NL East Fire Sale

NL East Fire Sales

Zach Cox

 Both the Phillies(45-57) and Marlins (47-55) find themselves more than 10 games out of the wildcard and have decided to call it quits at the trade deadline. Both teams were projected to finish towards the top of the NL East but both teams have fallen short. The Marlins participated in their third fire sale in the 20 years after big free agent grabs Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle. Their first move was sending Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers in exchange for pitching super prospect Jacob Turner and solid prospect C Robert Brantly. Shortly following that was the deal that sent Hanley Ramirez and Randy Choate to the Dodgers for the #2 prospect in the Dodger's system P Nate Eovaldi and throw in prospect Scott McGough. On trade deadline day the Marlins worked out a trades with both the Pirates and the Cardinals. The Marlins sent relief pitcher Edward Mujica(0-3, 4.38 ERA, 2 SV, 36 H) to the Cardinals for 3B prospect Zach Cox who is hitting .254 at the AAA level this year. Cox is 23 years old and probably only a year or two away from the majors. I feel that the Marlins are the winners in this trade because middle relievers are not always consistent from year to year and Mujica isn't anything special this year. In a year when all is lost a veteran reliever does nothing and Cox should be able to help the Marlins for years to come.

Gaby Sanchez

  In the deal with the Pirates the Marlins sent off  one time all star 1B Gaby Sanchez and P Kyle Kaminska in exchange for the Pirates Outfielder Gorkys Hernandez. Kaminska seems to be just thrown in and most likely won't make a huge impact in the Pirates future as they are already stocked with young arms. Gaby Sanchez will replace Casey McGehee who the Pirates sent to the Yankees. Hernandez struggled with the big club this year and is doing okay in AAA after an above average year at AAA last year. He will most likely start off in the majors for the Marlins as Giancarlo "Don't Call Me Mike" Stanton is out for the season and Logan Morrison also on the DL.

Tommy Joseph

  The Phillies seem to have ended their era as kings of the NL East today by sending away their two best outfielders. Hunter Pence was traded to the Giants for OF Nate Schierholtz and catching prospect Tommy Joseph. Pence for Schierholtz straight up would be a great trade for the Giants and even with throwing Joseph in there it still is. The Giants have gotten themselves an elite right fielder that will help them beat out the Dodgers who have also been busy with deal. Tommy Joseph is the best catcher in the Giant's organization and #3 overall. The Giants will not be hurt too much by this because they already have Buster Posey and Andrew Susac is right behind Joseph in the Giant's system. With Carlos Ruiz aging the Phillies made a smart move by picking up a young catcher.
  Not to be outdone by the Giants, the Dodgers made a move of their own to pick up a solid outfielder. By giving up P Josh Lindblom and P Ethan Martin, they received Shane Victorino from the Phillies. Victorino is a career .277 hitter with a .776 OPS and should be expected to take over the starting left fielder role from Bobby Abreu. Abreu has slightly better numbers than Victorino this year but Victorino's speed and defense outweighs the older Abreu. Edit: Dodgers Designate Abreu for assignment.  Worse case scenario for Victorino is 4th outfielder but with plenty of playing time as Ethier and Kemp aren't the most durable players. The Dodgers gave up a package that is as valuable to them as Victorino but it is not great for the Phillies. Victorino means more to the Phillies than the Dodgers and they didn't get many prospects for him. Martin is at best a 3rd tier prospect while Lindblom is the#7 prospect in the Dodger's system. Lindblom has spent the whole 2012 season in the majors with 3.02 ERA in 47.2 innings.

Josh Lindblom

  The Phillies moved John Mayberry to starting center fielder status as a result of the trade as well as Domonic Brown. Mayberry will just be a placeholder in the organization as he is not young enough to be part of the franchises great next wave. The Phillies will most likely play out the rest of most of their contracts and then their prospects will be ready to make a run. The Marlins are in the same situation except that their players with heavy contracts have more years left and aren't quite as old. If the Marlins want to go back to rebuilding mode Reyes, Bell, and Buehrle will want to get out of Miami.