So To Summarize These Last Few Days

-the Angels paid a heavy price to not get much better. Kind of stupid.
-the Braves, in turn, were smart.

-the Tigers gave away their starting catcher for nothing. Kind of stupid.
-the Yankees, in turn, were smart.

-the Astros traded for another veteran. All kinds of stupid.

-the Marlins traded a decent prospect for a reliever who won't offer much of an improvement. Kind of stupid.
-the Mariners, in turn, were smart.

-the White Sox traded for Ken Griffey Jr. with the intention of making him a regular outfielder. Oh my god I can hardly fathom this level of stupid.
-the Reds, in turn, were smart.

-the Dodgers traded away value, but no outfielders, in exchange for two months of Manny Ramirez. Kind of stupid.
-the Red Sox and Pirates, in turn, were smart, the former more than the latter.
-the Rays got boned.

-the Mariners asked for way way way way way too much in return for Jarrod Washburn. Kind of stupid.
-the Yankees and Rockies, in turn, were smart.

All things considered, it was a pretty fun deadline, at least compared to others in the recent past. The Manny trade really put it over the top, and served to confirm that Theo Epstein is good at his job, and Ned Colletti is not. Kudos to Theo for apparently being one of the only people in baseball with a solid understanding of how much Manny's actually worth to a team. The widespread perception of his value is what made this trade possible, and the Red Sox are coming away clear winners. The losers are LA and Tampa, the former because it made the trade, and the latter because it reportedly had a superior offer for Bay turned down in favor of this one. The Rays may have a three-game lead in the division, but I'd say their odds of staying there through the end of the year come down to little more than a coin flip. This is not an easy pill for them to swallow.

As for the Mariners, I guess it makes sense that an organization that's so woefully bad at pitcher evaluation wildly overplayed its hand. Jarrod Washburn isn't good - at all - but Pelekoudas was treating him like a bonafide #2, and no one was dumb enough to take the bait. As expected. I won't call him on it yet since there's still another month to give Jarrod away, and that's really all I want, but even letting things get this far reflects a bad thought process. The Mariners had arguably the most desirable starter on the market, and they couldn't turn him into any value. That's bad, no matter how you spin it.

Interesting day. On to the final two months.