New Jersey

My beloved state of New Jersey gets a bad rap more often than not. While I would love to take an entire blog to illustrate why my state is, at times, one of the best places to live in the country, this post title refers instead to the gaggle of new players in the majors leagues that switched team jerseys as a result of the recent July trading deadline. At the request of one of my readers, we will delve into the wheeling and dealing that occurred just one week ago. So let's get to it.

As my good friend, The Big Man-Tuna says, "Go Big." Go Big we shall by starting with possibly the biggest and most impactful trade of the deadline: Hunter Pence to the Philadelphia Phillies. Hunter Pence has been one of the most consistent outfielders of the past five years in terms of offensive output and defensive gumption. While sabermetric analyzers may say he's not the greatest glove in rightfield, he surely gives 110% on every play, as I've seen numerous occasions where he is diving, sliding and jumping to save an inning or game. He has put up 25 homers each of the past three years and could surpass those numbers while hitting in the friendly Citizen's Bank Park. While not a tremendous on-base guy, he puts the ball in play, and that is precisely what he'll be doing in the fifth spot in the lineup.

The Houston Astros received for Pence, young pitching prospect Jarred Cosart, the 19 year old phenom Jonathan Singleton, whom the Phillies really didn't want to give up, a righty reliever Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later. Houston is clearly heading in the right direction in trying to collect as many young talented players as possible. This deal works for Philly as well, as they now have catapulted themselves past the Boston Red Sox as the front-runner for the World Series Championship. Is Pence that good? He may not seem like it to some, but lately everyone gets better when they get to Philadelphia. Pence will be no exception. The crowd already loves him, and when you are loved, good things happen.

The Houston Astros weren't done dealing big name players though. They shipped the speedy Michael Bourn off to the Atlanta Braves for the also speedy outfielder Jordan Schafer, lefty pitcher Brett Oberholtzer, and righties Paul Clemens and Juan Abreu. "None of the three pitchers are top 50 prospects, but they did rank ninth, 26th, and 27th respectively for the Braves on Baseball America's preseason rankings, and the team has a highly-regarded farm system," as reported by Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com. Bourn has immense speed, as he has stolen at least 40 bases for the 'Stros three years running (pun!), and would have done so again this year. He will be a tremendous lead-off option for Atlanta, who has struggled to find someone to start the offense early. If Bourn can set the tone, the Braves will challenge the aforementioned Phillies for the NL East title, but most likely will still have to settle for the Wild Card.

Of course, the Astros weren't the only team moving people around. The Colorado Rockies surprisingly sold on their ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. And stranger still, the buying team isn't used to buying. The Cleveland Indians, the organization that sold C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee in successive recent years, is seeing this year as something of a turnaround. They led the AL Central for most of the first half of the year, but have been playing mediocre ball since the All-Star break, and are struggling to keep up with the Detroit Tigers. As a sign to the fans that this team is ready to compete now and in the near future, the front-office trading for the 27 year old Jimenez, hoping that the second half of his 2011 campaign will not mirror his first. Jimenez is under very affordable team control until 2013, but in order to get him the Tribe had to part with lefty prospect Drew Pomeranz, who Baseball America ranked as the 14th best prospect in all of baseball last month. The Rockies also received minor league pitcher Alex White, Joe Gardner and position player Matt McBride. This move may help The Indians next year, but I think this rally cry may be short-lived for the Tribe this year.

Another surprise buying team was the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs have been playing far above expectations this year, and are still kind of in the hunt for the NL Central title, despite having lost 8 in a row, and having gone 1-9 in their last 10. The additions of 1B Derrek Lee from the Orioles, and OF Ryan Ludwick from the Padres apparently have done nothing but harm to the team dynamic. I loved Derrek Lee for years, but his offensive contributions have been sub-par for the past two years, as injuries and four different teams have messed with his rhythm. Ludwick is a nice piece to a competitive team, but I think the Pirates were expecting him to come in and add a significant amount of offense, when Ludwick has always been a streaky player at best. Too bad the Pirates didn't keep the receipt on these purchases.

Another San Diego Padre, Mike Adams, was very sought after by several teams. The outstanding setup man to closer Heath Bell had a 1.13 ERA with the Friars, and had a swell 5.44 K/BB ratio. He was traded for by the Texas Rangers who wanted to sure-up their bullpen, as closer Neftali Feliz has been an enigma for much of the 2011 season. Feliz's walks are up and his strikeouts are down, as is the velocity on that fastball of his. Feliz has battled some injuries and probably some over-hyped expectations, so the Rangers hope that Mike Adams will step in and assume the setup role. The Rangers didn't stop there, though. They also acquired Koji Uehara from the Baltimore Orioles just one day prior to getting Adams. The 36 year old Uehara has been ridiculously good for the past three years and his 7.75 K/BB ratio is actually well below what his a capable of. Uehara may even share time as setup man, or even close out some games to give Feliz some rest. However the bullpen rotation works, one thing is for sure, the Rangers sure fixed whatever problem they might have had.

Other big name players were traded around baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals, still desperate to find an everyday shortstop, got one in Raphael Furcal. Furcal waived his 10-and-5 rights to be traded from the Dodgers. For those of you not familiar, 10-and-5 rights means that a player who has been in the league for ten years, the last five of which have been spend with his current team, cannot be traded without his consent. Furcal has been dreadful this season, and injury-plagued most of the past five years, but he adds speed and high contact to any lineup. Meanwhile Erik Bedard was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Boston Red Sox. Bedard is having something of a comeback year as he is healthy and effective as a starter. Boston is desperate for both as Daisuke Matsuzaka is out for the season, Clay Buchholz is extremely slow to recover from back spasms, and Jon Lester has spent stints on the DL. This trade was complicated as it transpired between the Sox, M's and Dodgers, but really only Bedard was the big name in this deal.

Utility fielder Mike Aviles was also acquired by Boston from Kansas City. Meanwhile the Mariners traded Doug Fister and David Pauley to the Detroit Tigers who were looking for more pitching. The Indians sold in addition to buying as they moved Orlando Cabrera to the San Francisco Giants. NL West rival to the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks, tried to stay in the playoff hunt by acquiring sidearm pitcher Brad Ziegler from the Athletics to bolster the bullpen, and grabbing Jason Marquis from the Washington Nationals to add depth to the already surprising sturdy rotation.

All in all it was a very exciting trading deadline. It's always fun to see new players in new uniforms. Sometimes it fits, and sometimes the move turns out to be a bust. As with most things, time will tell. Once again I must say that my postings may become infrequent as I'm in another theater show, I'm moving, and I'm looking for a new job. If you know anyone who wants to pay me to write inane baseball articles, you sent them over here! So until next time folks, watch some baseball for me.