Kuzul

If you’re like me, the run-up to the non-waiver trading deadline is one of the highlights of the MLB season.

It’s not just the flurry of news and rumors that makes late July fun; it’s the game of matchmaker the media and fans play as we imagine who could go where and why.

Of course, when the dust lifted, the vast majority of rumored deals ended up to be mere false alarms. It’s only logical—the same player can’t be traded to a half-dozen different teams.

But we don’t have to stop playing “what if?” just because we know it’s not going to happen.

In this slideshow are 10 would-be game-changing trades that were rumored to be in the works over the last few weeks but didn’t ultimately come to fruition.

The GMs have already said “no deal,” but we can still look inside the briefcases.

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Every team had a different goal in mind as the calendar advanced to July 31.

Some teams approached the trade deadline hoping to make a big splash and shake up a playoff race.

Several contenders sought to add specific role players, while teams who had given up hope for the season tried to pawn off expensive veterans in exchange for prospects and salary relief.

Then there are the clubs who are content to stand pat—but they’re boring.

It’s way too early to definitively judge any given deal; we won’t know what impact an acquired player will have on the 2010 season until a new champion is crowned, and it may be more than five years before a traded prospect makes his former team regret sending him away.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate.

In this slideshow are the five teams who did the best jobs of meeting their various goals in the run-up to the deadline, be they buyers who helped their playoff chances without risking the farm, sellers who have raised their hopes for the future, or somewhere in between—clubs who successfully identified and exploited inefficiencies in the trade market.

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It’s been a whirlwind week for Indians fans.

After finally trading longtime fan frustration Jhonny Peralta on Wednesday, the Indians traded Austin Kearns to the Yankees Friday night, flipped ten-year Tribe veteran Jake Westbrook to the Cardinals Saturday afternoon, then pawned off Kerry Wood’s contract.

Most Clevelanders’ instinctual reactions to this news would be to moan and groan, to relive the moments from last year when Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez were shipped out of town and mumble something about the futility of rooting for a small-market team.

I can certainly relate to the abandonment issues my fellow Tribe fans are dealing with, and I understand the urge to crawl into a corner and sit in the fetal position for the rest of the season.

However, depression and rage are the wrong reactions to this year’s four deadline deals and the June trade of Russell Branyan.

The trading season for the Tribe can only be described with the words of a wise man from Kazakhstan: “Great success!”

Branyan, Peralta, Kearns, Westbrook, and Wood all had one thing in common: either their contracts were set to expire at the end of the season or they had options for the 2011 season that the Indians had no interest in picking up.

With the Indians already firmly out of the race, keeping these players around for the final two months would have been ridiculous. Had we just let them walk at the end of the season, we would have gotten nothing—the only ones who might possibly qualify for Type B status are Branyan and Peralta, and offering arbitration to either would be risky because they’d be likely to accept.

With the possible exception of Westbrook, who the Indians may try to reacquire in the offseason, they had no place in the Indians’ long-term plans.

We didn’t get a huge haul in return for anyone—two useful but uninspiring young position players (outfielder Ezequiel Carrera and shortstop Juan Diaz, both in the Branyan deal), a pair of solid pitching prospects (righty Corey Kluber for Westbrook and southpaw Giovanni Soto for Peralta), two PTBNLs (both from the Yankees, one each for Kearns and Wood), and at least $3 million in salary relief.

But even if the youngsters we’ve acquired don’t grow up to be All-Stars and Larry Dolan loses all the spare change in a single poorly played hand of Texas Hold ‘Em (stranger things have happened), the point is that in exchange for the outgoing veterans who weren’t helping us anyway, we got a chance to have more hope for the future—six of them, to be precise, maybe more if we put the extra money towards a solid free agent.

The Indians had five useful players who didn’t mean anything to us. All of them have been swapped for potential pieces of a future pennant-winner.

Mission accomplished.

This was outgoing GM Mark Shapiro’s last big chance to score. He brought home a winner.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

We’ve seen a lot of questionable decisions in the run-up to this year’s non-waiver trade deadline.

The Nationals have refused to move the soon-to-be-gone-anyway Adam Dunn without a getting an elite prospect in return. The Twins traded away one of the game’s top future backstops for an overrated closer. And the Rangers reportedly tried to get the Marlins to add ace Josh Johnson as a throw-in in their deal for Jorge Cantu.

But the most ridiculous, self-delusional announcement I’ve heard all year came last night, when the Milwaukee Brewers announced that they were canceling their fire sale because they decided they were close enough to be contenders after all.

The Brewers currently sit in third place in the NL Central—certainly a respectable standing, especially considering that theirs is the biggest division in baseball. The Red Sox, Tigers, and Dodgers are all taking the bronze in their respective divisions, and certainly none of them have given up on the playoffs.

The problem is, no other third-place team is seven games below .500.

