White Sox : After much fan-fair, hype, name calling, and hypothetical "what ifs", the White Sox made an efficient, but certainly not sexy trade of pitchers Daniel Hudson & David Holmberg (who was born in 1991 for gods sake! I'm very old) for starting pitcher Edwin Jackson - essentially exchanging one young 2 pitch pitcher, for a veteran 2 pitch pitcher. Nobody really understands how it's possible for Jackson to go to the National League and be BAD, but the White Sox and Don Cooper think they know what's wrong with Jackson this year and will correct it.
This was far from the splashy and obvious move the Sox had been trying to make happen for the past 2 months of landing Adam Dunn. Obviously Dunn didn't end up on the White Sox, or anywhere else. There were also some shockingly random discussions about Manny Ramirez being moved to the White Sox, but I was glad to learn that Kenny Williams wasn't too serious about that, and pretty much demanded that the Dodgers just trade him to the Sox and pay most of Manny's salary. That's exactly what I would offer for Manny too! Ned Colletti told Kenny "thanks but no thanks".
In any case, I think this is a good move for the White Sox. Aside from only tacking on $8.7 million to the books next year, this move wasn't so much about Daniel Hudson, but rather had more to do with Freddy Garcia. Jake Peavy's injury really created a big hole in the rotation, not for the fifth spot, but rather the fourth spot. On a team with a realistic shot at the playoffs, Freddy Garcia should be a fifth starter on that team. Hudson more than likely would have been OK as the fifth starter, but "Freddy Junkball" should be in a position where he provides nothing but gravy with what he does on the mound, which is why the 5th spot in the rotation is where he belongs and he has appropriately thrived in that fifth spot all season. Jackson's acquisition now gives the Sox enough pitching depth where Freddy goes back to #5, and by deductive logic makes the White Sox better.
Cubs : I'll give the Cubs credit, they certainly tried to do the right thing and deal Derrick Lee. They had a deal done for him to be moved to the Los Angeles Angels of Disney, but Lee figuratively told Jim Hendry, the Angels, and Cubs fans to "Stick It" by invoking his 10 & 5 No Trade Clause. In The Beard's view, Lee's refusal is pretty revealing into what a softy he really is. First of all, he's actually BUILDING A HOUSE in Southern California at the present time. Second, he wouldn't be taking any sort of paycut to become an Angel (obviously). Third, he would be going to a team that's actually in contention - or at least are in a better position to contend than the Cubs. Still, Lee said no, and by doing so he said he'd rather be comfortable with no expectations, rather than deal with pressure. Maybe he's been hanging out with LeBron too much?
Regardless, the Cubs did make a move and dealt Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers for Blake DeWitt, Brett Wallach (Tim's Son), and Kyle Smit. Essentially the get two really young pitchers for Lilly, and got a 6 years younger version of Theriot, but he has potential to get better. In terms of money, DeWitt doesn't add anything much to the already $103,525,000 the Cubs have committed to the payroll in 2011. All in all, it's kind of a nothing move, but we all know that if the Cubs organization had their druthers, they'd clean house Fire Sale style...but we all know why that's not going to happen.
The Rest : Speaking of Fire Sales, that's exactly what you have in Cleveland, Arizona, Houston and Kansas City, as the all four teams did a whole lot of dealing. The Indians started by unloading Jhonny Peralta to the Tigers, Austin Kearns plus Kerry Wood to the Yankees, and Jake Westbrook to the Cardinals in a 3 team deal. The Diamondbacks unloaded Dan Haren to the Angels, Chad Qualls to the Rays, Jackson to the White Sox, and Chris Snyder to the Pirates. The Astros traded away long time stalworts with Roy Oswalt going to the Phillies and Lane Berkman going to the Yankees. The Royals sprung Scotty Pods out of their own personal jail, and dealt Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth to the Atlanta Braves.
Obviously everyone is looking at what the Yankees did, since they seem to be the team that acquired most of the big name castoffs, especially with "Fat Elvis" Lance Berkman. He seems to be the guy the Yankees envisioned Nick Johnson being this past offseason. I'm not really sure how much Kerry Wood is going to help their bullpen with his 6.80 ERA, and 1.600 WHIP this season?
The one team though that I think very quietly ended up putting themselves in a great position is the San Diego Padres. They took a shot at aging Miguel Tejada and traded practically nothing to get him with the understanding that being back in the National League might bring his numbers up. The move that really makes me say "Wow" however, is their involvement in the 3 team trade to acquire Ryan Ludwick. If Ludwick continues to do what he's been doing, Tejada bounces back to his Houston form of last year, and Adrian Gonzalez is Adrian Gonzalez, that should be more than enough to ward off the San Francisco Giants for the NL West Title, especially when the Padre pitching staff gives up the fewest Runs Per Game in the National League, is number 1 in Team ERA, and has the Lowest Team WHIP in the NL.
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