Trade Deadline: Recap

Wow, it sure was a whirlwind few days leading up to the July 31st non-waiver trade deadling, eh? Well, not really whirlwind, so much as somewhat lackluster. All the top starting pitchers went piecemeal in the weeks previous and only a couple of impact bats were moved at the deadline. Relief pitchers were easy to come by, but my guess is that very few of these marginal-type role-players will have a significant impact on any pennant races.

To begin, here's a list of all the teams that were involved in any significant player movement, from the beginning of the season up until the deadline. The list is sorted first, by total players acquired, and second, by the number of those players who spent significant time in the majors before their acquisition.

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Diamondbacks	12	5
Rangers	8	5
Royals	6	2
Pirates	6	2
Astros	6	1
Indians	6	0
Braves	5	3
Giants	5	3
Mariners	5	2
Dodgers	4	4
Nationals	4	0
Yankees	3	3
Blue Jays	3	1
Orioles	3	1
Red Sox	3	1
Cubs	3	1
Marlins	3	1
Athletics	3	1
Tigers	2	2
Angels	2	2
Padres	2	2
Cardinals	2	1
White Sox	1	1
Twins	1	1
Phillies	1	1
Rays	1	1

As you can see, the D-Backs, clearly in fire-sale mode, have acquired a ton of players - most of which are non-MLB prospects - with an eye to the future. We've all heard about the Rangers, who made the biggest splash of the bunch, acquiring perhaps the best pitcher in the majors, along with 3 new starters (catcher, corner infield, middle infield). The Rangers made a couple of win-now moves, getting a shortsop (before the deadline), a power reliever, and a backup outfielder (on Saturday). All 4 of the Dodgers' acquisitions are ready to step in and help the cause: Podsednik strengthens the outfield, Lilly projects to fill the 3 or 4 slot in the rotation, Theriot takes over for DeWitt at second base, and Dotel shores up a shaky bullpen.

Now for a conceptual exercise. I'm going to look at all the players moved since the beginning of the season, and make what I consider the best 25-man roster out of them. The swp is from before each player was traded. I'm not going to bog this list down with commentary, except for this one suggestion: Enjoy!

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POS	Name	swp	swp/g	Team 1	Team 2
LF	Scott Podsednik	1,198	12.6	KC	LAD
2B	Ryan Theriot	817	8.5	CHC	LAD
RF	Ryan Ludwick	908	11.8	STL	SD
DH	Lance Berkman	981	11.5	HOU	NYY
1B	Jorge Cantu	957	9.9	FLA	TEX
SS	Alex Gonzalez	1,045	12.3	TOR	ATL
3B	Alberto Callaspo	910	10.3	KC	LAA
C	Bengie Molina	378	6.2	SF	TEX
CF	Rick Ankiel	294	10.9	KC	ATL
C	Chris Snyder	578	8.9	ARI	PIT
IF	Christian Guzman	720	8.1	WAS	TEX
IF	Miguel Tejada	844	8.7	BAL	SD
OF	Austin Kearns	890	10.6	CLE	NYY
SP1	Cliff Lee	1,257	96.7	SEA	TEX
SP2	Roy Oswalt	1,080	54.0	HOU	PHI
SP3	Dan Haren	943	44.9	ARI	LAA
SP4	Ted Lilly	837	46.5	CHC	LAD
SP5	Jake Westbrook	634	30.2	CLE	STL
SP6	Edwin Jackson	557	26.5	ARI	CHW
SP7	Joe Saunders	507	25.4	LAA	ARI
CL	Matt Capps	1,189	25.3	WAS	MIN
RP1	Octavio Dotel	939	22.9	PIT	LAD
RP2	Kyle Farnsworth	468	12.6	KC	ATL
RP3	Kerry Wood	254	11.0	CLE	NYY
RP4	Javier Lopez	261	5.2	PIT	SF