of 5 starting pitchers is now under 30 with the oldest being 30 years old. Gained an extra first round pick, unloaded dead salary and gained an available super star, this might not be our year, but we could be in a good position the next 2-3 years. After being over $20M in the hole at the beginning of this season, we are almost at a break even position this season with projected profitability next season.

Simply as a fan observing that whirlwind show, I feel myself to be the winner of this year's trade deadline.

John wrote:Simply as a fan observing that whirlwind show, I feel myself to be the winner of this year's trade deadline.

You can sit at the top of the waiting list and be next to get a taste!

Yes Mike, I’m sure he’d make a solid GM