At 48-55, the Brewers don’t seem to be eating their Wheaties this season. They’re nine games behind the first-place Reds and 8.5 games in back of the Cardinals, the unanimous preseason favorites to win the division.

They shouldn’t be looking for any solace in the Wild Card race. The Brewers are in eighth place for the consolation spot, 10 games behind the Giants.

According to BaseballProspectus.com’s playoff odds (calculated by playing the rest of the season a million times), the Brewers have a 0.3838 percent chance of making the playoffs. In other words, the odds are 261:1 against.

So why on earth do the Brewers think they have a chance?

That’s not meant to be a rhetorical question, but it is one because I can’t think of a single possible rational reason for GM Doug Melvin to wake up in the morning and say his team is in it to win it.

If Milwaukee wants to have its delusions of grandeur, that’s fine. It’s not my problem and hey, nothing wrong with optimism.

But if the Brew Crew doesn’t sober up fast, they’re going to regret it for years to come.

The Brewers have two of the best trade chips in the baseball in Prince Fielder and Corey Hart (assuming he returns from his wrist injury tonight, as expected). Both of them are among the game’s most coveted power hitters and are due to hit the free agent market after next season—in other words, they probably won’t be around long enough to see the Brewers make a serious playoff run.

With most of the other frequently discussed available outfielders (Cody Ross, David DeJesus, Jayson Werth) now off the market, Hart could spark a last-minute bidding war between a half-dozen teams tomorrow if he proves himself healthy tonight. If Matt Capps got the Nats Wilson Ramos from the Twins, Hart could certainly fetch at least a couple B-plus prospects.

Then, of course, there’s Prince Fielder. While Milwaukee’s initial demand from the White Sox—Gordon Beckham—was obscene, the Brewers wouldn’t have to settle for much less if they were willing to eat a substantial chunk of his salary.

The fat lady is singing in Miller Park, no matter what the front office says. The only race Brewers fans should care about at this point is the one involving anthropomorphic sausages.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A “real fan” will tell you that when he watches a baseball game, all he notices is the ball. He doesn’t notice the architecture of the surrounding stadium, or the design on the players’ uniforms, or the guy in the colorful costume dancing on the dugout and throwing T-shirts to kids in the stands.

But, while these ultra-serious spectators might not have time to acknowledge an artful logo or a big scoreboard, you can bet they notice when something like that isn’t to their liking.

Yesterday, I released the first half of this week’s Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Poll results—the best stadiums, mascots, logos, uniforms, and team names in baseball.

But today is the fun part—our picks for the worst of these ballpark distractions.

In addition to the full vote totals, each slide includes three quick sound bites from the writers explaining the reasons behind their picks.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Note: I sent this survey only to the Featured Columnists who have been active in previous polls. If you are a new FC or you have changed your mind about wanting to participate, send me a message and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop for next time!

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It’s not often that the Indians make a trade that the fans can be happy about.

Think back to last year, when the Tribe dealt Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez away, or to 2008, when CC Sabathia was shipped out of town after his refusal to negotiate a contract extension at a reasonable price.

Even the Bartolo Colon deal of 2002—a phenomenal deal in retrospect—was heart-wrenching at the time, as it signaled the end of the team’s streak of success.

But today—today, Clevelanders can cheer for the latest installment in a long series of midsummer dump trades.

In case you haven’t heard, Jhonny Peralta was traded to the Detroit Tigers this afternoon for pitching prospect Giovanni Soto (no, not Geovany Soto).

At the risk of sounding callous, “Guitar” (as he has been inexplicably nicknamed) won’t be missed. People who live outside Northeast Ohio might not realize that, unlike most of the players the Indians trade, Tribe fans really don’t like Peralta.

From the get-go, he was saddled with the unenviable task of replacing Omar Vizquel, a fan favorite and the last major holdover from the “Glory Days” of the 90’s. Jaded by the flawless fielding of an 11-time Gold Glove winner, Tribe fans have been particularly perturbed by Guitar’s defensive deficiencies (seriously, how did he get that nickname?).

And while Vizquel’s bat never really boomed, he was fast and could get on base—plus, did I mention he won 11 Gold Gloves?

In addition, Peralta’s inconsistency and sloppiness have made him the perfect symbol for everything that’s gone wrong with the team since the rebuilding process began. He’s a scapegoat, but the reputation isn’t entirely undeserved.

Sure, the deal makes sense from an objective standpoint. With the Indians out of the race this year anyway, keeping Peralta for the rest of the season would be like lining up the deck chairs on the Titanic even if he was really a useful addition to the starting lineup.

Picking up his $7 million option for 2011 would have been ridiculous. There’s not much of a drop-off (if there is one at all) between Peralta and his cheaper backup, Andy Marte.

