Sports Time Radio

Yesterday was the Major League Baseball trade deadline and there was quite a bit of activity. I believe that every team that is currently holding onto a playoff spot or is contending for a playoff spot made a deal yesterday with the exception of the Cincinnati Reds.

Now the biggest deal involved the Washington Nationals sending both Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers for four prospects. The Nationals will receive catcher Kelbert Ruiz, pitchers Josiah Gray and Gerardo Carrillo and outfielder Donovan Casey.

Now with the ongoing Trevor Bauer situation and there are reports out there that even if Bauer is allowed to return to the Dodgers there are players on the team that don’t want him back and while the Dodgers have quite a few young arms that they could’ve used in that spot of their rotation Scherzer is a much, much better fit there. Even at 37 years old Scherzer is still one of the top pitchers in baseball and he’ll join a rotation that has Walker Buehler, Julio Urias and when healthy Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers also acquire left hander Danny Duffy and cash from the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. Duffy is currently on the IL, but is eligible to be activated as of yesterday. Would Duffy take that fifth spot in the Dodgers starting rotation or will it be David Price or Tony Gonsolin?

There are teams out there that can’t find three or four quality starting pitchers and the Dodgers have three solid ones that they’re trying to figure out which one to just be put into the rotation. That’s a nice problem to have.

Now it was also no surprise that the Nationals and the Chicago Cubs made a large number of trades at the deadline. Neither team was performing well this season. Both where in 4th place in their division and both where also under .500; so it should’ve come as no surprise that both teams made wholesale changes and dealt players that where about to enter free agency.

The only players that either team moved that have any time left on their contracts are Turner who has one more year of arbitration and Craig Kimbrel who has a club option on his contract. The Cubs traded Kimbrel to the crosstown Chicago White Sox yesterday. Other than that players like Scherzer, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez will all be free agents at the end of this season. Is it at all possible that the Nationals and the Cubs will make a run to bring any of these players back during the off season?

Looking at the Reds and to be fair while they didn’t make ay deals yesterday they did add three relievers before the trade deadline.

Cincinnati did acquire Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa from the New York Yankees for a player to be named later. The Reds also picked up Mychael Givens from the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitchers Case Williams and Noah Davis.

Now the Reds bullpen has been one of if not the worst in baseball; so picking three relievers makes a lot of sense, but you have to wonder if they could’ve used another reliever or even a starting pitcher.

Don’t forget that there was a lot of talk during this past off season that the Reds where willing to deal starting pitchers Sonny Gray or Luis Castillo; so you have to wonder how much confidence they have in that rotation. Tyler Mahle has stepped up to be their #1 starter and Wade Miley did throw a no-hitter this season, but Gary and Castillo have ERA’s over 4.00 and they don’t really have a clear fifth starter.

Now Cincinnati is 7 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. The Reds are also 4 games out of a national League wild card; so maybe their front office doesn’t believe they’re a serious playoff contending team and they didn’t want to move any of their young players in deadline deals.

Now Cincinnati has won 4 games in a row and are 7-3 in their last 10 games plus Joey Votto has homed in 7 straight games; so they have some things going for them right now, but could they have made their team better? Even another minor trade for a back of the rotation starting pitcher may have shown that the Reds front office believed in this team, but with the lack of moves you have to wonder if they really do.

Alright; well Schaumburg Stu got off to a good start with his picks for this weekend. Stu had the Nationals beating the Cubs and the White Sox beating the Indians in last nights games and he got both of those picks correct. Now today he has the Cubs and the Nationals combining to get more than 11 1/2 hits in their game and then on Sunday he has the White Sox and the Indians combining to score more than 7 1/2 runs in their game.

Follow along and let’s see how Stu does this weekend.

Now you can hear Schaumburg Stu’s picks live o the Friday edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast, but you should also listen to the podcast the other days of the week when Dan the Man and I are hosting. The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss that live version of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

If you’re interested you can also find me on Twitter @Burketime if you want to look me up.