Between Marte and prospects Lonnie Chisenhall (No. 31 on Baseball America ‘s preseason top prospects list) and Jared Goedert (17 homers with a 1.049 OPS in 45 Triple-A games this year), the Indians will have more efficient and probably better ways to fill his spot at the hot corner.

Soto’s not a bad return, either. He has a 2.61 ERA with a 76:25 K:BB ratio in 16 starts for the Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps.

But for now, all most fans will care about is that Peralta is gone. That means no more inserting him and his .698 OPS into the cleanup spot. It means no more watching him bobble routine plays and wishing he would, for the love of God, field the damn ball.

I guess next time something goes wrong we’ll have to blame Trevor Crowe.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

In the run-up to baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, the focus is almost exclusively on the game’s biggest names. We’re fascinated by whispers of negotiations and bidding wars over marquee names and pay little mind to the lower-key players who could play similar roles.

But, as teams are quickly finding out, you’ve got to have a Plan B.

Two of the market’s biggest names, Cliff Lee and Dan Haren, are now off the market. That doesn’t mean the teams that missed out on them are simply giving up on improving their rotations—if they’re smart, they’ll look for other people to fill their open spots.

In this slideshow are 10 fairly uninspiring, yet useful, trade candidates who teams are likely to pursue if they miss out on flashier names, along with who they’d replace and which teams could be interested.

There are reasons why none of the players here are teams’ first choices, but that doesn’t mean these consolation prizes don’t deserve to contribute in the pennant run.

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You never know how any trade rumor will play out until the deal is official.

We can sit at our computer screens and read trade rumors ’til our eyes turn to goop and often times we’re still no more informed than my grandma.

Just look at last night’s Dan Haren trade—did it even occur to anyone that the Angels were serious suitors for the D-Backs’ ace?

But even if we don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes, it sure is fun to speculate.

In this slideshow are 10 of the most discussed players who could be moved before the trade deadline on Saturday, with arguments for why each player will and won’t be traded, followed by my “Deal or no deal?” prediction.

This could be one of the most active deadlines in recent memory. Whatever happens, it will sure be fun to watch.

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By now, Cleveland Indians fans have grown accustomed to watching their favorite players being shipped out of town around the trade deadline.

Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Mark DeRosa, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, and C.C. Sabathia have all been shipped off between late June and early August the last couple years—and that doesn’t count winter exports Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach.

In a move eerily reminiscent of the Eduardo Perez deal four years ago, the Indians kicked off their annual fire sale by sending Russell Branyan to the Mariners last month. It’s a pretty safe bet that the sell-off won’t stop there.

Over the last couple months, I’ve been writing a sort of weekly series called the Cleveland Indians Trading Post to help prepare my fellow Tribe fans for the inevitable. Each installment looked at why a potential trading chip might be dealt and where he would conceivably go.

Now, with the deadline just eight days away, I decided to give an update on the five most likely trade candidates we have left because—well, that’s just the kind of guy I am.

For each listed player, I’ve included quick sound bites about his contract and draft compensation status (if applicable), why he might interest other teams, why we could afford to trade him, and a few possible destinations.

To my fellow Clevelanders, remember: Thanks to a certain egomaniacal basketball player, no matter what the Indians do, the worst of our hometown heroes’ departing is already over.

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When Andre Dawson was announced as the sole member of the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame class, it caused quite a stir, to say the least. After perhaps the most controversial balloting in recent memory, fans, and writers took to their keyboards to voice their frustrations.

How did Dawson, who played his last game in 1996, become more worthy of enshrinement in 2010 than he had been in 2009? Was one incident with an umpire enough to snub the legendary Roberto Alomar? Will Bert Blyleven ever catch a break?

Two days after the results were announced, I offered my solution to the problem: an end to secret ballots for Hall of Fame voting. I wanted to know why several deserving players were snubbed (especially Alomar, my childhood hero), while some idiot voters thought schmucks like David Segui and Eric Karros were worthy of sending to Cooperstown.

Thanks to Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists (FC), my dream has been realized. This week’s poll was a mock Hall of Fame vote, with an participants who were happy to share (and explain) their opinions with the world.

The winner (we too elected only one player to Cooperstown, but it wasn’t Dawson) and the Top 10 also-rans are featured in this slideshow, each with two explanations from different FC’s: one from a voter who picked him, the other from someone who didn’t. The full vote totals are listed at the end.

As a reminder, players have to get 75 percent of the vote to earn a spot in Cooperstown—there’s no curve and you can’t round up.

With 22 people voting in this poll, a player had to be named on at least 17 ballots to earn immortality.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated! If you voted for someone who didn’t get enough support to be featured in the slideshow, I’d love to see your explanation in the comments.

Note: I sent this survey only to the Featured Columnists who have been active in previous polls. If you are a new FC or you have changed your mind about wanting to participate, send me a message and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop for next time!

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